Dec. 3, 2010
LIVE AUDIO | UMES GAME NOTES
DOVER, Del. - In an early Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference matchup, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team travels to Delaware State Saturday to take on the Hornets at 7 p.m. at the Memorial Hall Gym.
The Hawks (2-4) are six days removed from an 89-81 overtime victory at Navy. Redshirt junior Hillary Haley (Oxon Hill, Md.) led the game with 32 points on 11-of-18 shooting and a career-high 10 rebounds. Freshman Louis Bell (Washington, D.C.) also had a career day, posting 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. UMES had a field day on the glass, outrebounding Navy, 54-32.
Haley, junior Dishawn Bradshaw (Baltimore, Md.) and senior Kevin White (Brooklyn, N.Y.) lead the Hawks in scoring as they all average double-digits through six games played. Haley averages 15.5 points per contest while Bradshaw chips in an average of 14.0. White holds an average of 10.7. Junior Tyler Hines (Sicklerville, N.J.) and senior Freddy Obame Obame (Libreville, Gabon) lead the team in rebounding with respective averages of 6.7 and 6.0 rebounds per game.
DSU is currently 2-3 on the season and lost their last two contests on the road against La Salle (65-51) and South Carolina (74-61). Their game against UMES will be their third in six days and is the third of six games in a span of 12 days for the Hornets. DSU is led in scoring by freshman Desi Washington with 14.2 points per game and sophomore Marques Oliver with 11.8 points per game. Oliver also leads the team in rebounding with 5.2 while junior Jay Threatt posts an average of 5.0.
Saturday's game will mark the 20th meeting between the MEAC rival Hawks and Hornets. Last season, the two teams split as UMES won at home, 53-50, on Dec. 5 and DSU won at Memorial Hall, 57-37, on March 4.
The contest between the Hawks and Hornets can be heard live on the Internet at UMESHawks.com thanks to allinbroadcasting.com and on the Hawks Radio Network on 95.9 The Sports Animal. Bret Lasky has the call for UMES while Dave Vatz hosts the studio show.
HALEY IN RHYTHM Hillary Haley has scored 64 games in his last three contests, including 32 points against Navy. Haley ranks sixth in the MEAC conference in scoring, behind C.J. Reed of Bethune-Cookman who leads the league in scoring at 21.6 per. Haley was the only Hawks player to score in double figures in both games against DSU last year (14 in first game, 11 in second game).
ASSIST WATCH In just one season and six games, Kevin White has 212 career assists. He set the single-season UMES record last year with 172. He has 40 assists so far this year and is on pace to break the UMES career record of 302, held by Joel Hoover. White posted 18 assists in the last two games as he had nine assists against both NIU and Navy and committed only six turnovers.
SECOND IN MEAC Kevin White ranks second in the MEAC in assists per game (6.7). White led the league last year in assists with 5.4 a contest. Jay Threatt of Delaware State leads the league (6.8).
TOPS IN THE MEAC Through six games, UMES leads the MEAC in scoring offense (74.8 per) while North Carolina A&T is second with 74.6. The Hawks also rank second in the league in free throw percentage (71) and assists (14.2) and third in offensive rebounds (14.5).
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).
THREE STRAIGHT Dishawn Bradshaw has scored in double figures in three straight games and has scored 53 during the stretch (17.6). Bradshaw leads the Hawks with five double figure scoring games. He scored nine points against American University in the only game he failed to reach double figures. Bradshaw ranks 10th in the MEAC in scoring.
CAN'T STOP THE STAR The Hawks have allowed an opposing player to score at least 25 points in four straight games. American's Vlad Moldoveanu scored 31 on Nov. 17, Kean University's Jonathan Jones scored 31 on Nov. 20, Northern Illinois' Xavier Silas scored 34 points on Nov. 24 and Navy's Greg Brown poured in 28 on Nov. 27.
HINES ON THE OFFENSIVE Tyler Hines is one of the best offensive rebounders in the MEAC conference as he has 21 offensive rebounds through six games (3.5). He had six offensive rebounds against NIU and no other Hawk player has more than ten (Obame Obame, Hillary Haley). Hines has 162 offensive rebounds in his two-plus year career at UMES. Hines ranks seventh in the conference in rebounding and second in offensive rebounds. Thomas Coleman of N.C. A&T leads the league with 26 offensive rebounds.
FREE THROW SUCCESS The Hawks have been solid at the line this season, shooting 71.0 (110-155) percent through six games. Dishawn Bradshaw, Hillary Haley and Tim Burns are all shooting above 80 percent so far. UMES has shot below 65% at the line in each of the last six seasons.
17 OF LAST 18 Hillary Haley has made 17 of his last 18 free throws dating back to the American University game and went 4-for-5 in the overtime period at Navy. Haley has made 25-of-28 (89%) this year and ranks third in the MEAC in free throw percentage.
FOUR STRAIGHT ROAD GAMES The Hawks will not have another home game until Dec. 21 when they play Washington College (Md.). Over the next 17 days, they will play four road games and face opponents that have a combined record of 13-4.
DEFENSIVE ISSUES The Hawks have allowed five of their six opponents to score over 80 points. They are allowed 83.2 points per game, which is the most in the MEAC. UMES opponents are shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor (169-350).
EFFICIENT FRONTCOURT Tyler Hines and Freddy Obame Obame have been very efficient this season. Hines is shooting 61.8 percent from the floor this season (21-34) while Obame Obame is 18-of-32 (56.3 percent). Hines ranks third in the MEAC while Obame ranks sixth.
TWO 3-POINT THREATS So far this season, the Hawks have just two 3-point threats. Dishawn Bradshaw is 14-of-36 and Hillary Haley is 10-of-26. Against Navy, Louis Bell shot 5-of-7 from three.
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 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 85 games at UMES while Tim Burns has played in 98 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 FG defense (29.6 percent). Only four teams shot 40 percent or better from beyond the arc against UMES (Eastern Michigan, The Citadel, Nebraska and Howard). UMES held 17 of their 32 opponents under 30 percent from 3-point range.
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 also airs on WGOP 540 AM and umeshawks.com. The next show will be on Dec. 16.
HORNETS SCOUTING REPORT Delaware State has played in five games, falling in their last two on the road against La Salle and South Carolina. DSU led La Salle by nine at the half (39-31) and the Explorers did not take their first lead until 1:05 left in the second half. La Salle scored the final 10 points of the game. Delaware State also led South Carolina 39-37 at the half. The Hornets are forcing 19.4 turnovers per game, most in the MEAC. The Hornets also lead the MEAC in steals per game at 11.0. Their game against UMES will be the third in six days and is the third of six games in a span of 12 days. UMES is the only home game in that stretch, with road games against Maine, Pittsburgh and Delaware coming up next week.
PLAYING TOUGH ON THE ROAD Despite losing all three road contests so far in the 2010-11 season, the Hornets have played each opponent close, losing by four to La Salle, 13 to South Carolina and 18 to Maryland. In their two previous contests, Delaware State was up at halftime: by eight against La Salle and by four against South Carolina.
STRONG DEFENSE The Hornets have allowed just 61.6 points per contest, second best in the MEAC to only Hampton (53.7). Delaware State leads the MEAC in scoring margin, winning by an average of 6.8 points per game; however they rank 11th in the conference in field goal percentage defense at 48.1 percent.
THRIFTY FROM THREE Delaware State leads the conference in three point shooting with 44 shots made from 111 attempted (39.6%). Desi Washington, the Hornets top scorer, is 47.2 percent from beyond the arc (17/36).
A REAL THREATT Junior point guard Jay Threatt leads the MEAC in assists per game with 6.8, 0.1 above UMES's Kevin White at 6.7. No other player in the MEAC averages over 4.5 assists per game as of Friday. Threatt also leads the conference in steals per game with 3.5 per contest.
OLIVER! Sophomore forward Marques Oliver is Delaware State's primary rebounding threat, averaging 11.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Despite averaging over five-and-a-half points a game last year, Oliver only played a combined seven minutes in the two games against UMES last season, not taking a shot and grabbing one rebound.
THE COACH Greg Jackson enters his 11th year as Delaware State's head coach, with nine out of his ten seasons getting double digit wins. In 2005, the Hornets won the MEAC and lost by 11 points to 1-seed Duke in the NCAA Tournament. 2005 was the first of three regular season championships won by Delaware State. Previously, Jackson was the head coach of then Division II North Carolina Central.
