Men's Basketball | 1/29/2025 9:53:00 AM
GAME 20
Emporia State (6-13, 3-7 MIAA) vs Rogers State (15-7, 6-4 MIAA)
Thursday, Jan. 30 • 7:30 p.m. • Emporia, Kan. • WL White Auditorium
Series Record: RSU leads 8-4 •
Last Meeting: at RSU 83, ESU 76 (2/3/2024)
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: Central Okla. • Sunday, Feb. 2 • 3:30 p.m. • Emporia, Kan. • WL White Auditorium
ROGER THAT
Emporia State plays host to Rogers State in the third game of a four game homestand at White Auditorium.
ABOUT THE HORNETS
Emporia State is 6-13, 3-7 in the MIAA. They have wins over a Top 20 NAIA team and a team receiving votes in the latest NABC D2 Poll. The Hornets are fifth in the MIAA in offensive rebounds.
Malik Edwards Jr. is 20th in the MIAA in scoring while
Parker Day is fifth in rebounding.
ABOUT THE HILLCATS
Rogers State is 15-7, 6-4 in the MIAA. Caden Fry in third in the MIAA in rebounding.. The Hillcats are third in the Association in made field goal percentage and turnover margin.
ABOUT THE COACHES
Tom Billeter is 496-287 in his 27th season as a head coach and is 6-13 in his first season at Emporia State after going 393-224 in 21 years at Augustana. With the Vikings he won the 2016 National Championship, went to nine NCAA Tournaments, won three regular season NSIC Championships, two NSIC Tourney Championships, and 18 consecutive winning seasons. This is his first meeting with Rogers State.
Justin Barkley is 282-152 in his 15th year at Rogers State. He is 8-4 against Emporia State
UP NEXT
The Hornets wrap up their four game homestand on Sunday against Central Oklahoma. Tip-off for Emporia State's Cancer Awareness Game is set for 3:30 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT
Emporia State raced out to a 23 point lead at the half on the way to an 81-75 win over Ark.-Fort Smith on Sunday afternoon at White Auditorium. The Lions were within 16-14 to start the game before the Hornets went on a 20-1 run to take control. After Emporia State scored eight straight UAFS hit a free throw with 6:19 left to make it 24-15. The Hornets then reeled off another 12 straight to go up 36-15 with 3:53 left. The Hornets would hold the Lions without a field goal for 7:46 before Isaiah Lewis scored on a put back with 3:11 left. Emporia State hit 18 of 33 (.545) shots in the first half, including a six of 14 effort from beyond the three-point arc while holding Ark.-Fort Smith to just seven of 25 (.280) from the field in the opening 20 minutes. The Lions went on a 10-0 run to get lead under double digits with 6:30 left in the game.
Brayson Laube hit
Malik Edwards Jr. for a lay up with 30.4 left to make it 78-70. The Hornets then hit three of four free throws in the final 19.3 seconds to ice the victory. Edwards led Emporia State with 22 points and was joined in double figures by
Karyiek Dixon with 14 and
Dallas Bear with 12 points. The Hornets forced 18 turnovers and out-scored the Lions 20-8 off those turnovers.
SERIES HISTORY
Rogers State leads the series 8-4 with the home team winning ten of the 12 meetings.
LAST TIME VS ROGERS STATE
In a game that saw 12 ties and 12 lead changes, Emporia State was outscored by 12 points from the free throw line in an 83-76 loss at Rogers State. The Hornets led 33-28 with 4:06 left in the half before the Hillcats ended the period on a 9-1 run to take a 37-34 lead to the locker rooms. Emporia State took a 40-39 lead less than two minutes into the second half only to see Rogers State use a 10-2 run to go up 49-42 at the first media timeout. Back to back three-pointers by
Owen Long and
Kaden Evans pulled the Hornets within 60-59 with 8:12 left. After that the Hillcats would score 15 of their final 23 points from the free throw line on the way to the 83-76 final.
Owen Long had 20 points to lead four Hornets in double figures.
Atavian Butler scored 17,
Cael McGee had a career high 16 points and
Alijah Comithier scored 12 for the Hornets.
1500 AND COUNTING
The Hornets have won 1,516 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. Overall in non-conference action the NSIC is 62-40, the MIAA is 78-52 and the GAC is 39-31. This year the MIAA is 16-24 against the region with a 10-12 record against the NSIC and a 6-12 mark against the GAC.
The MIAA is one of four Division II conferences, and the only one in the Central Region, in which every team's opponents winning percentage is at .500 or above with a winning conference record against D2 opponents.
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.
FRIENDLY CONFINES
The Hornets are 439-206 (.681) since 1979 in White Auditorium. Emporia State has won 224 of their last 325 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.
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 56-42 in MIAA play with a 78-53 overall record.
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
There is one MIAA team in the Top 25 and one more receiving votes in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) National Poll. Emporia State received votes in seven NABC National Polls last season and were in the Top 25 the first five weeks of the season. 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 44 of their last 47 games when leading at the 5:00 minute mark of the second half. They are 6-1 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.
The MIAA has entered into an agreement with Scripps Media and their independent television station KMCI, serving the Kansas City metropolitan area on 38 The Spot, to continue its MIAA TV Game of the Week broadcasts throughout the 2025 NCAA Division II basketball season. Beginning with Turnpike Tussle January 4 in White Auditorium, 38 The Spot will broadcast NCAA Division II men's and women's basketball games from nine different MIAA campuses in January and February. The broadcast schedule will wrap up with the live broadcast of the MIAA men's and women's championship games from the 2025 basketball tournament at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City on March 9.
