Trip to Liberty, Mo. up next for Emporia State Men's Basketball

Men's Basketball | 11/18/2024 4:15:00 PM

GAME 3
Emporia State (1-2) at William Jewell (2-1)
Tuesday, November 19 • 7:30 p.m. • Liberty, Mo. • Mabee Center
Series Record: ESU leads 8-7 • Last Meeting: ESU 67, at WJC 57 (11/18/22)
Radio: Hornet Sports Network KFFX-FM (104.9)/1490AM Topeka/103.7FM Kansas City 
Internet Audio: kvoe.com | Television: None | Internet Video: The GLVC Network
Live Stats | Ticket Info | Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next: vs. Fort Lewis • Friday, Nov. 22 • Gunnison, Colo. • 5:30 PM (MT)

TOUR OF THE GLVC
Emporia State continues their six game season opening road trip at William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo. It is the second of three non-conference games against GLVC teams for the Hornets.

LAST TIME OUT
Emporia State jumped out to a 17-4 lead to open the game but Truman State would shoot 75% from the field in the final 14 minutes of the first half on the way to a 91-79 Bulldog victory in Kirksville, Mo.
With the score 19-6 the Bulldogs went on an 11-0 run to close within 19-17 before Donald Coats III scored to break the run with 10:48 left in the half. 
Four of the five Emporia State starters scored in double figures led by Malik Edwards with 19 points.  Brayson Laube scored 17 while Arhman Lewis added 12 and Donald Coats chipped in 11 points. 

ABOUT THE COACHES
Tom Billeter is 1-2 in his first season at Emporia State and is 491-276 in his 27th season as a head coach after going 393-224 in 21 years at Augustana. With the Vikings he won the 2016 National Champoinship, went to nine NCAA Tournaments, won three regular season NSIC Championships, two NSIC Tournament Championships, and 18 consecutive winnings seasons since 2007. This is his first meeting with William Jewell.
Chris McCabe is 68-75 in his sixth year at William Jewell. He is 0-3 against Emporia State.

UP NEXT
The Hornets travel to Gunnison, Colo. for games against Fort Lewis on Friday and Colorado-Mesa on Saturday.

ABOUT THE HORNETS
Emporia State is 1-2 in their first year under coach Tom Billeter. Six players are averaging over 7.5 points per game led by Malik Edwards at 15.7 and Brayson Laube at 15.3 points per game. Don Coats is averaging a team best 8.3 rebounds per game while he and Parker Day have each had at least ten rebounds in a game. Arhman Lewis is averaging 4.7 assists with a 3.5-1 assist to turnover ratio. 

ABOUT THE CARDINALS
William Jewell is 2-1 on the year following a 61-60 loss at MIAA member Pittsburg State in their last outing. Four of their five starters are averaging in double figures led by Jordan Jermain at 18.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. Eli Wingert is averaging 11.7 points and a team best 8.0 boards per game. 

SERIES HISTORY
Emporia State leads the all-time series 8-7 after the Hornets have won the last four match-ups. This is just the second trip to Liberty for Emporia State since February 27, 1922.

LAST TIME VS WILLIAM JEWELL
Emporia State put four players in double figures with a 67-57 win at William Jewell. Playing the first game in the Mabee Center since the passing of long time Cardinals coach Larry Holley, both teams took a shot clock violation to start the game by placing the ball on Holley's name on the court.  Emporia State would build a 12 point lead capped by back to back three-pointers from Owen Long and Alijah Comithier to take a 44-32 lead with 16:34 remaining. The Cardinals went on a 12-0 run and tied the game at 44 with 12:47 left. The Hornets answered with a 10-2 run of their own to go back up 54-46 with 9:28 left. Jewell pulled within three at 60-57 with 3:19 left but the Hornets would hit five of seven free throws in the final three minutes to secure the win. Comithier led Emporia State with 17 points and seven rebounds.  He was joined in double figures by Long with 14 points, Atavian Butler with 11 and Mayuom Buom ten points. 

1500 AND COUNTING
The Hornets have won 1,511 games in their 120th year of playing basketball. They are ranked 16th in total wins among active NCAA Division II schools.

CENTURY MARK
Emporia State's 100-73 win over Newman last year marked the 104th time the Hornets have cracked the century mark in their history.    
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), eight times under Craig Doty (173 games in six 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. This year the MIAA is 14-17 against the region with a 10-9 record against the NSIC and a 4-8 mark against the GAC. 
Seven of the last ten national champions have come from the Central Region, including coach Billeter's 2016 win at Augustana, and the region has been represented in eight of the last ten national championship games.

LAST THREE YEARS
For the first time in school history Emporia State has recorded three straight years with at least a .500 record in MIAA play. Starting in 2020-21 the Hornets have gone 53-35 in MIAA play with a 73-44 overall record. 

FRIENDLY CONFINES
The Hornets have won 18 of their last 21 games in White Auditorium. The 14 wins are the most home wins by the Hornets since they went 14-3 in 2006-07. They are 435-201 (.684) since 1979 in White Auditorium. Emporia State has won 36 of their last 45 (.800) games since the start of the 2021-22 season and 219 of their last 315 games (.695) 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 20 of the last 22 seasons.

HORNETS RANK IN NATION IN ATTENDANCE
In 17 home games last year the Hornets averaged 1,224 fans per game to rank 16th in the nation among the over 300 NCAA Division II basketball playing schools. It continued a string of 20 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. 

HORNETS IN THE POST SEASON
The 2022-23 season marked Emporia State's third trip to the NCAA Tournament in 33 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 next 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.

IN THE RANKINGS
Emporia State has received votes in seven National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) National Polls last season and were in the Top 25 the first five weeks of the season. There were two MIAA teams in the Top 25 and one more receiving votes in the final regular season NABC poll last year. During the 2022-23 season Emporia State had a string of five straight weeks being ranked, their longest streak since a ten week span during the 2006-07 season. 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.  

CLOSERS
The Hornets have won 39 of their last 42 games when leading at the 5:00 minute mark of the second half. They are 1-1 under Coach Billeter.

GIVE ME 20
The 2023 season was the fourth time Emporia State won 20 games as a member of the NCAA and the 12th time in school history. The Hornets 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 12 times over the last 34 seasons.

LISTEN & WATCH LIVE
Audio of all Emporia State games are available on the Hornet Sports Network across Northeast Kansas and into Missouri. Flagship station KFFX 104.9FM is joined by SportsRadio 1490AM in Topeka and 103.7FM in Kansas City as the Voice of the Hornets Blake Cripps calls the action. Audio is also available on kvoe.com and the Audacy app. KFFX is in their 37th straight year as the radio home of Hornet Athletics, the longest active streak between a commercial station and an MIAA school.
Video webcasts for all of Emporia State's regular season games are available on a pay per view basis from the MIAA Digital Network. The MIAA Network content is available live and is immediately archived for on-demand viewing after each event.  Fans can find the action on www.themiaanetwork.com and on The MIAA Network apps for Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, and Roku.

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.