TV – Fox Sports Midwest (Kirksville Cableone Ch. 31), Metro Sports – Dan McLaughlin & Scott Highmark
Radio – 104.7 FM KRES (CentralMoInfo.com) – Brad Boyer & Hank Janssen
Pregame show begins at 6:45 p.m.
Nov. 3, 2009 – The Truman men’s basketball team will play their first of two exhibition games and their first of three Division I schools as the Bulldogs will face the University of Missouri on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. in Mizzou Arena.
Truman was 6-21 last season and 1-19 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. The Bulldogs started the season winning their first five games.
Missouri was 31-7, won the Big 12 Conference tournament and finished 12-4 in the league’s regular season. The Tigers advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight before being knocked out of the tournament by Connecticut 82-75.
Truman and Mizzou have played only twice during the regular season with the Tigers beating the Bulldogs on both occasions. The first game was a 40-20 victory on Jan. 5, 1927 and the second came six years later with the Tigers winning 30-24 in 1933.
Truman was coached by Don Faurot, who later in 1934, left Kirksville and became one of the most iconic figures in the University of Missouri Athletics Department. Both games occurred in Kirksville in Kirk Gym.
Faurot served as the Tigers Football coach from 1935-1956 and then was the Director of Athletics at Mizzou until 1967. Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium is named in honor of the legendary coach who began his illustrious career in Kirksville at Truman.
BULLDOG SEASON PREVIEW
Head Coach Jack Schrader has added lots of outside fire power to go along with a pair of big guys in the middle as the 2009-10 season gets underway.
Matt Patterson (Shelbina, Mo./South Shelby) and Tom Norton (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic) connected on over 180 three pointers last season as high school seniors. Patterson averaged 17.9 points per game while starting all 107 high school games and left South Shelby as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,918 points.
Norton was the 2009 Illinois State three-point champion and scored 1,611 career points with 939 (313) coming from behind the arc. He is in the top 20 in career three-pointers made in the state of Illinois.
As a team last year, Truman hit just 92 three pointers (32%) with junior guard Alex Henderson (Willard, Mo./Willard) leading the way with 31 (39%).
Sophomore Vesko Filchev (Plovdiv,Bulgaria/Language School) finished the season averaging 5.6 points per game and shooting over 60% from the floor. Filchev also led the Bulldogs with 19 blocks with 14 coming during conference play.
Junior Ethan Freeman (Urbandale, Iowa/Urbandale) is the top returning scorer for the Bulldogs. Freeman started 21 of 27 games a year ago and averaged 9.7 points per game. Freeman had 13 10+ plus games and two 10+ rebound games.
Truman’s lone senior Matt Taylor played in 18 games last year making one start. Taylor is also a member of the Bulldog men’s soccer team that is ( ) and ranked number three in the NCAA South Central region. Taylor plays on the Bulldog backline.
Other returners from last season include junior Stefan Garrison (Osceola, Mo./Osceola) who averaged 3.3 points in 25 games last season. Junior Mark Misiewicz (Clinton, Iowa/Clinton) scored 2.1 points per game in 22 games all coming off the bench. Junior David Scott (Dubuque, Iowa/Hempsted) made one start in 13 games for the Bulldogs last year. Junior Brian Nwelue (Lewisville, Texas/Lewisville/Grayson Co. CC) averaged 5.1 points per game while making seven starts in 26 games.
Junior Andrew James (Eureka, Mo./Eureka/Missouri S&T) played just five games before his season was cut short due to an injury and Redshirt Freshman Jesse Schrader (LaPlata, Mo./LaPlata) was another three-point sharpshooter in high school and will look to add to the Bulldogs arsenal from outside.
BULLDOG SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE:
Truman will play two Division I exhibition games before starting the regular season on Monday, Nov. 16th.
After the game with Mizzou, Truman will head west down Interstate 70 and take on the University of Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos on Saturday, Nov. 14th. The UMKC/Truman game will tip off at 7:00 p.m. from Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City.
Truman will open up the season against Culver-Stockton College (Canton, Mo.) in Pershing Arena on the 16th. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs will then take on their third Division I school as they will visit Western Illinois University on Wednesday, Nov. 18th in Macomb. Truman last played a regular season game against a Division I school during the 2005-06 season. The Bulldogs lost by just three after leading most of the game to Southeast Missouri State of the Ohio Valley Conference.
Truman will then play the third member of the University of Missouri system when they head to St. Louis with a Nov. 24th game with the Tritons.
The Bulldogs return from Thanksgiving break for a Saturday night home game against long-time rival Quincy University on Nov. 28th and will then open up MIAA league play with Missouri Southern on the road on Dec. 2nd.
MIAA Coaches/Media Polls Released:
Truman was picked 11th in both the conference coaches poll and the newly created MIAA Media poll that was released on Oct. 27 as part of the league’s Media Day.
Southwest Baptist got the coaches nod as the league’s top team while the University of Central Missouri was the media choice for the league title. SBU was ranked third in the preseason National Basketball Coaches Association Poll while the Mules were fifth. Only one other school in the MIAA, Fort Hays State, received votes in the national poll.
BULLDOGS BITES:
- Two of the top three leading scorers from last season were seniors. Banks Estridge averaged 10.1 points per game while Patrick Fandja averaged 9.6 per contest.
- Ethan Freeman was second on the team behind Fandja in rebound per game. Freeman averaged 5.5 boards last season with 55 assists and shot 50% from the floor. He was second in scoring at 9.7 points per game.
- Alex Henderson led the Bulldogs with 32 three-pointers. Henderson shot 38% from beyond the arc and had a season-high 19 points against Missouri-St. Louis on Nov. 22.
- The Bulldogs had 16 different starting lineups last season . Only one combination (Patrick Fandja, Ethan Freeman, Banks Estridge, Gabe Landau, Alex Henderson) started four games together. Estridge was the only Bulldog to start all 27 games this year, while Freeman is second with 21 starts.
- Truman averaged 61.7 points per game and has a season-high 97 against Central Christian College. The Bulldogs were fourth in the conference in scoring defense, allowing 69.4 points per game.
- Three Bulldogs topped 20 points in a game last season. Patrick Fandja held the season-high with 23 points against Missouri Western. Fandja also had 22 against Washburn. Banks Estridge’s 21 against UNO and Northwest was third. Ethan Freeman scored 20 against William Woods.
SCOUTING MISSOURI:
If their preseason scrimmage was any indication, the Missouri Tigers will score a lot of points this upcoming season. Despite losses of leading scorers DeMarre Carroll (16.6 ppg), Leo Lyons (14.6 ppg) and Matt Lawrence (9.2 ppg), the Tigers had eight of their 14 players score in double-figures at their Black and Gold scrimmage on Oct. 23rd.
Sophomore Kim English led all scorers with 32 points going 12-of-21 from the field, freshman Michael Dixon added 22 in his Tiger debut.
Both teams shot over 57% from the field and forced 34 turnovers while combining for 23 steals in the 91-82 game.
The Tigers were picked seventh in the Big 12 Conference Media Poll.
COACHES:
Jack Schrader is in his 15th season as head coach of the Bulldogs. He has an overall record of 153-233. Schrader has guided two Bulldog team to the NCAA Division II tournament. The 1998-99 team finished their season at the NCAA Final Four, while the 2005-06 team was a participant in the NCAA South Central regional.
Truman has only had three men’s basketball coaches since 1946, Boyd King (1946-1971), Willard Sims (1971-1995) and Schrader (1996-present). Schrader has twice been named the MIAA and NABC South Central region Coach of the Year.
Coach Schrader picked up his 150th victory of his career as Bulldog head coach in a 97-71 win over Central Christian on Nov. 20th. He is currently third all-time among Truman coaches trailing Boyd King (379 wins) and Williard Sims (310 wins).
Mike Anderson begins his fourth season in Columbia as the Tigers Head Coach. Anderson is 65-35 during his stint at Mizzou and 154-76 in his career as a head coach. Anderson had four 20-win seasons at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.