Kangaroos Head To Chi-Town To Meet Loyola On Saturday
12/11/2008 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Setting
The UMKC men's basketball team will head to the Windy City to square off against Loyola (Ill.) on Saturday night. The Kangaroos and Ramblers will meet at the Gentile Center in Chicago beginning at 3 p.m. in a game that will be broadcast live on Metro Sports.
On The Tube
Saturday's game will be broadcast live on Metro Sports in Kansas City and on Comcast Sports Net Chicago. Neil Harwell will call the play-by-play, while Doug Elstun will serve as the color commentator.
On The Air
Saturday's game will be aired on 810 AM WHB with the “Voice of the Kangaroos” Steven Davis calling the play-by-play and Nick McCabe handling the color commentator. Davis is the son of long-time Kansas and Royals play-by-play announcer Bob Davis, while McCabe is the Director of Operations at Union Broadcasting.
Last Game
The Kangaroos picked up their first Summit League victory of the season with their 70-62 win over IPFW last Saturday night in Kansas City. UMKC used a 12-2 run midway through the second half to build a 57-47 lead, and it never looked back in the eight point victory.
Game Notes
- UMKC finished with a season-high five blocks against IPFW. All five of the blocks came from sophomore James Humphrey.
- The Kangaroos committed a season-low eight turnovers against the Mastodons. The squad also limited IPFW to a .351 field goal percentage, which was a season low for a UMKC opponent.
Scouting Loyola (Ill.)
The Ramblers enter Saturday's game with a 4-5 overall record on the season after falling to Illinois-Chicago, 83-69, on Saturday in their Horizon League opener. Guard Justin Cerasoli scored a game-high 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting in the loss.
LUC has a pair of student-athletes averaging in double digits on the season. Guard J.R. Blount is leading the team with a 15.1 points and 4.0 assists per game despite shooting just .158 (3-19) from three-point range. Cerasoli, meanwhile, is second on the team with 12.4 points per game and forward Andy Polka is the top rebounder with a 6.6 average.
Loyola is averaging 61.2 points per game on .406 shooting from the floor and .268 from three-point range. The squad is also -3.9 (36.3-32.4) on the boards, and it has 19 more turnovers than assists on the year.
LUC Game Notes
- Loyola opened the season with an 86-79 win over Rockhurst in Chicago on Nov. 14.
- Guard Justin Cerasoli played at Seton Hall and Mississippi before transferring to Loyola.
- The Ramblers were picked to finish eighth in the Horizon League this season. Guard J.R. Blount, meanwhile, was tabbed as a preseason second team all-league selection.
UMKC vs. Horizon League
The Kangaroos are 25-47 all-time against schools that currently make up the Horizon League. UMKC is 9-21 vs. Valparaiso, 7-13 vs. Youngstown State, 5-4 vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2-2 vs. Wisconsin-Green Bay, 1-3 vs. Cleveland State and 1-2 vs. Loyola.
Returning To The Land Of Lincoln
UMKC sophomores Reggie Hamilton and Spencer Johnson will have the opportunity to play in front of friends and family next week when the two Illinois natives return to their home state to face off against Loyola and Northwestern. Hamilton grew up in Harvey, Ill., where he attended Thornwood High School, while Johnson played high school ball at Champaign Central in Champaign, Ill.
Back-to-Back Double-Doubles
After finishing with zero double-doubles in his first 38 collegiate games, sophomore Spencer Johnson has posted double-doubles in each of the past two contests for the Kangaroos.
The Champaign, Ill., native had a career-night against Oakland on Dec. 4, when he finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Both figures were career-highs for the sophomore. The forward then followed it up with a 12-point, 10-rebound output in the eight point win over IPFW.
Hi... My Name Is Bakari
Sophomore Bakari Lewis will make his UMKC debut on Saturday at Loyola. The guard sat out the team's first 10 games due to NCAA Division I transfer regulations. Last season, Lewis played in seven games for the Colonels, where he appeared in just seven games.
Double-Double Duo
The Kangaroos recorded their first two double-doubles of the season on Dec. 4 against Oakland. Senior Dane Brumagin finished with a game-high 29 points to go along with 10 boards to tally his second career double-double. Sophomore Spencer Johnson, meanwhile, finished with career-highs in points (20) and rebounds (13) to record his first career double-double.
It is the first time that UMKC has had a pair of players post double-doubles in the same game since the 2005-06 season when Kalu Guasco (19-10) and Dee Ayuba (21-10) accomplished the feat in an 82-81 overtime win over Chicago State on Feb. 6, 2006. Johnson's 13 rebounds, meanwhile, are the most for a Kangaroo player since Nov. 13, 2006, when Alex Pledger grabbed 15 in the season opener against Florida Atlantic.
Brumagin Hits 20 For Second Straight Game
Senior Dane Brumagin hit the 20-point mark for the second straight game when he finished with 28 points on an 8-of-18 shooting mark from the floor in the eight point win over IPFW on Dec. 6. The performance came on the heels of his 29-point outburst against Oakland on Dec. 4. The forward scored 19 of his game-high 29 points in the first half. The 29 point outing is the fifth highest scoring game of Brumagin's career.
Brumagin now has 19 career games with 20 or more points. He has reached double figures in a total of 47 games in his Kangaroo career.
The forward, who has reached double figures in 9-of-10 games this season, is leading the team with a 17.6 scoring average, which ranks fifth in the league. The only game where the forward missed double digits was at Florida Atlantic, when he sat out the second half of the contest due to injury.
Etching Their Name In The Record Books
Sophomores Reggie Hamilton and James Humphrey have both etched their names in the single game record books this season. Hamilton finished with five steals against Florida on Nov. 30, which are tied for the third most in a single game in school history. Humphrey, meanwhile, swatted five shots in the win over IPFW. The five blocks are also tied for the third most in a single game in school history.
Getting Others Involved
Sophomore Reggie Hamilton dished out a career-high nine assists on Dec. 4 against Oakland. The guard, who is tied for second in The Summit League with 4.8 assists per game, has had five or more assists in five of the last seven games.
Hamilton Shines In Florida
Sophomore Reggie Hamilton had a superb five-game stretch during UMKC's trip to the state of Florida from Nov. 22-30. The guard hit the 20-point mark in four of the team's five games, and he averaged 19.4 points on .493 (34-69) shooting from the floor and .483 (14-29) from long range. Hamilton also averaged 5.6 assists and 2.6 steals for the Kangaroos.
Hamilton is the first Kangaroo player since Michael Watson to score 20 or more points in four straight games. Watson had two different six-game streaks during the 2003-04 season.
On the year, Hamilton is second on the team and eighth in The Summit League with a 16.7 scoring average. The guard also is tied for second in the league in assists (4.8), third in three-point field goal percentage (.472), fourth in the league in steals (1.7) and sixth in three-point field goals (2.5).
Brumagin Moves In To Seventh On Career Scoring Charts
Senior Dane Brumagin moved into seventh place on the UMKC career scoring charts with his 29 point performance against Oakland on Dec. 4. The forward now has 1,123 career points, which is 88 points behind David Robinson (1,211) for sixth place all-time.
Brumagin became just the ninth player in school history to reach the 1,000-point milestone on Nov. 24 against Bradley. The forward hit the mark on a fast break dunk at the 1:46 mark of the first half.
Reggie Halfway To Milestone
Sophomore Reggie Hamilton scored his 500th career point when he finished with 10 points in the game against nationally-ranked Florida on Nov. 30. The guard now has 529 points in Blue and Gold, which puts him in 29th place in the record books.
Crashing The Boards
The Kangaroos finished with a season-high 22 offensive rebounds on Dec. 4 against Oakland. This season, the Kangaroos rank third in the league in offensive rebounds with 12.0 per game. Sophomore Spencer Johnson grabbed nearly half of the boards, as he finished with 10 offensive rebounds on the night.
Mushatt Has Solid Start To Freshman Campaign
Freshman Latreze Mushatt is leading the team with 6.0 rebounds per game this season, and he's fourth on the squad with 9.7 points per game. The forward has grabbed eight or more boards in four contests on the year, which included a career-best 10 boards at No. 24/23 Kansas. The Michigan native has also scored in double figures in a total of five games on the year with his career-high of 14 points coming against Bradley and Florida Gulf Coast.
Closing Out On The 3's
UMKC has been contesting the three-point shots through the early portion of the schedule. The Kangaroos are second in the league in allowing its opposition to shoot 29 percent (54-186) from three-point range. UMKC has held its opponents under 30 percent from three-point land in a total of six games on the year.
Switch-A-Roo
Head Coach Matt Brown has used six different starting line-ups over the first 10 games this season. Last season, UMKC used a total of 17 different starting line-ups on the year.
Returners Carry The Load
Through 10 games, the four returning players on the UMKC roster have been carrying the scoring load. Dane Brumagin, Reggie Hamilton, Spencer Johnson and James Humphrey have accounted for 72 percent of the team's scoring. The four players have scored 480 of the team's 670 points on the season. In the season opener against North Dakota, the group scored 50 of the squad's 56 points.
The Youth Movement
UMKC has a total of 10 underclassmen on its 2008-09 roster, which includes five freshmen and five sophomores. The five freshmen are tied for the most on a roster in school history, while the 10 underclassmen are also tied for the most all-time. This year's squad also has the second most true freshmen on its roster in school history.
The 2005-06 squad also had five freshmen (all true freshmen), while the 1999-00 squad also had a total of 10 freshmen and sophomores. One of the members of the 05-06 class was none other than current senior Dane Brumagin.
Freshmen Starters
The Kangaroo have had more than one freshman considered as a starter in the end of the year statistics just once in school history. In 2000-01, Javin Tindall and Michael Watson both started 29-of-30 games for UMKC.
Raining Threes
UMKC has made at least one three-point basket in 255 consecutive regular season or tournament games dating back to January 22, 2000.
Brumagin In The Career Record Books
Free Throw Percentage - 1st - .867 (196-226)
40-point scoring games - t3rd - 1
30-point scoring games - t4th - 3
Three-Point Field Goals Made - 5th - 193
Three-Point Field Goal Percentage - 6th - .392 (193-492)
Field Goals Attempted - 6th - 894
Three-Point Field Goal Attempts - 7th - 492
20-point scoring games - 7th - 19
Points - 7th - 1123
Field Goals Made - 10th - 367
Double Figure Scoring Games - 10th - 47
Free Throws Made - 11th - 196
Games Played - 12th - 100
Rebounds - 13th - 341
UMKC Matches 2007-08 Road Win Total
With the four-point win at Florida Gulf Coast, the Kangaroos matched their 2007-08 road win total. Last season, the squad finished with a 2-13 record in games away from Kansas City.
The Kangaroos picked up their first road victory at Wichita State on Nov. 19. The win was the program's first win in Wichita and the first road victory against a Missouri Valley Conference opponent. The win over WSU was also the largest crowd (10,282) that UMKC has won in front of since the squad topped Oral Roberts in from of 10,331 fans at the Mabee Center during the 2004-05 season.
Two Straight Over The MVC
The Kangaroos picked up their second straight win over a Missouri Valley Conference opponent on Nov. 24, when it topped Bradley in Fort Myers, Fla. It was just the third time in school history that the Kangaroos have defeated more than one MVC school in the same season. UMKC topped Creighton and Wichita State during the 1993-94 season to accomplish the feat for the first time, and in 2001-02, the squad beat Missouri State and Northern Iowa in back-to-back games.
