NCAA Tournament Time for Emporia State Men's Basketball

Men's Basketball | 3/8/2023 10:01:00 AM

Game #31
Emporia State Hornets (22-8, 15-7 MIAA)
vs. #18 Northern State Wolves (24-6, 19-3 NSIC)
NCAA Central Regional Tournament
Saturday, March 11, 2023 • 2:15 p.m. • Maryville, Mo. • Bearcat Arena
Series Record: ESU leads 2-0 Last Meeting: ESU 77, NSU 72 (1961 NAIA National Tournament)   
Radio: KVOE 96.9FM/1400AM  Internet Audio: kvoe.com
Television: None Internet Video: The MIAA Network
Live Stats • Ticket Info • Complete Notes in pdf
ESU NCAA Media Guide in pdf
Up Next: Winner vs. UCO or UMD  • Sunday, March 12, 2023 • 5:00 p.m.
Maryville, Mo. • Bearcat Arena

LET'S GO DANCING
Emporia State takes on #18 Northern State in the first round of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament.

LAST TIMEOUT
A seven-minute stretch in the second half proved to be the difference in a 63-52 loss by Emporia State to Northwest Missouri. The Bearcats jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first four minutes before the Hornets answered with an 8-2 run of their own to pull within 11-10 at the 13:11 mark. The teams went back and forth the rest of the half as NWMSU took a 28-26 lead to the break.  Kaden Evans hit a free throw to give the Hornets a 31-30 lead with 16:29 left.  Northwest scored the next five points to take a 35-31 lead. ALijah Comithier hit a turnaround jumper with 13:59 left to bring ESU within 39-36 when the Bearcats went on a 13-2 run to take control. Comithier had 20 points with nine rebounds and was joined in double figures by Mayuom Buom with 11 points on five of five shooting from the field. As a team the Hornets went 0 for 11 from the three-point line.

THE COACHES
Craig Doty is 77-63 in his fifth season at Emporia State. In his 11th season as a head coach at the D2, NAIA, and NJCAA level he is 239-113 with three national championships. He was 49-22 in two year at Graceland, and won the 2018 NAIA National Championship. Doty spent four years at Rock Valley College winning two NJCAA D-III national championships to finish with a 113-28 record. This is his first meeting with Northern State.
Saul Phillips is 89-26 in his fourth year at Northern State and 304-187 in his 16th year overall. This is his first game with Emporia State.

ABOUT THE HORNETS
Emporia State is 22-8 overall and went 15-7 in the MIAA. They are the seventh seed in the Central Regional. This is their third trip to the NCAA Tournament and first since 2007. They are ranked 18th in the nation in scoring defense, 20th in blocks and 25th in field goal percentage defense. Owen Long is second in the MIAA in scoring and leads the league in made three-pointers. This is the third overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since 2007.

ABOUT THE WOLVES
Northern State is 24-6 overall, went 19-3 in the NSIC and are ranked #18 in the nation. They are the second seed in the Central Regional. All five starters average in double figures led by guard Sam Masten at 18.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. The Wolves are fifth in the nation in made three-pointers, averaging 11.2 per game.
 
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the third meeting between Emporia State and Northern State with all three contests coming in a national tournament. The Hornets won games in Kansas City during the 1957 and 1961 NAIA National Tournament.

LAST TIME VS NORTHERN STATE
The 12th seeded Hornets defeated the unseeded Wolves 77-72 in the first round of the 1961 NAIA National Tournament at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City.

UP NEXT
The winner will advance to the second round to take on the winner of the game between Central Oklahoma and Minn.-Duluth. Tip-off will be at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday in Bearcat Arena.

DOTY MAGIC
Three-time National Champion head coach Craig Doty is in his fifth season as head coach at Emporia State. He is 239-113 in his 11th year at the NCAA D2, NAIA and NJCAA levels, including an 124-82 mark in conference play. Doty is 126-85 as a head coach at four year schools with a 77-63 record since taking over for the Hornets.
He is 79-37 (.681) in games played in February and March with a 30-8 (.780) record in the post-season. Four of those eight 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.

LAST THREE YEARS
For the first time in school history Emporia State has recorded three straight years with at leas a .500 record in MIAA play. Starting in 2020-21 the Hornets have gone 41-25 (.621) in MIAA play with a 53-29 (.646) overall record.

HORNETS IN THE POST SEASON
This is Emporia State's third trip to the NCAA Tournament in 32 years as a member of the NCAA Division II. The Hornets first NCAA Tournament game was an 85-81 loss to Drury in Stephenville, Texas on March 13, 2004.  Their last appearance was a 72-66 loss to Southeastern Oklahoma on MArch 10, 2007.  Prior to joining the NCAA, Emporia State made ten trips to Kansas City for the NAIA National Tournament and compiled a record of 13-12 with a pair of national semifinal appearances. The finished fourth in 1947 and again in 1964.

REGIONALLY SPEAKING
The NCAA Central Region is made up of teams in the MIAA, Northern Sun and Great American Conferences. Emporia State is one of three MIAA teams in the regional field, tying the NSIC forthe most representatives in Maryville. The MIAA went 12-15 against the region in the regular season 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. The MIAA went 69-33 (.676) mark in non-conference competition and every team in the Association had an opponents winning percentage of over .500 on the season. The NSIC was 74-37 (.667) and the GAC went 48-35 (.578) against outside competition.

IN THE RANKINGS
The Hornets is receiving votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) National Poll this week, the 11th time this season they have received votes. Earlier this year ESU had a string of five straight weeks being ranked, their longest streak since a ten week span during the 2006-07 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 the Hornets are currently ranked #18 in the Massey Ratings and #20 in the Wilson ratings system.

CLOSERS
Emporia State is 20-1 on the season when leading at the 5:00 mark of the second half. PArt of that is due to the Hornets shooting 79.8% as a team from the free throw line in the final five minutes and overtime of games this year.

MORE BALANCE, STILL A 1-2 PUNCH
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.  This year Owen Long is leading ESU at 16.9 points per game and Alijah Comithier is averaging 14.7 points.  A total of ten different Hornets have scored in double figures at least once this year with eight having multiple games of at least ten points.

HOT START
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
The Hornets have won 20 games in back to back seasons for the first time since 1987-90. 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. This it the fourth time the Hornets have won 20 games as a member of the NCAA and the 12th time in school history. Emporia State had not won 20 games in back to back years since reaching the 20 win mark in three straight seasons from 1987-90. ESU won at least 20 games in five out of six seasons from 1985-90. Emporia State has won at least ten games in conference play 11 times over the last 33 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 140 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).

FRIENDLY CONFINES
The Hornets are 422-198 (.681) since 1979 in White Auditorium. Emporia State has won 206 of their last 299 games (.689) 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
In 14 home games this year the Hornets averaged 1,382 fans per game to rank eighth in the nation. 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
Games at the NCAA Central Regional will be available for free on the MIAA Network. 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.