GAME 23 • @North Texas • January 28, 2012
SETTING THE SCENE
Date: January 28, 2012
Location: Denton, Texas
Tipoff: 12 p.m. (CST)
Arena: The Super Pit
Arena Capacity: 10,040
Webcast: astateredwolves.com
TIPPING IT OFF
The Red Wolves continue action on the road with a noon tip set at North Texas Saturday. The game is the Sun Belt Conference game of the week and will be broadcast live on CSS and CST. Joe Davis and Dave Odom will be calling the action.
THE OPPONENT
North Texas is 12-9 overall with a 5-3 Sun Belt Conference record. The Mean Green currently sit third in the Sun Belt Conference West Division. North Texas is led by freshman forward Tony Mitchell who is averaging nearly a double-double with 15.2 points per game and 9.0 rebounds per game. Mitchell also leads UNT with 26 blocked shots. Mitchell is the only active UNT player averaging in double-digits. Junior guard Roger Franklin is second amongst active players scoring 9.1 points per game. As a team, the Mean Green are averaging 70.6 points per game while allowing opponents to score 64.5 (+6.1) and rebounding 38.7 to their opposition's 34.2 (+4.5). Johnny Jones is in his 11th season as head coach of the Mean Green.
THE SERIES
ASU is 17-19 all-time against North Texas in the series which dates back to the 1963-64 season. The Red Wolves split the series against the Mean Green last season winning 63-47 at the Convocation Center but dropped the road contest at Denton 83-64. Earlier this season, A-State picked up a 75-72 win over the mean Green in Jonesboro on Jan. 7.
TOWNSEL IN NATIONAL RANKINGS
Sophomore point guard Ed Townsel ranks 11th in the nation averaging 2.5 steals per game. The mark ranks second in the league behind FIU's Jeremy Allen who is averaging 2.7 steals. In league only games, Townsel is second averaging 2.6.
KIRKLAND PRODUCTION
Senior forward Malcoln Kirkland has become the Red Wolves most consistent scoring threat having scored in double digits nine out of the last 11 games including scoring 19, 14 and 12 in his last three. Kirkland is leading ASU with 12.2 points per game in all games and 12.6 in conference only games. Kirkland is shooting 57% from the floor and ranks second on the team averaging 6.4 rebounds per game.
RECORD WATCH
After recording his 54th steal of the season Townsel is tied for ninth on the single-season leaderboard at ASU. Dereke Tipler holds the single-season record for steals at Arkansas State with 76 during the 2005-06 season.
APPROACHING 500
Junior's Trey Finn and Brandon Peterson are both approaching the 500 career rebound mark and would be just the 21st and 22nd Arkansas State players to achieve that milestone. Peterson currently has 488 career rebounds while Finn has 479.
HOOTEN NAMED MID-MAJOR NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
After his stellar performance against North Texas, Arkansas State junior guard Marcus Hooten has been named the National Mid Major Player of the Week by College Basketball Madness and was the Sun Belt Player of the Week selection by College Basketball Madness. Hooten hit the game-winning buzzer-beater to give the Red Wolves a 75-72 win over North Texas Saturday. He also led ASU with 24 points against the Mean Green and averaged 21.0 points in last week's competition also leading ASU with 18 points against Denver.
HOOTEN STRIKES AGAIN
Junior guard Marcus Hooten was again the hero against the Mean Green when he hit the game-winning three-pointer which broke a 72-72 tie to give ASU a 75-72 win over North Texas. The play began when sophomore point guard Ed Townsel blocked Chris Jones' shot in the lane with just under three seconds to play in regulation. Senior forward Malcoln Kirkland got the rebound and kicked the ball out to Hooten who was on a dead sprint down the floor. Hooten connected on the shot as time expired from 35-feet out. Just a week before, Hooten hit a jumper in the lane with 4.8 seconds remaining in the game at ULM, to put ASU up 64-63 after trailing most of the game against the Warhawks. Hooten was fouled on the way up and converted the free throw for the three-point play. Hooten then defended the last possession and did not allow ULM's shooters to get a clean look at the basket.
KIRKLAND PLAYER OF THE WEEK
After leading Arkansas State last week averaging a double-double at 17.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game, senior forward Malcoln Kirkland was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week for the competition week of Dec. 13-19, announced the league office Tuesday afternoon. Kirkland led the Red Wolves to a 2-1 record including leading A-State in a pair of career performances setting new career highs of 18 and 30 points against Seattle and Lyon College, respectively. Against Seattle, Kirkland posted the first double-double of his career with then career-highs of 18 points and 13 rebounds. He then followed up that performance with 12 rebounds and five points at Murray State. Kirkland broke out against Lyon College, scoring 30 points on 9-12 shooting and went 12-12 from the free throw line leading ASU against the Scots. He also had seven rebounds in just 24 minutes of action. The 30 points was the highest single-game scoring performance of the season for A-State.
100 POINT BARRIER
A-State broke the 100-point barrier scoring 108 against Lyon College. ASU had five players score in double-digits led by Kirkland's 30. Peterson had 13, Hooten, Griswold and Zuppardo had 12 each. The 12 by Griswold and Zuppardo were career-highs.
DOUBLE, DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Against Seattle, senior forward Malcoln Kirkland and junior forward Brandon Peterson each posted a double-double with Kirkland recording career-highs in points (18) and rebounds (13). Peterson recorded 17 pts and 12 rebounds to record the fifth double-double of his career, it was the first double-double for Kirkland.
GRISWOLD IMPRESSIVE IN DEBUT
Arkansas State freshman Darion Griswold looked impressive in his debut for the Red Wolves basketball team, scoring five points and pulling down seven rebounds in only 14 minutes of action. The Dumas, Ark. native joined the team after practicing all fall with the football team. Griswold played AAU basketball with teammate Rakeem Dickerson and led the Wings to an AAU national championship.
HOOTEN CAREER HIGH
Junior guard Marcus Hooten scored a career-high 27 points at Austin Peay. The junior-college transfer shot 9-16 and was 4-6 from FT range and 5-9 from the charity stripe. Hooten also had a career-high five assists. 27-points was the most scored by an ASU player this year.
FIRST TIME FOES
This year, ASU is facing a number of opponents for the first time in school history. Ohio, St. Bonaventure and Seattle appear on the Red Wolves schedule for the first time in the schools' histories. ASU is also facing Kent State for only the second time. The first contest was held during the 1950-51 season.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Red Wolves are traveling quite a distance this year and will be racking up the road miles traveling a total of 8,872 miles to their away contests this season. The three longest trips of the year will be to Seattle (2,256), Denver (984) and St. Bonaventure (925).
ALL STARTERS IN DOUBLE-DIGITS VERSUS SEMO
All five ASU starters scored in double-digits against SEMO on Tuesday night. Townsel led all players with a career-high 20 pts. Hooten had a career-high 16 followed by Kirkland who tied his career-best with 14, Peterson had 13 and Finn had 10. Peterson led ASU with nine rebounds and Finn had eight.
ON THE BENCH
For the second straight year, the Red Wolves will hold the distinction of being the only team currently playing in the NCAA with two former final four head coaches on the bench as assistant coach Richard Williams returns for his second season with ASU and Brady. The Red Wolves also hired Melvin Haralson as associate head coach in the offseason. Haralson was at Texas Southern last season after spending 10 years as an assistant and associate head coach at Houston. Jeff Clapacs also returns for his fourth season at Arkansas State as an assistant coach. Clapacs has been with Brady since his arrival at Arkansas State.
HEAD COACH JOHN BRADY
Now in his fourth year with the program John Brady was announced as Arkansas State's 15th head men's basketball coach by Director of Athletics Dr. Dean Lee at a press conference held in ASU's Convocation Center on March 19, 2008.
In only three years at the helm of the program, Brady has turned the Red Wolves into a winner including capturing a share of the western division Sun Belt Conference Championship in 2010-11, posting double-digit Sun Belt Conference wins back-to-back for the first time in nearly 20 years and going undefeated at home with a 13-0 record.
During his first season with the Red Wolves, Brady helped lead ASU to one of the best starts in program history and achieved the No. 22 ranking on Collegeinsider.com's Mid-Major Top 25 poll. As a team ASU greatly improved its defending and rebounding, finishing near the top of the conference in several statistical categories.
Brady took a step further in his second season with The Red Wolves, improving their record to 17-14 and the team advanced to the semifinals of the Sun Belt Tournament finishing second in the west. Brady was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year and the District VII Coach of the Year by the USBWA. ASU led the league in three-point FG defense, rebounding offense and defensive rebounding.
ASU also posted an 11-7 SBC record this season which was its best league mark since the 2006-07 season when ASU achieved the same record. Its 11-wins was the seventh-time since ASU joined the Sun Belt that they have posted double-digit league wins.
Brady spent the last 10-plus seasons serving as LSU's head coach, leading the Tigers to six postseason berths, two SEC championships and three SEC Western Division titles. Twice named the SEC Coach of the Year, Brady is a proven winner who has a well-documented record of success and a long list of accomplishments.
Brady's 16-year tenure as a head coach at both LSU and Samford in Birmingham, Alabama, has been decorated with achievements. He has coached a combined 25 All-TAAC and SEC selections, 48 academic all-conference choices, posted 11 winning seasons and collected five division championships. Brady piled up the third most wins in LSU history with 192 and left Samford after the 1996-97 season as the Bulldog's all-time leader in coaching victories (89) as well.
He quickly turned around an LSU's men's basketball program that had suffered four consecutive losing seasons prior to his arrival, leading the Tigers to a 28-6 record, an SEC championship and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in just his third season (1999-00) at the helm. Under Brady's direction, the Tigers recorded six consecutive winning seasons from 2001-02 to 2006-07 while making three trips to the NCAA Tournament and two more to the NIT. The 2005-06 campaign saw LSU post a 27-9 record and advance to the Final Four for the first time in 20 years.
Not only did Brady coach the Tigers to 23 wins versus ranked opponents, he also led them to victories over two teams ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Poll (Arizona in 2002-03 and Duke in 2005-06). Additionally, he orchestrated a 19-game home winning streak over SEC opponents, the third longest stretch in LSU history.
While at LSU, Brady coached two NBA Lottery picks and six current NBA players. The Tigers signed nine Parade All-Americans and four McDonald All-Americans under Brady, who also coached three SEC Players of the Year, four players named SEC Freshman of the Year, one SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and 17 All-SEC selections.
Prior to taking over the reigns at LSU, Brady served as Samford's head coach from 1991-92 through 1996-97. It didn't take long for him to turn around a Samford program coming off six straight losing seasons, either, guiding the Bulldogs to a 17-10 record in his second season. He led Samford to three straight winning seasons (1995-97) for the first time since 1982-84, all leading up to a 19-9 record and division title in 1997. Samford won the TAAC West Division each of Brady's final two seasons at the school for the first time in school history.
His four winning campaigns at Samford were the first for any coach at the school, and he led the Bulldogs to an 89-77 record after they went 27-83 the four seasons prior to his initial year. He coached eight All-TAAC and 14 Academic All-TAAC players over six seasons.
The McComb, Miss., native earned his bachelor's degree in 1976 from Belhaven College, where he was three-year starter and scored over 1,000 points during his college playing career. Brady was a two-time All-Southern States Conference selection and was later inducted into his alma mater's Hall of Fame.
He got his coaching start as a graduate assistant with the Mississippi State men's basketball program while earning his master's degree from 1976-77. Brady took his first head coaching position in Louisiana at Crowley High School in 1977 and led the basketball squad to a 129-49 (.725) record in five seasons. He was named the 1981 Louisiana Sports Writers Association Class 3-A Coach of the Year.
Brady returned to the college coaching ranks in 1982 as an assistant coach at Mississippi State. He spent the next eight years with the Bulldogs, the first four seasons under coach Bob Hoyt and the next four as a chief recruiter for coach Richard Williams. Following his tenure in Starkville, Brady returned to Louisiana for the second time, this time to serve as an assistant coach at the University of New Orleans. Brady helped lead UNO to the NCAA Tournament during his only season with the Privateers.
