Men's Basketball | 11/7/2024 10:04:00 AM
GAME 1
Emporia State Hornets (0-0) vs. Wayne State Wildcats (0-0)
Sunday, Oct. 27 • 6:30 p.m. • St. Joseph, Mo. • MWSU Fieldhouse
Series Record: ESU leads 17-10 •
Last Meeting: ESU 82, WSC 61 (1989-90 in Hays)
Radio: Hornet Sports Network KFFX-FM (104.9)/1490AM Topeka/103.7FM Kansas City
Internet Audio:
kvoe.com |
Television: None |
Internet Video:
The MIAA Network
Live Stats |
Ticket Info |
Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next: Northern State • Sunday, Nov. 10 • St. Joseph, Mo. • 12:00 PM
NEW ERA
Emporia State officially opens the
Tom Billeter era as they take on Wayne State in the Hillyard Tip-off Classic in St. Joseph, Mo.
LAST TIME OUT
Wichita State shot 52% from the field while Emporia State was held to 35% shooting in a 99-53 Shocker win in exhibition action in Koch Arena. Wichita State jumped out to a 12-2 lead in the first 2:41 of the game. Emporia State answered with an 8-0 run to pull within two points with 14:41 left in the first half. The Shockers then went on an 18-3 run to take a 28-13 lead at the under eight media timeout with 7:41 left. The Shockers led 52-25 at the break after hitting 18 of 33 from the field and hitting 11 of 15 from the charity stripe in the first half. The Hornets were 11 of 33 from the field, three of 15 from beyond the arc, and missed their only free throw of the half. Emporia State did have a 10-6 advantage in second chance points in the first half. The second half started with a 14-3 run by the Shockers to go up 66-28 with 16:50 left. They would take their biggest lead of the night 90-41 with 5:58 remaining. Malik Edwards had 15 points on seven of 15 shooting with three assists.
Chris Harris had a team high six rebounds to go with eight points for the Hornets.
ABOUT THE COACHES
Tom Billeter is in his first season at Emporia State after going 393-224 in 21 seasons with the Vikings and is 490-274 in 26 seasons as a head coach. He took the Vikings to nine NCAA Tournaments, won three regular season NSIC Championships, two NSIC Tournament Championships, and 18 consecutive winnings seasons since 2007. He was 25-10 against Wayne State while at Augie.
Jeff Kaminsky is 114-112 in his ninth year at Wayne State. This is his first meeting with Emporia State.
UP NEXT
The Hornets return to St. Joseph on Sunday to take on Northern State. Tip-off is at 12:00 p.m.
ABOUT THE HORNETS
Emporia State is in their first year under coach
Tom Billeter. They went 19-12 last year with a 12-10 mark in the MIAA. It will be an almost entirely new roster this season as only one player who saw action for the Hornets last year is on this year's roster. Malik Edwards had 15 points to lead Emporia State in their exhibition game at Wichita State while
Chris Harris had a team high six rebounds to go with eight points.
ABOUT THE WILDCATS
Wayne State was 16-14 last season with a 9-13 record in the NSIC. The Wildcats were picked 12th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll. Cody McCullough is their top returning scorer from last year at 8.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game while Jay Saunders also started 28 games, averaging 3.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.
SERIES HISTORY
Emporia State leads the series 17-10 with the last meeting coming in 1990 in the final season of the Central States Intercollegiate Conference.
LAST TIME VS WAYNE STATE
Emporia State and Wayne State last met at the 1990 CSIC Classic held in Hays, Kan. The Hornets picked up an 82-61 victory behind 18 points from Tom Burton and eight rebounds from Eddie Williams.
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 72-42 overall record.
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 38 of their last 40 games when leading at the 5:00 minute mark of the second half.
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.
1500 AND COUNTING
The Hornets have won 1,510 games in their 119 years 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).
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.
REGIONALLY SPEAKING
The NCAA Central Region is made up of teams in the MIAA, Northern Sun and Great American Conferences. The MIAA went 19-10 against the region with a 7-9 record against the NSIC and 12-1 against the GAC. The MIAA was 76-35 (.685) against outside competition last year with a 50-33 (.602) mark against D2 foes. The NSIC was 87-38 (.696) out of conference with a 65-37 (.637) record against D2 while the GAC was 37-48 (.435) overall and 17-46 (.270) against D2 schools.
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.
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.
