Kent State University
Bowling Green
Golden Flashes Host Eagles to Open 3-Game MAC Homestand
1/13/2015 4:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball
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KENT, Ohio – Kent State begins a three-game homestand when it hosts Eastern Michigan in a Mid-American Conference game Wednesday night at the M.A.C. Center. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Following a disappointing 66-64 setback against Bowling Green to start conference play, the Golden Flashes (10-5, 1-1) earned a gritty 67-65 road victory at Northern Illinois on Saturday. Senior guard Devareaux Manley bounced back from a scoreless first half and made all five of his three-point attempts in scoring a team-high 19 points in the second half, redshirt sophomore forward Jimmy Hall added 15 points and senior guard Kris Brewer converted a pair of free throws with 15.1 seconds on the clock to provide the winning points.
Improvements on defensive end have been the key to Kent State's success during the early part of the season. The Flashes are allowing just 60.7 ppg, which ranks 53rd in the country and holding opponents to 40.2 percent shooting overall. Only six teams have managed to score more than 61 points and five have shot at least 40 percent from the field against the Flashes this season.
Redshirt sophomore Jimmy Hall played his best game in a Kent State uniform in his MAC debut with a career-high 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting vs. Bowling Green last Wednesday. Hall, a transfer from Hofstra, has provided a boost on the interior and leads the Flashes with 14.9 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game. The Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook Preseason MAC Newcomer of the Year is shooting 52.0 percent from the field and is fourth in the MAC in offensive rebounding (3.0 per game).
Senior guards Devareaux Manley, Kris Brewer and Derek Jackson lead a talented group of perimeter players. Manley (12.4 ppg) ranks in the top 15 in the country in 3-pointers per game (3.47) and 3-point percentage (.464). Brewer (10.6 ppg) has accepted the sixth man role and become more consistent, scoring at least eight points in all but one game this season while making game-winning free throws on two occasions. Jackson (9.4 ppg) has moved into the starting point guard role and ranks third in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.15) and leads the MAC in steals per game (2.1). The trio is shooting 41.1 percent (92-for-224) from the three-point line.
Scouting Eastern Michigan
Eastern Michigan has back-to-back overtime losses in its first two MAC games of the season. The Eagles feature one of the nation's top defenses, ranking in the top 40 in field goal percentage defense (4th), steals per game (15th), scoring defense (29th) and three-point field goal percentage (38th).
Guard Raven Lee (14.8 ppg) and forward Karrington Ward (14.1 ppg) form one of the MAC's top scoring tandems. Lee leads the Eagles in field goal percentage (.494) and three-point field goal percentage (.397) while Ward is the team's top rebounder (6.7 rpg) and shotblocker (1.5 bpg).
Point guard Mike Talley (9.8 ppg) provides a spark off the bench. Talley averages a team-best 4.3 assists per game and ranks second in the MAC with a 3.37 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Quick Flashes
• Kent State ranks 31st the nation in 3-point shooting vs. Division I opponents (.390).
• The Golden Flashes are outscoring opponents by an average score of 32.1-30.3 in the second half.
• Kent State is getting 21.4 points per game from its bench compared to just 12.6 points per game for its opponents' bench.
• Redshirt senior Derek Jackson is the only player in the nation with a 4.00 assist-to-turnover ration and averaging 2.00 steals per game.
• Senior Devareaux Manley is one of four players averaging 3.40 three-pointers per game and shooting 45.0 percent from the three-point arc.
• Redshirt sophomore Jimmy Hall, a transfer from Hofstra, has scored in double-figures in 11 games this season. Hall became the first player to score in double-figures in his first eight games in a Kent State uniform since Jay Peters, who scored in double-figures in the first 12 games of the 1986-87 season.
• Senior guard Kris Brewer was selected by a MAC Media Panel to the five-player Preseason All-MAC East Team. Brewer was an All-MAC honorable mention selection last season.
• Redshirt sophomore Jimmy Hall, a transfer from Hofstra, was named Preseason MAC Newcomer of the Year by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.
Series HistoryÂ
• Kent State owns a 39-31 record all-time vs. Eastern Michigan.
• The series dates back to the 1949-50 season and an 83-56 Kent State win at home on Feb. 18, 1950.
• The Golden Flashes had won 17 straight games prior to last season's loss in Ypsilanti, the longest winning streak over any opponent in Kent State history.
• Kent State owns a 26-8 record in home games and has beaten EMU in nine straight matchups at the M.A.C. Center.
• The Flashes have won by at least 10 in each of the Eagles' past four visits with an average margin of victory of 20.8 in those games.
• Kent State is 2-1 all-time when the teams have played an overtime period.
TV / Radio
Ty Linder and Dave Carducci will bring you the action on 640 AM WHLO and the 640 WHLO iHeartRadio channel.Â
Next Up For Kent State
The Golden Flashes continue their homestand against Ohio on Saturday January 17.Â
