TOURNAMENT TURNPIKE TUSSLE FOR EMPORIA STATE AGAINST WASHBURN ON FRIDAY

Men's Basketball | 3/1/2022 8:19:00 PM

Game #29
Emporia State Hornets (20-8, 15-7 MIAA)
vs. Washburn Ichabods (19-9, 16-6 MIAA)
Friday, March 4, 2022 • 6:00 p.m. • Kansas City, Mo. • Municipal Auditorium
Series Record: WU leads 112-105 Last Meeting: WU 85, at ESU 59 (Feb. 26, 2022)   
Radio: KFFX 104.9FM  Internet Audio: kvoe.com
Television: None Internet Video: www.themiaanetwork.com/esuhornets
Live Stats • Tournament Central • Complete Notes in pdf
ESU Men's Basketball MIAA Guide in pdf
Up Next: Winner to MIAA Semifinals • Saturday, March 5, 2022 • 6:00 p.m.
Kansas City, Mo. • Municipal Auditorium

TOURNEY STYLE TURNPIKE TUSSLE     
Emporia State and Washburn meet in the MIAA Tournament Quarterfinals. It is the second meeting in six days between the two.

LAST TIME OUT
Playing without the nation's leading scorer, Emporia State hit just two of 18 three-pointers after the half in an 85-59 loss to Washburn. Tray Buchanan hit back to back threes to give the Hornets a 9-8 lead with 16:16 left in the half.  Washburn led 33-26 when Buchanan scored on a layup with 4:04 left to cut the lead to 33-28 but came up limping. The Ichabods took a 40-33 lead to the half. With Buchanan not able to play, the Ichabods opened the half on a 10-0 run to take a 50-33 lead with 17:20 left.  The Hornets would get one three-pointer from Kaden Evans over the final 7:48 of the game as Washburn pulled away for the 85-59 win. Buchanan led Emporia State in scoring with 16 points in 16 minutes while Jumah'Ri Turner added 11 points.  

THE COACHES
Craig Doty is 55-54 in his fourth season at Emporia State and 1-2 in the MIAA Tournament with both losses to NWMSU. In his ninth season as a head coach at the D2, NAIA, and NJCAA level he is 217-104 with three national championships. He was 49-22 in two seasons at Graceland, and won the 2018 NAIA National Championship. Doty spent four years at Rock Valley College winning two NJCAA Division III national championships to finish with a 113-28 record. He is 1-5 against WU.
Brett Ballard is 91-39 in his fifth year at Washburn, 134-77 in his seventh year overall and 7-3 in the MIAA Tournament. He is 6-2 against Emporia State.

ABOUT THE HORNETS
Emporia State is 20-8, 15-7 in the MIAA. The Hornets have won 20 games for the first time since 2007. They lead the MIAA in blocks and are second in scoring and made three-pointers. Tray Buchanan is the nation's leading scorer while Jumah'Ri Turner is third in the MIAA in scoring.

ABOUT THE ICHABODS
Washburn is 19-9, 16-6 in the MIAA and have won 15 of their last 19 games. They lead the MIAA in turnover margin and are second in assist to turnover ratio. Tyler Geiman is their leading scorer at 15.5 points per game after missing seven games early in the year. WU went 3-4 without him with two of the wins over NAIA teams.
 
SERIES HISTORY
According to Emporia State records this will be the 218th meeting between the two schools with Washburn leading 112-105. The Ichabods have won four of five matchups in the MIAA Tournament with the last meeting in 2012.

LAST TIME VS WASHBURN
Refer to second paragraph of these notes.
The last MIAA Tournament meeting between the two saw the eighth seeded Hornets fall 67-51 to the top seeded Ichabods in 2012. Taylor Euler led ESU with 12 points.

UP NEXT
The winner will take on the winner of Thursday's  quarterfinal contest between Central Oklahoma and either Central Missouri or Northeastern State on Saturday, March 5 in the semifinals in Kansas City, Mo. at 6:00 p.m.

DOTY MAGIC
Three-time National Champion head coach Craig Doty is in his fourth season as head coach at Emporia State. He is 216-104 in his ninth year at the NCAA D2, NAIA and NJCAA levels, including an 109-75 mark in conference play. Doty is 103-76 as a head coach at four year schools with a 55-54 record since taking over for the Hornets.
He is 74-32 (.705) in games played in February and March with a 29-6 (.829) record in the post-season. Three of those six post season losses were to the eventual national champion.
Doty led Rock Valley College and Graceland University to national prominence earlier in his career. In just two seasons at Graceland, Doty's program had a 49-22 record and won the 2018 NAIA Division I National Championship in the school's first trip to the national tournament at Kansas City's historic Municipal Auditorium. The Yellowjackets started the 2017-18 season 10-8 and ended the year winning 19 of their final 21 games. Along the way Doty earned NAIA National Coach of the Year, HoopDirt.com NAIA National Coach of the Year, and the 2018 Don Meyer Award.
Doty's programs at Rock Valley College won NJCAA Division III National titles in 2014 and 2016 while his 2015 squad came up just short finishing National Runner-up.

GIVE ME 20
Emporia State has won 20 games for the first time since the 2007 season when they finished the year 21-8 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. This is the third time the Hornets have won 20 games as a member of the NCAA and the 11th time in school history.  ESU won at least 20 games in five out of six seasons from 1985-90.
The Hornets 15-5 start was their best record after 20 games since opening the 2006-07 season 18-2.   
Emporia State has won at least ten games in conference play ten times over the last 32 seasons.

CENTURY MARK
Emporia State's 112-54 win over Tabor marked the 102nd time the Hornets have cracked the century mark in their history.  They have reached 100 points six times in 109 games under Coach Doty, matching their total for the previous eight seasons combined.  
The Hornets scored at least 100 points 60 times under coach Ron Slaymaker (827 total games in 28 seasons), 26 times under coach David Moe (288 games in 10 seasons), five times under Shaun Vandiver (199 games in seven seasons), three times under coach Gus Fish (602 games in 25 seasons) and once under coach Marc Comstock (82 games in three seasons).

TOUGH ENOUGH
The NCAA Central Region is made up of teams in the MIAA, Northern Sun and Great American Conferences. So far this season the MIAA is 16-17 against the rest of the region with a 9-6 record against the GAC and a 7-11 record against  he NSIC. The NSIC has an 10-3 record against the GAC and is 17-14 in region while the GAC is 9-19 in region.

IN THE RANKINGS
Emporia State received votes in the NABC National Poll for five straight weeks earlier this year.  It is the second straight year the Hornets have received votes in the NABC poll.  Emporia State was not in the first NCAA Central Regional Rankings.
The Regional Rankings are based on the following criteria in no particular order:
? In-region winning percentage;
? Division II winning percentage;
? Division II strength of schedule (opponents' average winning percentage and opponents' opponents' average winning percentage);
? Division II head-to-head competition; and
? Results versus Division II common opponents.
The Division II Men's Basketball Committee may consider the following criteria in the selection of at-large teams for the Division II Men's Basketball Championship (in no particular order):
? Rating percentage index (RPI);
? Performance indicator; and
? Record vs. ranked teams.
Additionally, input is provided by regional advisory committees for consideration by the Division II Men's Basketball Committee

TOP SCORERS
The duo of Tray Buchanan and Jumah'Ri Turner are the top scoring back court in the nation. Turner leads the nation in scoring at 25.7 points per game while Turner is averaging 19.6 to rank third in the MIAA. Their combined 45.3 points per game is the top average in NCAA Division II for a pair of guards.  The next best scoring combo in the nation is Salem's backcourt of Fonz Hale (21.5) and Tobias Howard (20.2 ppg) who combine to score 41.9 points per game.

FRIENDLY CONFINES
The Hornets are 412-195 (.680) since 1979 in White Auditorium. Emporia State has won 196 of their last 286 games (.688) in White Auditorium dating back to the 2002-03 season. In the last 35 years, they have twice had home court winning streaks of at least 20 games. The first was 23 games from 1985-87 followed by a school record 25 game streak from February 12, 2003-January 1, 2005.  They have posted home winning seasons in 18 of the last 20 seasons.

HORNETS RANK IN NATION IN ATTENDANCE
The Hornets are currently ranked sixth in the nation in average attendance at 1,402 fans per game. Emporia State has had four games with at least 2,000 fans in White Auditorium this season.
Prior to the COVID pandemic restricting attendance, the Emporia State men's basketball team had a string of 18 straight years ranking in the top 25 in attendance among the over 300 NCAA Division II basketball playing schools.
The Hornets drew 21,675 total fans for an average of 1,355 fans to their 16 home games at Slaymaker Court in White Auditorium during the 2019-20 season to rank 18th nationally.  
Emporia State outdrew 109 NCAA Division I schools in total attendance during the 2019-20 school year. Within the Division II ranks, the Hornets outdrew 55 of the 64 teams that were selected for the NCAA Tournament, including five of the eight #1 seeds.
The Hornets were among seven MIAA teams in the top 25 nationally. As a conference the MIAA drew 251,994 fans to 196 games to lead all Division II conference in average attendance at 1,286 fans per game. It is the 12th straight year the MIAA has led the nation in average attendance. The MIAA's total attendance was better than seven NCAA Division I conferences. The Central Region had a total of nine teams ranked in the top 25 as two teams from the NSIC were on the list as well.

ON THE COURT
The court at William L. White Auditorium was formally named Ron Slaymaker Court at half-time of the Hornets win over Washburn on Feb. 28, 2014 after the City of Emporia approved a proclamation at their Feb. 20, 2014  city commission meeting.

AND IN THE RAFTERS
Dale Cushinberry (1966-69) - Cushinberry was an All-American for Emporia State and became the first Hornet with 1,000 points and 700 rebounds.
•Wilbur Reeser (1944-48) - Reeser was named an NAIB All-American and was the Hornets leading scorer as the won a conference championship in 1948.
•Ron Slaymaker (Player 1954-60, Coach 1970-98) - As a player Slaymaker was named All-Conference and All-American during the 1957-58 season. As a coach he won an ESU leading 462 games from 1970-98.
•Jim Fraley (1956-60) - Fraley was the school's all-time leading scorer (1,509) until Brian Robinson broke his record in 1985. He was named Second-team NAIA All-American.
•Doug Glaysher (1960-64) - Glaysher was named an All-American after leading the Hornets to the NAIA National Semi-finals in 1964. He graduated as the second leading scorer in ESU history.
•Brian Robinson (1984-86) - Robinson was named a first team All-American in both his junior and senior season. He is the ESU all-time leading scorer with 2,533 career points.

LISTEN & WATCH LIVE
Video webcasts for all of Emporia State's regular season home games are available on a pay per view basis from the MIAA Network. Content is available live and is immediately archived for on-demand viewing after each event at www.themiaanetwork.com. Audio of all Emporia State games are available on KFFX 104.9FM and at www.kvoe.com with Greg Rahe on the call. KFFX is in their 32nd straight year as the radio home of Hornet Athletics, the longest active streak between a commercial station and an MIAA school. All games will also be available on the internet at www.kvoe.com.

TURNING PRO
Emporia State's Julius Jackson became the fourth Hornet men's basketball player to sign professionally following the 2018-19 season when he signed a professional contract with Raiders Basket Jarvenpaa in Finland. Hassan Thomas signed with Sampaense Basket of Portugal Proliga while Malik Hluchoweckyj signed with KK Bratunac of the Bosnia BiH Liga also signed pro contracts overseas while Kooper Glick played with the Washington Generals - the regular opponent of the Harlem Globetrotters. It is the first time in school history the Hornets  had four players from the same class sign to play professionally in the same year.