#20 Emporia State takes on #9 Central Oklahoma in a big Monday matchup

Men's Basketball | 1/1/2023 7:05:00 PM

Game #13
#20 Emporia State Hornets (10-2, 4-2 MIAA)
at #9 Central Oklahoma Bronchos (12-1, 6-1 MIAA)
Monday, January 2, 2023 • 7:30 p.m. • Edmond, Okla. • Hamilton Fieldhouse
Series Record: UCO leads 25-16 Last Meeting: UCO 88, at ESU 83 (Jan. 26, 2022)   
Radio: KFFX 104.9FM  Internet Audio: kvoe.com
Television: None Internet Video: The MIAA Network
Live Stats • Ticket Info • Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next: Lincoln • Thursday, January 5, 2023 • 7:30 p.m.
Emporia, Kan. • W.L.White Auditorium

BIG MONDAY IN OKLAHOMA      
The #20 Hornets are in Edmond, Okla. to take on #9 Central Oklahoma in the second top 25 matchup of the season for Emporia State.

LAST TIMEOUT
The Hornets used an 11-2 run, fueled mostly by their bench, to erase an early deficit on the way to an 89-64 win at Newman on Saturday afternoon. The Jets jumped out to a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. Emporia State made a wholesale substitution and promptly went on an 11-2 run with Atavian Butler scoring six of the points. Newman would tie the game at 17 with 12:54 left when ESU went on a 10-0 run to take the lead for good. The Jets closed to within six at 39-33 with 3:08 left in the half but the Hornets closed the period on a 10-4 run to take a 49-37 lead to the locker room. The lead would reach 30 points in the second half when Tyreek Robinson hit a free throw to make it 89-59 with 2:39 left. Atavian Butler had 17 points to lead four Hornets in double figures. Alijah Comithier had 16 points, Owen Long added 11 and Gage McGuire scored ten points with six rebounds and four assists.

THE COACHES
Craig Doty is 65-57 in his fifth season at Emporia State. In his 11th season as a head coach at the D2, NAIA, and NJCAA level he is 227-107 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 3-5 against Central Oklahoma.
Bob Hoffman is 60-37 in his fourth year at UCO and 667-373 in his 32nd year as a head coach. He is 5-1 against Emporia State.

ABOUT THE HORNETS
Emporia State is 10-2, 4-2 in the MIAA and ranked #20 in the NABC National Poll. They are ranked 16th in the nation in free throws made and attempted, 18th in field goal percentage defense and 19th in scoring defense while leading the MIAA in blocked shots. Owen Long is the leading scorer at 16.8 points per game.

ABOUT THE BRONCHOS
Central Oklahoma 12-1, 6-1 in the MIAA and ranked #9 in the nation. They are second in the nation in field goal percentage defense, third in scoring defense and scoring margin, fourth in steals and sixth in turnover margin. Jaden Wells is the leading scorer at 19.2 points per game.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 42nd meeting between the two with Central Oklahoma holding a 25-16 lead.

LAST TIME VS CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
Central Oklahoma held on to defeat Emporia State 88-83. UCO had their biggest lead of the game at 25-16 with 12:26 left in the half. The Hornets went on an 18-4 run to take a 38-31 lead with 4:46 left in the half and led 45-41 at the break. Tray Buchanan hit one of two free throws following a technical on the UCO bench with 15:09 left to make it 57-47 with 15:09 left. The Bronchos used a 13-2 run to take a 76-71 lead with 3:44 left. Buchanan had a potential game tying three-pointer bounce off the front of the rim.  Buchanan had 32 points,  Jumah'Ri Turner scored 17 points, Mayuom Buom had 12 and Kaden Evans added 11 points.

UP NEXT
The #20 Hornets return to White Auditorium on Thursday to play Lincoln. Tip is at 7:30 p.m.

DOTY MAGIC
Three-time National Champion head coach Craig Doty is in his fifth season as head coach at Emporia State. He is 227-107 in his 11th year at the NCAA D2, NAIA and NJCAA levels, including an 113-77 mark in conference play. Doty is 114-79 as a head coach at four year schools with a 65-57 record since taking over for the Hornets.
He is 74-33 (.692) in games played in February and March with a 29-7 (.806) 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.

IN THE RANKINGS
The Hornets are ranked #20 this week in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) National Poll. Emporia State is one of three MIAA schools in the top 25. This is the fourth straight week the Hornets have been ranked, their longest streak since the first four weeks of the 2007-08 season. This year is the first since the 2007-08 season Emporia State has cracked the Top 25. The Hornets spent 22 weeks in the NABC Top 25 from 2003-08, getting as high as seventh in the nation on three different occasions.  In two computerized ratings systems this week the Hornets are ranked #10 in the Massey Ratings and #15 in the Wilson ratings system.

MORE BALANCE
The duo of Tray Buchanan and Jumah'Ri Turner was the top scoring back court in the nation last year. Buchanan led the nation in scoring at 25.6 points per game while Turner averaged 19.8 to rank third in the MIAA. Their combined 45.4 points per game was the top average in NCAA Division II for a pair of guards.  However they were the only Hornets to average in double figures last season. This year Owen Long is leading ESU at 16.8 points per game and Alijah Comithier is averaging 13.8 points. Mayuom Buom is at 9.9 points per game, Kaden Evans is scoring 8.3 points per game while Atavian Butler scores 8.0 points per game off the bench

GETTING STARTED
The Hornets opened the season 7-0 for the first time since going 16-0 to open the 2006-07 season.  It is the tenth time in 119 seasons of Emporia State basketball that the Hornets have opened the year 7-0 and the first time at least six of the wins have come against D2 teams.

GIVE ME 20
Emporia State won 20 games for the first time since the 2007 season when they finished the year 21-8 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Last year was 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 110-66 win over Saint Mary marked the 103rd time the Hornets have cracked the century mark in their history.  They have reached 100 points seven times in 122 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 David Moe (288 games in 10 seasons), five times under Shaun Vandiver (199 games in seven seasons), three times under Gus Fish (602 games in 25 seasons) and once under Marc Comstock (82 games in three seasons).

REGIONALLY SPEAKING
The NCAA Central Region is made up of teams in the MIAA, Northern Sun and Great American Conferences. The MIAA is 12-15 against the region with an 8-10 record against the NSIC and a 4-5 record against the GAC. Last year the MIAA was 19-18 against the rest of the region with a 9-6 record against the GAC and a 10-12 record against  the NSIC. According to the latest NCAA stats, the MIAA has the best record against outside competition in the nation with a 60-24 (.714) mark against all outside competition. In addition the MIAA is the only conference in the nation where every team's opponents winning percentage is at least .500 on the season. The NSIC is 62-26 (.705) and the GAC is 40-29 (.580) against outside competition.

FRIENDLY CONFINES
The Hornets are 415-196 (.679) since 1979 in White Auditorium. Emporia State has won 199 of their last 290 games (.686) 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
Emporia State men's basketball fans helped the Hornets rank in the top ten in attendance among the over 300 NCAA Division II basketball playing schools last season. The #7 national ranking continued a string of 19 straight years, not counting COVID, ranking in the top 25 in attendance for Emporia State.
The Hornets drew 19,627 total fans for an average of 1,402 fans to their 14 home games at Slaymaker Court in White Auditorium during the 2021-22 season to rank seventh nationally.   Emporia State had a season high 2,865 for their game against Washburn on February 26 on Senior Day.   Emporia State outdrew 123 NCAA Division I schools in total attendance during the 2021-22 school year including eight teams that made the NCAA Tournament. Within the Division II ranks, the Hornets outdrew 60 of the 64 teams that were selected for the NCAA Tournament, including six of the eight #1 seeds and six of the teams that made the Elite Eight.
The Hornets were among six MIAA teams in the top 15 nationally. As a conference the MIAA drew 210,078 fans to 203 games to lead all Division II conference in average attendance at 1,035 fans per game. It is the 13th straight year the MIAA has led the nation in average attendance. The MIAA's total attendance was better than eight NCAA Division I conferences. The Central Region had a total of eight teams ranked in the top 25 as two teams from the NSIC were on the list as well. All three conferences within the Central Region were ranked in the top ten nationally.

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 35th 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 Tray Buchanan and Brenden Van Dyke both signed professional contracts following last season, giving the Hornets six professional players in the last four seasons. Buchanan signed with AEL-Limassol in Limassol, Cyprus while Van Dyke signed with CD Agulia San Miguel in El Salvador
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.

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.