Men's Basketball | 1/31/2025 4:09:00 PM
GAME 21
Emporia State (6-14, 3-8 MIAA) vs CENTRAL OKLAHOMA (12-8, 6-5 MIAA)
Sunday, Feb. 2 • 3:30 p.m. • Emporia, Kan. • WL White Auditorium
Series Record: UCO leads 27-16 •
Last Meeting: UCO 94, at ESU 86 (1/6/2024)
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: at Pittsburg State • Thursday, Feb. 6 • 7:30 p.m. • Pittsburg, Kan. • Lance Arena
THAT'S A LOT OF WINS
There will be over 1,100 combined wins between
Tom Billeter and Bob Hoffman when Emporia State plays host to Central Oklahoma.
ABOUT THE HORNETS
Emporia State is 6-14, 3-8 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 turnover margin in MIAA only games.
Malik Edwards Jr. is 19th in the MIAA in scoring while
Parker Day is sixth in rebounding.
ABOUT THE BRONCHOS
Central Oklahoma is 12-8, 6-5 in the MIAA. Israel Hart is second in the MIAA in scoring. The Bronchos lead the league in turnover margin and are second in scoring.
ABOUT THE COACHES
Tom Billeter is 496-288 in his 27th season as a head coach and is 6-14 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 Central Oklahoma.
Bob Hoffman is 106-60 in his sixth year at UCO and 625-380 in his 34th year as a head coach. He is 7-1 against Emporia State.
UP NEXT
The Hornets travel to Pittsburg State on Thursday, February 6. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. in Lance Arena.
LAST TIME OUT
Karyiek Dixon had 19 second half points on the way to a career high 28 points but Emporia State could not finish off the comeback in a 75-70 loss to Rogers State on Thursday night in White Auditorium. The Hornets went on a 10-0 run capped by Dixon's an old fashioned three-point play with 6:59 left to give ESU a 22-20 lead. A 12-0 run gave Rogers State a 36-26 lead with 3:01 left in the half. The Hornets started the second half on a 7-0 run with a three-pointer from Edwards making it 42-39 with 16:55 left in the game. Rogers State would go back up by 11 with 10:42 left. The Hornets used an 8-1 run to cut the deficit to four at 58-54 with 8:06 left. Dixon scored on a lob with 2:41 remaining and then got a steal before scoring on a jumper to get ESU within 67-66 with 1:49 left. After a Hillcat bucket with 1:17 left Edwards hit two free throws with 1:03 remaining to make it 69-68. An Andrew Mason dunk gave Rogers State a 71-68 lead with 48 seconds left. Dixon scored inside with 26.2 seconds left to get the Hornets within 71-70. Rogers State went four of four from the free throw line in the final 14.0 seconds for the final score. Dixon had a career high 28 points with eight rebounds to lead three Hornets in double figures.
Malik Edwards Jr. scored 17 and
Devin Conley added 13 points for Emporia State.
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 44th meeting between the two with Central Oklahoma holding a 27-16 lead.
LAST TIME VS CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
A heavy weight battle in the MIAA came down to converting at the free throw as #12 Central Oklahoma hit 23 of 24 from the line and Emporia State only converted 13 of 21 in a 94-86 win by the Bronchos. Both teams hit 17 field goals in the first half with the Hornets making one more three-pointer, while UCO was a perfect six of six from the line and ESU went four of six for the difference in the opening 20 minutes. The Bronchos scored eight of the first nine points of hte second half and used a 12-1 run to take a 55-44 lead with 17:27 left. The Hornets used a 13-2 run to get within 69-67 with 8:06 left. On the next possession ESU forced a shot clock violation by UCO and had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead but could not convert. Four
Solomon Oraegbu had 21 points,
Owen Long and
Alijah Comithier each scored 18 points while
Darius Yohe had 11 points and ten rebounds to go with four blocked shots.
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 439-207 (.680) since 1979 in White Auditorium. Emporia State has won 224 of their last 326 games (.687) 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 56-43 in MIAA play with a 78-54 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.
