Nov. 26, 2010
UMES GAME NOTES | NAVY GAME NOTES | LIVE AUDIO
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - In what begins a nearly month of road games, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team takes on the Naval Academy Midshipmen Saturday at 7 p.m. at Alumni Hall.
The Hawks hung around against Northern Illinois Wednesday afternoon at the W.P. Hytche Athletic Center, but could not get over the hump in an 86-80 defeat to fall to 1-4 on the season. UMES trailed 55-51 with 13:17 remaining in the second half, but they would never get closer to NIU. Senior Freddy Obame Obame (Libreville, Gabon) had a career day with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Xavier Silas led the Huskies with 34 points on 12-of-16 shooting. Including Obame Obame, the Hawks had five players in double figures.
UMES spreads the scoring around as four players average double figures through five games. Junior Dishawn Bradshaw (Baltimore, Md.) leads the team with 13.8 points per game. Fellow junior Tyler Hines (Sicklerville, N.J.) averages 7.0 boards per contest to lead the Hawks.
Navy has started their season at 2-5 with wins over Towson (89-84) and Neumann (NCAA DIII) by a final of 74-62. Freshman J.J. Avila paced the Mids with 31 points against Towson, the third most by a freshman in school history and the most since 1995 by a first-year player. Navy relies heavily on 3-point shooting as exactly 33 percent of their made field goals (150) have come from beyond the arc (50).
Saturday will mark the eighth meeting between UMES and Navy. The Mids' have won five of the seven meetings but lost last year, 80-72, to the Hawks at the W.P. Hytche Athletic Center. UMES put four players in double figures with redshirt junior Hillary Haley (Oxon Hill, Md.) leading the charge with 20 points. Chris Harris, who graduated in May, led Navy with 23 points. The win was the first for the Hawks over the Mids since the 1993-94 season when UMES beat Navy, 82-71, at Alumni Hall. That also marked the only time the Hawks won at Alumni Hall.
The matchup between UMES and Navy can be heard live on the Hawks Radio Network on 95.9 The Sports Animal and also on the Internet at UMESHawks.com thanks to allinbroadcasting.com. Bret Lasky has the call live from Alumni Hall while Dave Vatz hosts the studio show for the Hawks. All-Access video can be found on the Navy web site at NavySports.com for a fee.
HAWKS VIE FOR MULTIPLE WINS IN NOVEMBER A win on Saturday would mark the first time since the 2001-02 that the Hawks have won multiple games in the month of November. During the 2001-02 season, UMES beat New Orleans 48-46 (11/14) and Eastern Michigan 65-61 (11/26). The Hawks are 6-30 in the month of November since the 2001-02 season.
CAREER DAY FOR OBAME OBAME Forward Freddy Obame Obame had a huge game against NIU. He set career highs for points (18), rebounds (15), field goals attempted (10), free throws made (8) and free throws attempted (11).
203 CAREER ASSISTS In just one season and five games, Kevin White has 203 assists. He set the single-season UMES record last season with 172 last year. The Brooklyn, N.Y. native has 31 assists through the first five games of the season.
PRESEASON HONOR Hillary Haley was named preseason Sec-ond Team All-MEAC. Haley is the lone UMES player to earn a preseason conference honor. He led the Hawks in scoring with 12.4 a night last season.
PICKED SEVENTH UMES was predicted to finish seventh in the conference as voted upon by MEAC head coaches and sports information directors. Morgan State was picked to win the MEAC for a third consecutive season. UMES was predicted to finish dead last (11th) in the conference last season. The Hawks were also predicted to finish last in the conference in 2007-08 and 2008-09.
LAST WINNING SEASON UMES is in search of his first winning season since the 1993-94 season when the Hawks posted a 16-12 record.
SEVEN CONFERENCES The Hawks will play teams from seven Division I confer- ences in 2010-11. They will play teams from: Conference-USA (Tulane), Ivy League (Columbia), Patriot League (American & Navy), Mid-American Conference (Northern Illinois), Colonial Athletic Association (Old Dominion), Missouri Valley Conference (Evansville), Big East (Pittsburgh) and the Big 12 (Colorado & Oklahoma).
FIVE IN DOUBLE FIGURES For the first time in Frankie Allen's tenure (67 games), five UMES players scored in double figures against NIU. The Hawks have not put five players in double figures in a single game since at least the 2003-04 season (186 games).
Tim Burns? Senior Tim Burns played in only 8 minutes on Wednesday against NIU. He was shutout for the first time in his UMES career (37 games).
CAN'T STOP THE STAR The Hawks have allowed an opposing player to score at least 30 points in three straight games. American's Vlad Moldoveanu scored 31 on Nov. 17, Kean University's Jonathan Jones scored 31 on Nov. 20 and Northern Illinois' Xavier Silas scored 34 points on Wednesday.
DISHAWN IN DOUBLE FIGURES First-year guard Dishawn Bradshaw has been in double figures in four of the first five games including a season high 20 points against NIU. Bradshaw leads the Hawks in minutes (169), field goals made (25), 3-pointers made (11), and points scored (69). Bradshaw has scored 38 points in the last two games. He ranks sixth in the conference in scoring. C.J. Reed (BCU) leads the league (20.3)
UMES VS. PATRIOT LEAGUE The Hawks went 2-0 against the Patriot League last year with wins over American and Navy. The Hawks are 2-4 against the Patriot League since the 2000 season. The MEAC went 3-3 against the Patriot League last season. In 2008-09, the Patriot League went 4-0 against the MEAC.
HINES ON THE OFFENSIVE Tyler Hines is one of the best offensive rebounders in the MEAC conference. He has 19 offensive rebounds through five- games. He had six offensive rebounds against NIU. No other Hawk player has more than seven (Hillary Haley). Hines has 160 offensive rebounds in his two- plus year career at UMES.
MINUTES SPREAD AROUND Eight players are averaging more than 10 minutes per game through the first five games. Mark Robertson (8.5) is averaging just under 10 minutes per game. The bench logged 71 of the 200 total minutes against Kean University.
FREE THROW SUCCESS The Hawks have been solid at the line this season, shooting 71.7 (91-127) percent through four games. Kevin White, Hillary Haley and Tim Burns are all shooting above 80 percent so far. The Hawks have shot below 65% at the line in each of the last six seasons.
FREE THROW STREAK Hillary Haley has made 10 straight free throws dating back to the American University game. Haley has made 18-of-20 (90%) this year.
FIVE STRAIGHT ROAD GAMES The Hawks will not have another home game until Dec. 21 when they play Washington College (Md.). Over the next 23 days, they will play five road games (Navy, Delaware State, Old Dominion, Evansville, Pittsburgh). The next four opponents have a combined record of 13-4.
DEFENSIVE ISSUES The Hawks have allowed four of their five opponents to score over 80 points, averaging 83.6 per game. Hawks opponents are shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor (142-287).
EFFICIENT FRONTCOURT Tyler Hines and Freddy Obame Obame have been very efficient shooting from the floor this season. Hines is shooting 61.3% (19-31) while Obame Obame is 16-of-29 (55.2%).
SECOND IN MEAC Point guard Kevin White ranks second in the MEAC in assists per game (6.2). White led the league last year in assists with 5.4 a contest.
TWO 3-POINT THREATS So far this season, the Hawks have just two 3-point threats. Dishawn Bradshaw is 11-of-27 and Hillary Haley is 7-of-18. No other player has made more than one three pointer. For comparison, Navy has six players that have made more than one 3-pointer (seven games).
10 SHY OF 400 Senior guard Tim Burns is 10 points shy of 400 for his career at UMES. The second-year player scored 362 points last season. Burns notched his second double figure scoring game of the season on last Saturday with 11 points against Kean. He has scored in double figures 19 times over his career. Including his two-year stay at High Point, Burns has scored 624 points in his college basketball career.
SECOND HALF TEAM The Hawks have scored 56 more points in the second halves (208) compared to the first half (152) through four games. The Hawks have had better second halves in four of their five games with the exception being Tulane. UMES beat NIU 42-41 in the second half.
CENTURY MARK Josh Bright has played in 84 games at UMES while Tim Burns has played in 97 college games. Burns played in 60 total games in his two years at High Point.
DEFENDING THE 3 The Hawks were one of the best in the nation last season at defending the 3-point shot. UMES ranked 14th in the country last year in 3-point field goal defense (29.6%). Only four teams shot 40% or better from beyond the arc against UMES (Eastern Michigan, The Citadel, Nebraska and Howard). The Hawks held 17 of their 32 opponents under 30% from 3-point range.
BETTER ON OFFENSIVE GLASS Hines was the only player in the MEAC that had more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds (amongst players with at least 20 offensive rebounds). Hines finished eighth in the MEACwith 2.3 offensive rebounds per game.
COACHES' CORNER RADIO SHOW UMES basketball coaches Frankie Allen and Fred Batchelor (women's basketball) will be featured on an hour long radio show that will originate from Peaky's Restaurant in Princess Anne every Thursday night from 7-8 p.m. The show will also air on WGOP 540 AM. The next show will be on Dec. 2.
MIDSHIPMEN SCOUTING REPORT As of Friday (Nov. 26), Navy is tied with five other schools (Coastal Carolina, Seattle, Savannah State, Texas Pan-American, Prairie View A&M) for the most games played (seven) in the country. Navy is 2-5 with wins over Towson (89-84) and Neumann (NCAA DIII) by a final of 74-62. Freshman J.J. Avila paced the Mids with 31 points against Towson, the third most by a freshman in school history and the most since 1995 by a first-year player. The Midshipmen rely heavily on 3-point shooting. Exactly 33% of their made field goals (150) have come from beyond the arc (50); however, they are shooting just 25.9 percent from 3-point range.
CHRIS HARRIS IS GONE The last four times that UMES faced Navy, guard Chris Harris was one of the focal points of the Mids' offense. Harris scored 72 points (18.0) in four career games against UMES. Harris, now graduated, led the Midshipmen in scoring last season with 21.2 points per. Harris finished his career fifth all-time at Navy in career points (1,625). Harris is the all-time leader in 3-pointers made at Navy with 288.
YOUTH MOVEMENT The Mids have six freshman on their roster. The six freshman have accounted for 27.5 points per game through seven games. J.J. Avila leads the freshman the class with a 9.0 points per game. Four freshman combined to score 49 of the 89 total points against Towson.
CAUSING TURNOVERS The Midshipmen have caused 159 turn- overs in seven games (22.7). Towson committed 23 turnovers. Seattle University committed 26 turnovers. Navy forced Division III Neumann into 35 turnovers.
TEXAS CONNECTION For a 95th straight game, Navy is expected to start a player that hails from the state of Texas. The last time that Navy started a game without a player from the state of Texas was Nov. 14, 2007 against Robert Morris. Houston native O.J. Ovworo has started all seven games this season and Cypress native Romeo Garcia started all 30 games last season.
THE COACH Billy Lange won his 83rd game at Navy on Wednesday night. He ranks sixth all-time in coaching victories at Navy. Ben Carnevale holds the Navy wins record with 256 in 20 years. Billy Lange's father, Don Lange, played for the Naval Academy from 1952-54. He ranks 14th all-time in scoring with 1,344 (he played only three seasons). Billy Lange was named the 2008 Patriot League Coach of the Year.
