The Records: Arkansas State (4-2, 0-1 Sun Belt).  The Red Wolves dropped an 80-61 road decision to FIU on Thursday (11/29) in their Sun Belt Conference (SBC) opener at FIU's U.S. Century Bank Arena in Miami, Fla.  The setback snapped ASU's four-game winning streak.  Florida Atlantic (2-4, 0-1 Sun Belt).  The Owls suffered a 77-66 home setback to South Alabama Thursday (11/29) in a Sun Belt Conference opening tilt at the FAU Arena in Boca Raton, Fla.

The Coaches: Arkansas State – John Brady (Bellhaven, 1976), 5^th season, 64-67 (.489); Career - 345-283 (.549) – (1-3 vs. LU).  Brady was named the 2009-10 SBC Coach of the Year and the District VII Coach of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).  He served six seasons (1991-97) as head coach at Samford and then spent 10-plus seasons (1997-08) in a head coaching capacity at LSU.  Brady guided LSU to two SEC Championship titles along with four NCAA Tournament appearances, which included a Final Four appearance in the 2005-06 season.  Florida Atlantic  – Mike Jarvis (Northeastern, 1968), 5th season, 54-76 (.415); Career: 24^th season, 373-278 (.573) – (3-2 vs. ASU).  Jarvis is currently 14 victories shy of becoming the all-time winningest coach in FAU men's basketball history after taking over the reins in March 2008.  He was tabbed as the 2010-11 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year and also received the NABC District 24 Coach of the Year honor after guiding the Owls to a school Division I record 21 victories and a SBC regular-season championship title.  Jarvis has taken three programs – Boston University (1985-90), George Washington (1990-98), and St. John's (1998-04) to the NCAA Tournament. 

About Florida Atlantic: FAU has two players averaging double-figure points in Greg Gantt (17.5 ppg.) and freshman guard Stefan Moody (13.3 ppg).  Senior forward Jordan McCoy (7.2 rpg.) along with Gantt (6.2 rpg.) are the squad's top rebounding leaders to date this campaign.  Gantt recorded a game-high 29 points in the Owls' conference opening home loss to South Alabama (11/29).   

All-Time Series: Arkansas State trails FAU 4-3 in the all-time series which originated in the 2006-07 season.  ASU snapped a three-game series losing skid last season (3/3/12) with a 70-55 victory in the opening round of the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Hot Springs, Ark.  The Red Wolves dropped a 58-50 home decision to the Owls a season ago (1/9) in a regular-season tilt at Jonesboro, Ark.  A-State suffered a 61-57 loss to FAU in its most recent appearance (2010-11) on the Owls' home court and has never posted a road win to date.  In the last three meetings, ASU is averaging 59.0 points a game (177 total) while FAU has scored an average of 58.0 points per contest (174 total).

Conference Play: The Red Wolves are 171-174 (.496) since joining the Sun Belt Conference (SBC) in the 1991-92 season, which includes a season-best 14-4 (.778) mark in the 1997-98 campaign.  A-State is 35-17 at home, and 14-14 on the road since the 2006-07 season.  ASU head coach John Brady has presently posted a 33-36 record (.478) in Sun Belt Conference contests since his arrival in 2008-09, which includes 24-10 at home and 9-26 in away encounters.

Double Vision: Junior guard Ed Townsel extended his double-digit points scoring streak to six straight games with a 13-points performance off the bench at FIU on Thursday (11/29).  The 13 points tallied by Townsel in the Sun Belt Conference opener marked his lowest scoring total of this season.  The ASU backcourt player netted 14 points apiece in the Red Wolves' opening two games at Dayton (11/10) and against Arkansas-Monticello (11/13) followed by 19 points at Tennessee-Martin (11/16).  He then scored 15 points at Central Arkansas (11/21) before erupting for a career-best 27 points against Lamar (11/25).

Shot Stopper: Senior forward Brandon Peterson's 137 career blocks is ranks third most on ASU's all-time list.  Peterson, who has racked up a squad-best 14 shot rejections for a 2.3 blocks per game average this season, turned in a squad-leading 33 shot rejections in 34 2011-12 contests.  He accumulated a career season-most 61 blocks in 31 games as a freshman in 2009-10.  He recorded at least two blocks in a game on 10 occasions a season ago and claimed or shared team-high blocked shot honors a squad-best 17 times.

Red Wolf Tracks: Ed Townsel has tallied 562 career points in 72 contests for a 7.8 career average ... The Red Wolves' 15 steals against Lamar last Sunday (11/25) was a season high, surpassing the 12 total set in back-to-back games against Arkansas-Monticello (11/13) and at UT-Martin (11/16) ... Senior guard Marcus Hooten is 27 points away from reaching the 500-points plateau and has a current 473 points total in 40 career outings ... Brandon Peterson needs 160 more points to tally 1,000 in his career.  He has scored 840 points in 102 contests,  which averages to 8.2 per contest ... Ed Townsel is two steals shy of reaching the century mark in that statistical category ... Trey Finn, who has a program all-time fifth-best 141 career three-pointers, is 29 treys away from matching Dewarick Spencer's (2003-05) 170 career triples for fourth place ... Sophomore guard Rakeem Dickerson produced season bests in points (four) and steals (three) in 21 minutes of action as a reserve at FIU (11/29) ... Ed Townsel has canned three three-point field goals on five occasions this season, which includes at FIU (11/29).  He hit a career-best six triples (6-9) against Lamar (11/25).

Almost Another: Brandon Peterson just missed registering his third double-double of this season in Thursday's (11/29) league opener at FIU as the ASU frontcourt player totaled 10 points with nine rebounds in 32 minutes of action.  He chalked up his second double-double in 2012-13 with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds vs. Lamar (11/25).  Peterson, who had five double-doubles in 34 games last season, recorded his first this campaign (11/13) against Arkansas-Monticello with 12 points and a career-best 15 boards.

In The Board Room: Brandon Peterson moved into 11th place on ASU's all-time rebounding leaders chart    following nine boards at FIU (11/29).  Peterson, who has amassed a current 646 career total, surpassed Reggie Gordon (1983-87; 645) and is now four shy of equalling Jim Ward's (1953-55) 10th-place 650 career caroms.  Senior guard Trey Finn now occupies 16th place among the Red Wolves' career leaders with 545 boards after grabbing five at FIU (11/29) to climb above Lonnie Webber (1972-74; 542).

Scoring Leaders: The Red Wolves presently have three individuals averaging double digits in points this season – Ed Townsel (17.0 ppg.), Brandon Peterson (11.2 ppg.), and Trey Finn (10.0 ppg.).  The ASU trio have combined to generate 49.7% (219-441) of the team's scoring production to date.

Board Crashers: ASU's top two rebounders this season, Brandon Peterson (10.2 rpg.) and junior forward Kendrick Washington (5.7 rpg.) have presently combined to account for 46.6 percent (95-204) of the team's output on the glass this campaign.

On The Road: ASU is averaging 68.0 points to go with a 39.3 (97-247) shooting percentage and a 33.8 rebounds average in its four road contests this season.  The Red Wolves have also connected on 61.7 percent (50-81) at the free throw line and notched a 30.4 percent (28-92) success rate from three-point territory.  Individually, Ed Townsel (15.3 ppg.) and Brandon Peterson (10.8 ppg.) lead A-State in scoring and are the lone ASU players with double-digit point averages.  Peterson (8.3 rpg.) along with Kendrick Washington (5.5 rpg.) are the Red Wolves' top rebounders.

NCAA Stats Leaders: The Red Wolves presently rank 27th nationally in steals per game (10.2 avg.) and are 42nd in three-point field goals per game (8.0 avg.) thru games of Nov. 25th.  Individually, Ed Townsel is ninth in three-point field goals made per game (3.6 avg.) and 31st in three-point field goal percentage (48.6%).  Rakeem Dickerson is 16th in assist/turnover ratio (5.0) while Brandon Peterson ranks 20th in rebounds per game (10.4 avg.), 30th in double doubles (2.0), and 41st in blocked shots (2.4 avg.). 

Last Time Out: A four-game ASU winning streak came to an abrupt end as the Red Wolves dropped their Sun Belt Conference (SBC) opener with an 80-61 loss to FIU Thursday (11/29) at FIU's U.S. Century Bank Arena in Miami, Fla.

The Red Wolves managed a lead three times in the contest with the last coming at the 8:54 mark of the opening half as A-State lead 19-18.  The Panthers would score 11 straight points in a four-minute stretch to go up by 10 at 29-19 with 4:36 left before the half.  FIU would go on to claim a 33-26 advantage at the intermission.

Behind hot shooting in the second 20 minutes, FIU would bump its lead to double digits as the Panthers came out and outscored the Red Wolves, 12-6, in the first three minutes.  As the game progressed, FIU would maintain its double-figure lead over ASU and in a six-minute plus span went from an 11-point advantage (56-45) at 10:25 to a 21-point cushion (75-54) with 3:43 remaining in the contest.  Unfortunately, A-State would get to within 19 points on four more occasions but no closer as the final horn sounded.

Ed Townsel's 13 points paced three ASU players in double-figure scoring as Trey Finn and Brandon Peterson tallied 12 and 10 points, respectively.  Townsel, who for the sixth consecutive time this season produced double-figure points, combined with Finn to knock down six of team's eight triples as both posted three treys apiece.  Kendrick Washington chipped in with nine points and grabbed seven rebounds, which were two shy of equaling Peterson's game-leading nine boards.

2012-13 Reference Guide Now Online: The 2012-13 A-State men's basketball reference guide is now available to view online in a PDF format and contains information for all devoted Red Wolves fans.  The 110-page publication features such information as 2012-13 student-athlete rosters, season preview, student-athlete biographies, coaching staff bios, 2011-12 season statistics, and all-time series records along with career, season, and game statistical records.  The annual publication is a production of the ASU Sports Information Office under the direction of director Jerry Scott along with assistant directors Chris Graddy and Joe Gorby.  To view the 2012-13 ASU men's basketball publication online, please visit the respective link - 2012-13 Arkansas State Men's Basketball Reference Guide.

A Season Ago: A-State concluded the 2011-12 campaign at 14-20 overall and posted a fifth-place 6-10 mark in the Sun Belt Conference's (SBC) West Division.  The Red Wolves were 10-5 at home, 2-14 on the road, and 2-1 at neutral sites a season ago.

Up Next: Arkansas State will take a six-day break from competition for final exams before returning to the court on Saturday, Dec. 8, to host the St. Bonaventure Bonnies in Jonesboro, Ark.  A 2:05 p.m. (CT) start time is slated for the non-conference contest at the ASU Convocation Center and will represent the first of three consecutive non-league home outings for the Red Wolves.