Kent State Faces Buffalo In MAC Quarterfinals On Thursday at 2:30 pm
3/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Complete Notes in .pdf format
The Game
After an opening round 64-61 win over Northern Illinois, Kent State (19-13; 10-6) will face regular season co-champ Buffalo (19-10; 11-5) in the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament on Thursday. The Golden Flashes sit just one win shy of an 11th straight 20-win season, but the focus is on advancing to the MAC Tournament semifinals for the fourth consecutive year. The two team's split the regular season meetings. KSU's win came last Thursday at home with a 77-71 overtime victory over the Bulls.
Kent State posted its third straight come from behind win and has now won 11 of its last 13 with the NIU victory. As he has done throughout his career senior guard Al Fisher stole the show for the Golden Flashes. Fisher scored the team's first 11 points and poured in 20 of his 25 in the first half before helping to seal the win with a pair of short jumpers in the final two-minutes. The 2008 MAC Player of the Year, he also added a team high five assists and four rebounds. Junior Mike McKee, who hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 1:02 left against Akron on Sunday, kept his hot hand nailing three more three-pointers to finishing with nine points. In the last two games he is shooting 5-11 from three (45%) and averaging 9.5 points.
Buffalo (19-10; 11-5) earned a shared of the MAC East title after a 60-57 win in the regular season final over Miami. Rodney Pierce lead the team with 14.7 ppg this season.
TV / Radio
Fox Sports Ohio
WNIR 100.1 FM (Tom Linder)
Next Up For Kent State
With a win Kent State advances to the MAC Tournament semifinals on Friday against either Ball State or Central Michigan.
Quick Hits
• This is just the second MAC Tournament game between Kent State and Buffalo.
• Kent State is 9-1 in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals since 1998.
• Only six other teams in the nation have won at least 20 games in each of the last 11 seasons (Duke, Kansas, Creighton, Gonzaga, Florida and Syracuse).
• KSU has had more points scored off turnovers in 13 straight games averaging 20 points with an average of +11 points per game advantage during the stretch.
• Al Fisher's15.4 ppg are the most by a KSU player since Antonio Gates had 20.6 ppg during the 2003-03 season.
• Kent State has won the last six games that Fisher has led the team in scoring.
Series Notes
• KSU leads 22-4 having won eight of the last nine.
• Kent State had won seven straight before a 64-53 loss at Buffalo earlier this season.
• This is just the second meeting in the MAC Tournament. KSU won 76-67 in the quarterfinals in 2006.
KSU By the Numbers
2,680 Career points in high school by Head Coach Geno Ford (third all-time in Ohio history - more than LeBron James)
1.000 Three-point field goal percentage (5-5) by Jordan Mincy in a win over Ohio on Feb. 17. mincy became just the third player in school history to make a perfect 5-5 from three in a game. He finished with a career best 27 points.
980 Career points for Al Fisher. Fisher needs 20 points to become the 25th player in school history to reach 1,000.
327 Consecutive games in which KSU has made at least one three-pointer.
133 Career games played by Jordan Mincy - the most in MAC history.
93 Career wins by four-year seniors Jordan Mincy and Julian Sullinger during their careers at KSU.
81.5 Kent State's winning percentage in the MAC Tournament since 1999 (22-5).
69.0 MAC leading points per game average by the Golden Flashes this season. KSU has never led the MAC in scoring since joining the league in 1951-52.
58 Three-pointers made by Tyree Evans. Tied for fifth most in the MAC despite playing in at least seven less games than everyone else.
50 Number of field goals Al Fisher has made this season that have either tied the game or given KSU the lead.
33/21 Points and rebounds combined in the last two seasons by Brandon Parks who has 200 points (6.3 ppg) and 157 rebounds (4.9 rpg) this year.
16/16 Points and rebounds by Anthony Simpson in a double overtime win at Northern Illinois on Feb. 10. The 16 rebounds are a KSU season high.
10.2 Points averaged by Jordan Mincy in the last 13 games after scoring just 2.3 per game in his first 120.
10 Times in the last 13 games the KSU defense has held an opponent to one or fewer field goals for at least eight minutes.
+7.3 Advantage KSU has in points scored off turnovers this season. The Golden Flashes have had more POT in 13 straight games.
5 Overtime games played by Kent State this season. Tied for second most in the nation.
2 Steals shy Chris Singletary was of a triple double in a win over UNC Greensboro on Dec. 18. Singletary had 10 points, 10 assists and equaled a school record with eight steals.
1 Loss by KSU in the MAC Tournament since 2006. (Won eight of the last nine).
| Game 33 - MAC Tournament Quarterfinals vs Buffalo (3/12/09) |
