Hawkeyes to Host SIU-Edwardsville Friday

Nov. 24, 2010

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THE SETTING
Iowa (2-3) returns home to host SIU-Edwardsville (1-3) Friday in Iowa City. Tip-off is slated for 5:31 p.m. inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena (15,500). Tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for youths and UI students. Free parking will be available for Friday’s game.

Iowa returns to the states after going 1-2 in the 2010 Paradise Jam on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Hawkeyes beat Alabama (55-47), but fell to Xavier (86-73) and Long Beach State (78-72).

SIU-Edwardsville will travel to Iowa City on Thanksgiving after playing at UM-Kansas City Wednesday night.

ON THE AIR
Radio: Iowa games are broadcast on the Hawkeye Radio Network. Jim Albracht will handle the play-by-play, along with color commentator Bob Hansen. The network includes more than 40 stations that blanket the state of Iowa and include portions of Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. The Hawkeye Radio Network coverage includes a 60-minute pregame show. Television: Friday’s game will be televised to a national television audience on the Big Ten Network (HD). Tom Hart and former Hawkeye Kenyon Murray will call the action from Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

IOWA HISTORY
Iowa has played 2,568 games since beginning basketball in 1902. Iowa’s overall record is 1,478-1,090 (.576). That includes a 935-340 (.733) record in home games, a 543-699 (.437) record in contests away from Iowa City, a 699-704 (.498) mark in Big Ten games and a 341-104 (.766) record in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa is one win from notching Big Ten victory No. 700.

OFF AND RUNNING…
Iowa starts the season with a busy two weeks. The Hawkeyes start the 2010-11 season playing six games in 13 days. After playing its first two games at home, the Hawkeyes departed early Wednesday morning for the island of St. Thomas of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Iowa competed against Xavier, Alabama and Long Beach State in four days on the island coming home with sixth place in the eight-team field.

Due to travel complications, the team was unable to return to the states Tuesday and spent the entire day traveling back to Iowa City Wednesday. Iowa returns to action Friday against SIU-Edwardsville.

HAWKEYES WIN ONE, DROP A PAIR AT PARADISE JAM
Iowa lost its first-round game (Nov. 19) at the Paradise Jam, 86-73, to Xavier, who ultimately reached the championship game before falling to Old Dominion. The Hawkeyes trailed by as many as 22 points in the second half and cut the deficit to single digits a couple times. Four Hawkeyes netted double figures: Matt Gatens (15), Eric May (11), Devon Archie (10) and Melsahn Basabe (10).

Iowa rebounded from Friday’s loss with a 55-47 victory over Alabama on Saturday. The 47 points are the fewest the Crimson Tide scored in a game since 2003. After a slow start, Iowa rallied for an eight-point win. Zach McCabe netted a team-high 13 points, followed by Eric May (12) and Bryce Cartwright (10).

Long Beach State dominated Iowa on the boards in a 78-72 win Monday afternoon in the fourth-place game of the Paradise Jam. The 49ers collected 46 rebounds, 21 offensive. Bryce Cartwright tallied 17 points to lead Iowa, while Eric May contributed 15 points and Roy Devyn Marble 11.

BENCH SUCCESS
Iowa’s bench has provided a spark the first five games. The Hawkeye reserves have outscored their opponent bench players 145-54. Iowa’s bench averages 29 points per contest, compared to 10.8 for opponents.

ARCHIE GIVES HAWKEYES A LIFT IN ST. THOMAS
With Iowa’s frontcourt in foul trouble against Xavier, Devon Archie came off the bench and had his best game as a Hawkeye. The redshirt junior posted a double-double scoring 10 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, both career highs. In the three games in St. Thomas, Archie averaged 4.7 points and six rebounds. He shot a combined 63% (5-8) from the field in the three contests.

MAY CONTINUES STRONG PLAY
Eric May averaged 12.7 points and four rebounds in the three Paradise Jam games. He shot a blistering 75% (6-8) from 3-point territory during the tournament.

May leads the team through five games, averaging 13.4 points. He has had the hot hand shooting the ball, sinking 50% (26-52) of his field goal attempts and 62% (8-13) of his 3-point shots. May also averages 4.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals.

CARTWRIGHT HAS BREAKOUT GAME
Bryce Cartwright, playing against a team from his home state, had his best game as a Hawkeye against Long Beach State Monday. The junior transfer tallied 12 of his team-high 17 points in the second half against the 49ers. Cartwright shot 8-16 (.500) from the field and collected three rebounds, two assists and a game-high four steals.

Cartwright ranks third in team scoring (9.0), and second in assists (14) and steals (6) through five contests.

CRUNCH TIME FREE THROWS
Iowa has had improved free throw shooting down the stretch. The Hawkeyes shoot at a 71% clip (12-17) with under five minutes remaining in games. Additionally, the Hawkeyes have made all four free throw attempts with under a minute left.

Iowa was a combined 10-10 (1.000) from the charity stripe under five minutes remaining against Xavier and Alabama.

A YOUNG SQUAD
Iowa’s roster of 15 players include six freshmen, two sophomores, five juniors and two seniors. The freshmen are Melsahn Basabe (6-7, 225), Cody Cox (6-4, 190), Roy Devyn Marble (6-5, 190), Zach McCabe (6-7, 225), Darius Stokes (6-7, 190) and Branden Stubbs (6-2, 170). The sophomores are Eric May (6-5, 220) and Cully Payne (6-1, 185).

In addition, juniors Bryce Cartwright (6-1, 180) and Jordan Stoermer (6-2, 185) are in their first year at Iowa. Cartwright played as a rookie at Fresno State and Paris JC (Texas) his sophomore campaign. Stoermer played his first two seasons at Kirkwood CC (Iowa).

ALL-TIME SERIES
Friday’s match-up against SIU-Edwardsville will be the first between the two schools. SIUE is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference. The Hawkeyes boast a perfect 13-0 (1.000) record against the current members of the OVC. Last season, Iowa downed fellow OVC member, Tennessee State, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena by the count of 67-62.

SCOUTING SIU-EDWARDSVILLE
SIU Edwardsville (SIUE) returns a pair of starters and a total of 11 lettermen from the 2009-10 squad that posted a 5-23 overall record. Forward Mark Yelovich and center Nikola Bundalo are the team’s top two returnees; the duo averaged 16.9 and 6.1 points, respectively, a year ago. Yelovich, however, will miss the remainder of the 2010-11 season after suffering a foot injury in the regular-season opener against IPFW.

SIUE opened the season with three straight losses against IPFW (70-55), at Illinois State (92-64) and at Eastern Kentucky (81-65) before downing MacMurray (88-73) for its first victory of the season on Nov. 20. Bundalo posted a double-double in the victory, making 11-14 attempts to finish with 25 points and 13 rebounds.

SIUE will play at UM-Kansas City (UMKC) Wednesday before traveling to Iowa City for Friday’s contest against the Hawkeyes.

The Cougars are led by fourth-year Head Coach Lennox Forrester, who owned a 33-57 mark heading into Wednesday night’s game at UMKC. Prior to taking the reins at SIUE, Forrester was one of the longest tenured assistant coaches in the Missouri Valley Conference, as he spent 15 years on the coaching staffs at Evansville (1992-2002) and Bradley (2002-07).

SIU-EDWARDSVILLE TIP-INS
? SIUE’s roster features two freshmen, two sophomores, eight juniors and four seniors. The Cougars have six junior college transfers as well as a Division I transfer from Saint Louis (Anthony Mitchell). Their roster features eight players from four states, Brazil and Canada. Eight Cougars hail from the state of Illinois.
? SIUE joined the Ohio Valley Conference in July 2008. The men’s basketball program will begin regular season competition in the OVC during the 2011-12 academic year and will be eligible for the post season in 2012-13.
? SIUE is in year three of the four-year reclassification process to NCAA Division I. The Cougars competed in Division II since beginning men’s basketball during the 1967-68 season.

McCABE SOLID OUT OF THE GATES
Zach McCabe has looked good in his first five games in a Hawkeye uniform. The freshman, who is averaging nearly 26 minutes per contest, ranks second in team scoring (9.4) and rebounding (5.0). He led the team in scoring (UL Monroe and Alabama) and rebounding (Alabama and Long Beach State).

GATENS RETURNS TO ACTION AFTER SUFFERING HAND INJURY
Junior Matt Gatens tore a tendon in his left, non-shooting hand, Oct. 26 during practice. The shooting guard had surgery Oct. 28. Gatens had a hard cast removed on Nov. 10. He did not play in Iowa’s first two games (South Dakota State and UL Monroe), but returned to action in the Hawkeyes’ three contests in St. Thomas.

The 6-5 shooting guard averaged 27 minutes, 7.7 points and 3.3 rebounds, starting all three games at the Paradise Jam.

Gatens, who has started every game in his Hawkeye career, was Iowa’s leading scorer a year ago, averaging 12.3 points. The Iowa City native was also Iowa’s top scoring threat from the free throw line (84-101, .832) and beyond the arc (58-177, .328) last season. Gatens earned all-Big Ten recognition as a freshman and sophomore. He was a member of the all-Big Ten Freshman team in 2009 and an honorable mention all-conference selection a year ago.

COACHING EXPERIENCE
Fran McCaffery has assembled one of the most experienced coaching staffs in the country. Assistant coaches Kirk Speraw, Sherman Dillard and Andrew Francis have over six decades of combined coaching experience. Furthermore, the entire coaching staff combines for 46 years of head coaching experience.

Director of Basketball Operations Jerry Strom is in his 30th season as a member of the Iowa basketball staff. Also, former Hawkeye standout and professional basketball player Ryan Bowen has joined the staff as video coordinator and administrative assistant. Bowen was on four NBA rosters (Denver, Houston, New Orleans and Oklahoma City).

THE RETURNING CAST
Iowa returns four starters and six lettermen from a year ago. The returning starters include senior center Jarryd Cole (6-7, 250), junior guard Matt Gatens (6-5, 215), sophomore guard Cully Payne (6-1, 190) and sophomore forward Eric May (6-5, 220). Gatens was Iowa’s leading scorer, averaging 12.3 points, while also pulling down 4.3 rebounds starting all 32 games. Cole also started every game and averaged 8.1 points ranked second in rebounding (5.2). Payne, who was the only starting freshman point guard in the Big Ten last season, dished out a team-best 122 assists to go along with an 8.7 scoring average. May started the last 23 contests last year, and averaged nine points, 4.6 rebounds and collected team bests in blocks (26) and steals (34).

The other returning lettermen are junior forward Andrew Brommer (6-9, 235) and redshirt junior Devon Archie (6-9, 225). Archie received a medical redshirt last season due to injury.

Iowa’s returning players, last season, played 65.6% of all minutes, accounting for 64.6% of Iowa’s points and grabbing 40% of Iowa’s rebounds. The group also had 75.3% of the steals and 75.1% of the assists last season. They combined to shoot 41.1% from the field, 30.8% from 3-point range and 70.9% from the free-throw line.

DIFFICULT SCHEDULE
The Hawkeyes will potentially play 20 games against teams that competed in the postseason a year ago, including 14 possible contests vs. teams that played in the NCAA Tournament.

In the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, Iowa will travel to Wake Forest. Both teams will have a new head coach on the sidelines. New Hawkeye Head Coach Fran McCaffery played for Wake Forest one season (1977-78), helping the Demon Deacons post a 19-10 record while starting 11 games.

Iowa will play two of its three in-state games at home. The Hawkeyes will host Northern Iowa (Dec. 7) and Iowa State (Dec. 10), while visiting Drake (Dec. 18).

SUPER SOPHS RETURN
Two of the Big Ten’s most exciting and talented freshmen from a year ago return to the Hawkeyes. Eric May and Cully Payne were named to the Big Ten all-Freshman team by Sporting News. May was also recognized on the conference’s all-freshman squad.

Last year, May became Iowa’s first freshman to lead the team in blocks since Ryan Bowen in 1995. Furthermore, standing 6-foot-5, May became the shortest player to lead the team in rejections since 6-foot-5 James Winters did it in 1994. The native of Dubuque, Iowa, also averaged nine points and 4.6 rebounds.

Payne was the only Big Ten freshman starter at point guard last season. Payne became only the fourth Hawkeye freshman to lead the team in assists since 1974-75. His 122 assists rank third-best for an Iowa rookie in a single-season. The Schaumburg, Ill., native also averaged 8.7 points and three rebounds.

THREE STATE CHAMPS
Iowa’s roster of 15 players includes three who won four state titles. Matt Gatens won a state title for Iowa City HS in 2008. Eric May won a state title for Dubuque Wahlert in 2008, while Zach McCabe’s Bishop Heelan captured the state title in 2009 and 2010.

NO 3-POINTERS
Since the 3-point shot became part of the college game, Iowa has played 14 games in which it has failed to make a 3-point attempt. Iowa had made at least one 3-point basket in 53-straight games before missing all five attempts in a 71-61 home win over Purdue in 2004. Iowa’s current streak includes at least one 3-point basket in 217 straight games.

IOWA IN CARVER-HAWKEYE ARENA
Iowa has compiled a 341-104 (.766) record in Carver-Hawkeye Arena since the facility opened in January, 1983. Iowa is 159-83 (.657) in Big Ten games and 182-21 (.897) in non-Big Ten contests.

HAWKEYES ARE TOUGH AT HOME
Iowa has won 65 of its 88 games (.739) in Carver-Hawkeye Arena (15,500) over the last five seasons, including win streaks of 21 straight overall and 12 straight Big Ten Conference wins. Iowa has won 10 of its last 19 home games against ranked opponents. Iowa was a perfect 17-0 at home in 2006, 14-2 in 2007, 10-8 in 2008, 13-4 in 2009 and 9-9 a year ago.

IOWA PHOTOS AVAILABLE
Up-to-date head shots of all Iowa players and coaches are available on the internet at pics.hawkeyebasketball.com. Contact the Iowa Sports Information office if you are in need of additional photos.

HAWKEYE HOOPS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Iowa Hawkeye fans can get even more information, photos and video about the men’s basketball team on social media sites facebook (facebook.com/hawkeyehoops) and twitter (twitter.com/iowahoops).

Exclusive video, ticket specials and more will be available on facebook throughout the season.

BIG TEN TOURNAMENT ALL-SESSION TICKETS ON SALE
All-session tickets for the 2011 Big Ten Basketball Tournament (March 10-13) are now on sale to the general public. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling (800) 745-3000, and through the Conseco Fieldhouse box office and www.consecofieldhouse.com.

All-session tickets for the lower and club level are available for $300 through the 11 Big Ten universities only. All-session tickets for the upper level are available for $220 or $165 (depending on seat location) through Ticketmaster or the Conseco Fieldhouse box office only. Orders will be limited to 12 all-session tickets.

In addition, the men’s basketball tournament will continue to feature a special discounted rate of $50 for all-session tickets available only to students of the 11 Big Ten universities. All students must have a valid student ID for entry. Student section seating will be available in eight balcony sections and orders will be limited to one all-session ticket. Details on the student ticket program will be sent to the university ticket offices for distribution directly to students.

ON THE HORIZON
Iowa hits the road again Tuesday for a contest at Wake Forest in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. (CT) in Winston-Salem. The game will be televised on ESPNU.