Unbeaten CSU Heads to Louisiana
Let's end the Vikings' victory streak! Be at the Cajundome Friday night to give Cleveland State a good Louisiana welcome!
Go Cajuns!
Here's a preview of the Vikings:
Unbeaten Cleveland State University Heads to Louisiana
The Vikings Have a Chance to Start a Season 5-0 For the First Time in School History
Trevon Harmon has become one of the Vikings' most consistent free throw shooters.
HEADLINES
Unbeaten CSU Heads to Louisiana
Game 4
Cleveland State (4-0) at Louisiana-Lafayette (1-1)
Date: Friday, Nov. 19, 2010
Time: 7:05 p.m. CST
Site: Cajundome (11,550), Lafayette, Louisiana
Radio: WHKW 1220 AM (Cleveland) & WHKZ, 1440 AM (Warren) (Al Pawlowski)
TV: None Live, Streaming available on the internet via ragincajuns.com.
Series: Series Tied, 1-1
Last Meeting: @UL 103, CSU 92 (1/13/90)
Tickets: Available at Site
SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State will take to the road for the first time in the 2010-11 season when the Vikings travel to Lafayette, La. to take on Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday, Nov. 19 beginning at 7:05 p.m. CST (8:05 p.m. in Cleveland) in the Cajundome. The Vikings (4-0) have equaled the best start in school history, defeating Bryant (71-57), Iona (78-68), Kent State (69-66) and Urbana (83-49) in a 74-hour span over the weekend to claim the title of the 2010 World Vision Classic. A win over ULafayatte will allow CSU to break the school record of four consecutive wins to start a seaon, which was originally set in both 1963-64 and 1985-86. Louisiana is off to a 1-1 start after falling to New Mexico State (92-76) and defeating Louisiana College (91-66). This will be the third series meeting with Louisiana with each team winning on its home court during the 1989-90 season.
PREVIEWING CLEVELAND STATE: Gary Waters has the Viking Basketball program back at a level where he is comfortable as all five starters and nine lettermen return from last year's team that went 16-17 against one of the most difficult schedules in the country. The strength of the squad is at the guards where senior Norris Cole (22.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.3 apg), a first team All-Horizon League selection last year, and juniors Trevon Harmon (12.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg) and Jeremy Montgomery (10.8 ppg, 1.8 apg) each return to once again form the nucleus of the starting lineup this season. Senior forward D'Aundray Brown (8.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg) is out until mid-December following preseason surgery on his right index finger, leaving the small forward spot to be manned by the sophomore duo of Charlie Woods (5.5, 2.5) and Josh McCoy (5.0, 3.5), who redshirted last season following hip surgery. Junior Aaron Pogue (7.5, 5.5) returns as the starter at center with sophomore Tim Kamczyc (4.8, 5.5) opening the year as the starting power forward. Junior Joe Latas (2.0, 1.7) and freshmen Luda Ndaye (1.5, 1.8) and Devon Long (4.3, 2.0) will help to provide CSU with a spark off the bench inside this year. Injuries to Brown, freshman Sebastian Douglas (season/knee) and sophomore Anthony Wells (early Dec./knee), have hurt the bench depth, especially to start the season.
COLE NAMED HORIZON LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: After averaging a league-best 23.3 points through the first three games of the season, Viking senior guard Norris Cole has been tabbed as the first Horizon League Player of the Week for the 2010-11 season. Cole surpassed the 20-point mark in all three games last week to earn the honor for the third time in his career.
COLE, HARMON & POGUE NAMED TO ALL-TOURNEY TEAM: The Vikings were rewarded for the strong play during the opening weekend of play as Norris Cole, Aaron Pogue and Trevon Harmon were each named to the World Vision Classic All-Tournament Team with Cole being tabbed as the tourney MVP. The trio were joined by Bryant's Frankie Dobbs and Kent State's Justin Greene and Carlton Guyton.
WATERS GOES FOR WIN #250: With a career record of 249-197 in his 15th season as a head coach, Viking head coach Gary Waters will be going for his 250th win when CSU plays at Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday. Waters is 77-62 in his fifth season at Cleveland State and previously posted a 92-60 mark in five years at Kent State (1996-2001) and a 79-75 slate in five seasons at Rutgers (2001-06).
4-0: The win over Urbana on Monday allowed CSU to improve to 4-0 and allowed the Vikings to equal the school record for consecutive wins to start a season. Cleveland State opened both the 1963-64 and 1985-86 seasons with four straight wins. CSU has never been 5-0.
...AND 5-0?: The Vikings will attempt to set the school record for consecutive wins to start a season when they play at Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday. CSU has been 4-0 on two occasions during the 80-year history of program.
VIKINGS OPEN YEAR RANKED 25TH IN MID-MAJOR POLL: Cleveland State is one of three Horizon League schools to earn a spot in the annual CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25. The Vikings received 127 votes from the 31 voters to earn 25th place, two places and 26 points behind Detroit, who was picked 23rd with 153 points. Butler enters the year as the No. 1 team, earning 16 first place votes and 752 total points with Gonzgaa ranked second with 723 points and 15 first place votes.
VIKINGS MOVE UP TO 16TH IN MID-MAJOR POLL: Four wins during the opening weekend of the season has propelled Cleveland State up nine spots -- from 25th to 16th -- in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, which was released on Tuesday (Nov. 16). The Vikings more than doubled the 127 points they received in the first poll, picking up 270 votes to edge Portland (267) for 16th place. Gonzaga took over the top spot in the poll, receiving 20 first place and 755 total points to edge Butler, who received 11 first place and 753 total points. A new poll is released every Tuesday throughout the season.
FOUR IN 74: As the USA Today pointed out on Tuesday (Nov. 16), Cleveland State was the busiest team in America over the weekend, playing (and winning) four games in 74 hours once the 2010-11 basketball season opened. No other team in the country played that many games in the first four days.
A STAT ODYSSEY: An unusual statistical trend popped up during the first weekend of play as Cleveland State made exactly 25 field goals in all four contests. The Vikings did take a different number of shots each game, ranging from 50 vs. Bryant to 68 vs. Kent State.
A TURNOVER TALE: Gary Waters was not pleased when the Vikings opened the season by turning the ball over 32 times in the first two games, including 18 against Iona, but CSU has bounced back to take good care of the ball since. Cleveland State turned the ball over a season-low eight times against Kent State and came back to make just nine miscues against Urbana.
CSU & TOURNEY TITLES: The win over Kent State on Sunday gave CSU the team title at the World Vision Classic, marking the fifth time in 28 in-season tournaments that Cleveland State won a tourney championship. Prior to this past weekend, the last time that the Vikings won an in-season tournament came in November, 2008 when Gary Waters led CSU to wins over Saint Leo, Toledo and Florida International to win the Florida bracket of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic in Miami, Fla. Prior to that, CSU won tourneys in 1967-68, 1987-88 and 2000-01.
COLE PICKS UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF: Norris Cole has opened his senior campaign on an offensive tear, scoring 19 points or more in all four games to lead the Horizon League with a 22.3 scoring average. He scored 24 points in the win over Bryant on Nov. 12, 25 points against Iona and 21 vs. Kent State, giving him 22 games of 20 points or more in his career. He closed out the weeekend with 19 points in 28 minutes vs. Urbana. He has raised his CSU career scoring total to 1,287 points to rank 13th all-time, needing just 18 points to pass Jamaal Harris (1,304 points from 1998-2002) into 12th place.
HARMON FREE THROW STREAK ENDS AT 29: Junior guard Trevon Harmon saw his consecutive free throws made streak come to an end at 29 against Kent State on Sunday when he missed a free throw in the final minute. Prior to that miss, Harmon had made all six of his free throw attempts this season and the final 23 from last season to give him the second highest total in school history. He fell three free throws shy of Damon Stringer's school record of 32 set in 1999-2000. His 29 free throw streaks surpassed the 27 straight made by both Ken McFadden (1986-87) and Jack Shaughnessy (1949-50). Harmon started a new streak against Urbana, making his final five free throw attempts.
WOODS PROVIDES BENCH SPARK: The first week of the regular season was a good one for sophomore Charlie Woods, who has provided the Vikings with a scoring spark off the bench to help overcome the loss of D'Aundray Brown. Woods is averaging 5.5 points and 2.5 rebounds a game with three blocks, shooting .471 from the field (8-17) and .400 from three-point (4-10). Woods tallied 10 points in 16 minutes against Bryant, his second career double figure scoring effort during the regular season. The totals do not include a 10 point, nine rebound effort in 26 minutes in the exhibition win over Baldwin-Wallace.
POGUE'S PLAY PICKS UP: Gary Waters spoke all preseason about the improvement that junior center Aaron Pogue has shown in all phases of the game, but it wasn't until last weekend that Viking fans had a chance to see it for themselves. Pogue, who averaged 6.3 points and 5.4 rebounds in 22.2 minutes last year, improved his numbers to 9.7 points and a team-leading 6.3 rebounds, shooting .476 from the field (10-21) with three steals and three blocks in the first three games to earn a spot on the World Vision Classic all-tournament team. More importantly, he has improved his defensive play inside while looking more comfortable offensively with the ball in his hands.
FREE THROWS: The Vikings set a school record by shooting .749 from the foul line last year, but it wasn't until the Iona game that they looked anything like their past selves at the line when they went 22-for-23 (.957), the fifth-highest single game percentage in school history. It was a far cry better than the five-for-14 (.357) effort in the exhibition win over Baldwin-Wallace and the 13-for-19 (.684) in the opener against Bryant. For the year, CSU ranks third in the league shooting .696 from the stripe (80-115).
THE REAL McCOY: The 2009-10 season was a frustrating one for sophomore Josh McCoy, who was sidelined with a hip injury after playing just 30 minutes in five games. He has rebounded well however, providing the Vikings with a spark off the bench by averaging 5.0 points and 3.5 rebounds in 15.3 minutes a game while playing some steady defense.
A DOUBLE-DOUBLE FOR TREY: The most unusual double-double in recent memory for the Vikings came on Saturday night when Trey Harmon scored 16 points and grabbed a career high 10 rebounds in the win over Iona. Scoring has never been a problem for Harmon, who has 500 points in 60 career games (8.3 ppg) but the rebounding effort shows how hard the junior is working this year. The 10 rebounds shattered his previous career high of six, which was set at Valparaiso and at Loyola last season. He then came back to grab seven rebounds against Kent State and six vs. Urbana to raise his average to a team-best 6.0 a game.
COLE REPEATS ON PRESEASON HORIZON LEAGUE SQUAD: Senior guard Norris Cole, a first team all-league choice last year, was rewarded for his hard work when he was one of five players named to the 2010-11 Preseason All-Horizon League first team in a balloting conducted of the league's coaches, sports information directors and select media. Cole, a native of Dayton, Ohio, was third in the league a year ago with a 16.3 scoring average. He begins his senior campaign ranked 13th in school history with 1,198 career points and ninth by playing in 104 consecutive games.
A GOOD NDAYE: Viking fans saw a flash of the ability of freshman Luda Ndaye when the Montreal, Quebec native entered the Iona game with the contest on the line and proceeded to connect on three straight shots to push the CSU lead to 11 with 4:13 left and effectively put the game away. Ndaye averaged 13.0 points a game last year at Westwind (AZ) Prep, playing for former CSU graduate manager Bobby Bossman.
IRON MAN COLE: Senior Norris Cole has opened the year by continuing a couple of lengthy streaks that he has had during his career. By starting the first four games, he has now played in all 108 games in his career, moving him past Darren Tillis (105 games) and into eighth on the CSU consecutive games played career chart. He also has 74 consecutive starts, surpassing former teammate Cedric Jackson (71) for sixth all-time. Cole, who has recorded back-to-back 1,000 minute seasons, has played 2,967 career minutes and needs 906 to break J'Nathan Bullock's school record of 3,872 minutes. Cole can also topple Bullock's records for career games played (130) and consecutive games played (130).
CSU SETS FREE THROW MARK: The Vikings shattered the school record for free throw percentage in a season by shooting .749 (477-637) last year. It was the fourth straight year that CSU shot .700 or better from the line in a season, an accomplishment that is even more impressive when you realize that CSU has shot .700 or better just six times in the history of the program. Last year's effort surpassed the old record of .724 (367-507), which was set in 1979-80.
. . . AND THE FOUR-GUARD LINEUP LEADS THE WAY: The primary reason why the Vikings broke the free throw percentage record was the effort turned in by starters Norris Cole (.785), D'Aundray Brown (.792), Jeremy Montgomery (.851) and Trevon Harmon (.847), who combined to go 314-for-383 from the line (.820). Montgomery ended the year leading the league in free throw percentage with Harmon second, Cole ninth and Brown not having enough attempts to qualify for the stats.
. . . AND WHAT MORE CAN HARMON DO? When Trevon Harmon was knocked out of the Milwaukee game near the end of last season. He missed the next three games and failed to go to the line in limited action during the season-ending loss in the league tourney. He went to the bench however, leading the league in free throw percentage, shooting .847 from the line and finishing the year by making 39 of his last 40 attempts (.975), including 23 straight. Unfortunately, Harmon lost the free throw percentage title to teammate Jeremy Montgomery, who, with Harmon out, made 11 of his 12 free throws over the final four games to shoot .851 for the year (80-94).
. . . AND SUCCESS DURING CRUNCH TIME: Although the Vikings were good from the line last year, they were even better when the game was on the line, shooting .826 from the charity stripe in the final five minutes of games, going 147 of 178 during that span. Tim Kamczyc led the team by making nine of his 10 free throws down in the final five minutes (.900) with Norris Cole, who took a third of the team's attempts, was second at .889 (56-63). The trio of Trevon Harmon (19-22, .855), Jeremy Montgomery (21-25, .840) and D'Aundray Brown (17-21, .810) gives CSU five players who shot .800 or better returning this year. CSU has picked up where it left off in the first three games as the Vikings have gone 24-for-32 during the stretch (.750) with Cole leading the way with an 14-for-14 effort.
FINISHING IT IN REGULATION: The win over Urbana on Monday extended Cleveland State's school-record streak of consecutive games without an overtime contest to 104. The last time CSU played an overtime tilt came on Nov. 17, 2007 when the Vikings toppled Florida State, 69-66, at the Glenn Wilkes Classic in Daytona Beach, Fla. In the 103 games since, Cleveland State has gone 65-39 (.625).
SUCCESS 401: The fifth edition of Success Class under Gary Waters is utilizing the book Winning With People, by John Maxwell as the course text, marking the third time in five years that a Maxwell text has been used as the text book. Instituted at CSU in the summer of 2006, Waters uses Success Class to teach the Viking players the finer points of what it takes to succeed, both on the basketball court and in life. Success Class 101 used John Wooden's book, The Pyramid of Success. Waters relied on John Maxwell's book Talent Is Never Enough in 2007-08, turned to former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy's book, Quiet Strength in 2008-09 and returned to Maxwell in 2009-10, using 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player as the course text. The non-credited class is taught weekly by Waters to the Viking players over the summer and preseason months.
LONG RANGE PLANNING: One strength of the Vikings from the 2009-10 season that is expected to not only continue, but improve even more, is the squad's three-point shooting ability. Last year, CSU shattered the school record of 198 three-pointers in a season by making 214 with the team's .349 percentage (214-614) ranking seventh-best on the season chart, and the highest since the 2002-003 season. With Jeremy Montgomery (69-171), Norris Cole (38-11) and Trevon Harmon (49-169), who combined to make 156 treys, all returning, head coach Gary Waters expects the Vikings to not only continue to make the three-point shot an integral part of the offense, but believes that CSU can challenge the school record for three-point percentage, which was set in 1991-92 when the Vikings shot .399 (149-373). Cleveland State shot .381 from three-point in the Bryant contest, making eight treys.
KAMCZYC RECEIVES AVIS SCHOLARSHIP: Sophomore forward Tim Kamczyc is the 2010-11 recipient of the Danferd C. Avis Endowed Basketball Scholarship, the first fully endowed scholarship for basketball at CSU. A former walk-on, Kamczyc started the final five games last year, averaging 3.7 points per game. The scholarship is named in honor of Dan Avis, a member of the men's basketball team from 1947-50, who has been involved in Viking athletics for more than 50 years. A captain on the Fenn College teams in each of his last three years, Avis was inducted in the CSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1980 and remains active with the Varsity "C" Club.
GETTING THE THIRD DEGREE: Usually when you get the third degree about your performance in the classroom, it isn't a good thing. But for Viking junior Joe Latas, it is a compliment as the Viking center has already earned undergraduate degrees in both communications and religious studies and is currently finishing up the requirements for a degree in philosophy as well.
NEXT UP: The Vikings end their brief road swing when they play at Akron on Wednesday, Nov. 24. CSU returns home to host St. Bonaventure on Saturday, Nov. 27 at 6:00 p.m.
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Re: Unbeaten CSU Heads to Louisiana
Originally Posted by IberiaCajun
