Georgia Southern Travels North to Face Cincinnati
12/14/2010 3:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball
CINCINNATI - Georgia Southern (3-7) looks for its first win on the road as it travels north to face Cincinnati (8-0) Tuesday night, December 14th, at Fifth Third Arena. Game time is set for 7 p.m. and will be available for viewing on ESPN3.com. This will be the third Big East opponent for the Eagles this season as Georgia Southern faced Notre Dame and South Florida earlier this year.
THE SERIES
Tuesday's game will only be the second time the Eagles and Bearcats have met. Cincinnati won the previous meeting, 91-57, on December 12, 1992, as part of the Delta Bearcat Classic.
WHAT WE LEARNED LAST GAME
Eric Ferguson's (Statesboro, Ga.) 22 points and 10 rebounds helped lift Georgia Southern to an 86-74 win over Brewton-Parker. Ferguson, who led the team in scoring and rebounding against the Barons, recorded his first collegiate double-double.
Three other Eagles joined Ferguson in double-figure scoring as Rory Spencer (Atlanta, Ga.), Tré Bussey (Lithia Springs, Ga.) and Ben Drayton III (St. Marys, Ga.) scored 16, 15 and 14 points, respectively. Ferguson also had a career-high six assists and tied a previous career high with 38 minutes played. Classmate Jelani Hewitt (Oakland Park, Fla.) posted a career-best 36 minutes on the court sharing the point guard duties with Ben Drayton III (St. Marys, Ga.). Spencer missed a double-double by two rebounds, finishing the game with eight. His three steals were a career-high. Bussey's two steals tied a career high.
With a 53.8 field goal percentage against Brewton-Parker, Georgia Southern is now 3-0 this season when the team shoots at least 50 percent from the floor.
THE COACHES
Eagle Head Coach Charlton "C.Y." Young, named after actor Charlton Heston, is a 1994 graduate of "THE" Georgia Southern University who started at point guard for the Eagles from 1989-1993. Introduced on April 9, 2009 as the new "CEO" of the Georgia Southern Men's Basketball program, Young guides a program on the rise.
As a player, Young was named the Trans American Athletic Conference Most Valuable Player for his performances in three Eagle victories in the 1992 TAAC tournament and he capped the championship victory over Georgia State with 20 points and eight assists, leading the Eagles to the NCAA Tournament.
A three-time All-Conference selection at point guard in two different leagues (Trans America Athletic: 1990-91, 1991-92; Southern: 1992-93), Young earned All-Tournament Team honors in both the TAAC and SoCon and still stands in the 'Top 10' in numerous Georgia Southern statistical categories.
Mick Cronin is in his fifth season as head coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats. Since taking over in March of 2006, Cronin's Bearcats have shown improvement each season going from an 11-win season in 2006-07, to a 19-win season last year which included an NIT berth. Cronin's previous head coaching stint was at Murray State where he guided the Racers to two NCAA Tournament appearances and a pair of Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Tournament championships. In his first year as head coach, Cronin led the Racers to a school-record 28 wins, an OVC Tournament Championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance. The 28 wins are the sixth most in NCAA history for a first-year head coach.
Prior to arriving at Murray State, Cronin served as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator under Rick Pitino at Louisville. During his two-year tenure at Louisville, the Cardinals posted an 44-20 record with trips to the NIT and NCAA Tournament. Before Louisville, Cronin was on the Cincinnati coaching staff for five years where he began his career in 1997 as the video coordinator.
CINCINNATI BEARCATS
Cincinnati starts its season on a eight-game winning streak, not losing a game since being defeated by Dayton, 66-81, in the second round of the NIT Tournament last March to conclude its 2009-10 season. Rashad Bishop's season-high 17 points led Cincinnati past Utah Valley, 92-72 Saturday night. Senior forward Ibrahima Thomas led the Bearcats with a game-high 12 rebounds.
The Bearcats, picked 12th in the 2010-11 Big East preseason coaches poll, return three starters and 11 letterwinners from last year's 19-16 squad that finished in a tie for 11th place in the Big East. Cincinnati returns 45.8 percent of its scoring and 60.7 percent of its rebounding. Dion Dixon leads the Bearcats in scoring with 12.4 ppg while Thomas grabs a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game.
THREE'S COMPANY
Eric Ferguson's 22 points and 10 rebounds vs. Brewton-Parker Dec. 11th was the third double-double for the Eagles this season. It was the second straight game an Eagle had recorded a double-double. Marvin Baynham's 11 rebounds and 10 points against College of Charleston Dec. 4th was the second double-double for the Eagles this season. The first was recorded against Texas Tech (Nov. 23) when Cameron Baskerville (Marietta, Ga.) grabbed 13 rebounds and scored 11 points.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
Three Eagles are in the top 25 of the SoCon in scoring average. Ben Drayton III and Eric Ferguson both rank in the top 10 with Drayton ranked in seventh place (15.6) and Ferguson ranked in a tie for 10th place (14.0), respectively. Jelani Hewitt ranks in 25th place (11.4).
MAKING A MARK IN THE SOCON
Going into the Cincinnati game, Eric Ferguson and Marvin Baynham are both ranked in the SoCon Top 20 in rebounds with Ferguson ranking 12th (5.7) and Baynham in a tie for 16th (5.4). Ben Drayton III and Jelani Hewitt round out the SoCon Top 15 in assists with Drayton ranking 12th (3.4) and Hewitt 14th (3.2). Drayton also ranks 14th in the SoCon in field goal percentage, shooting 47.2 percent from the field. Ferguson's 2.5 offensive rebounds per game is sixth best in the league while Hewitt's 3.7 defensive rebounds per game rank 15th in the SoCon.
Georgia Southern's 44.7 field-goal percentage ranks third in the SoCon while its 74.0 points scored per game is fourth best in the league. The Eagles' 2.9 blocks per game rank sixth in the SoCon.
STEALING AN OPPORTUNITY AWAY
Three Eagles ranked in the top seven of the SoCon steals-per-game chart has propelled Georgia Southern to 18th in the national rankings as well as a first-place SoCon ranking (9.8). Ben Drayton III and Eric Ferguson are tied for 66th nationally and fourth in the SoCon with 2.1 steals per game. Fellow teammate Jelani Hewitt's 2.0 steals per game ranks right behind in sixth place in the SoCon and in a tie for 73rd nationally.
A FRESH TAKE
The Georgia Southern freshman class accounts for 61 percent of the Eagles' scoring. Eric Ferguson and Jelani Hewitt average 14.0 and 11.4 ppg, respectively, while the seven total freshmen are responsible for 45.1 of GSU's 74.0 points on average.
RIVALRIES RENEWED
Former TAAC rival Georgia State will return to Hanner Fieldhouse for the first time since 1996 on December 22. Both South Alabama (Dec. 18) and Eastern Kentucky (January 2) are making their first trips to Statesboro since the 1980s.
FOLLOW THE EAGLES
Follow the Eagles on GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com or get short updates on facebook.com/GSAthletics or twitter.com/GSAthletics. For in-game scoring, visit twitter.com/GSScores or follow live stats by clicking on the "live stats" link in the schedule section at the bottom of the athletics website www.GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com.
