UMKC Rounds Out Road Trip At Eastern Washington On Thursday
12/17/2008 1:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Setting
The UMKC men's basketball team will close out its seven-day road trip with a Thursday night match-up at Eastern Washington. The Kangaroos and Eagles will square off at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash., beginning at 9 p.m. (CST).
On The Tube
Thursday's game will be broadcast on Eagle GamePlan.
On The Air
Thursday's game will be aired on 810 AM WHB with the “Voice of the Kangaroos” Steven Davis calling the play-by-play. Davis is the son of long-time Kansas and Royals play-by-play announcer Bob Davis.
Last Game
The Kangaroos dropped a 77-62 decision at Northwestern on Monday night in Evanston. The Wildcats jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the game and never trailed in the 15-point victory. UMKC had four players finish the game in double figures with Spencer Johnson leading the way with a career-high 22 points.
Game Notes
- The Kangaroos had four players finish the game in double figures. It was just the second game this season (Wichita State) where the team has had four players in double digits.
- The Wildcats pushed their lead to a game-high 17 points midway through the second half at 58-41. UMKC battled back to pull to within nine points with 5:27 remaining before falling by the 15-point margin.
- UMKC was playing with a total of nine players against NU. James Humphrey missed the game due to injury, while Bakari Lewis did not suit up via a coaches' decision.
- Redshirt freshman Fred Ford scored a career-best 12 points against the Wildcats. The Indiana native connected on 5-of-7 shots in the game, while also finishing with three assists. It was Ford's first career game in double figures.
Scouting Eastern Washington
The Eagles enter Thursday's game with a 6-3 overall record after dropping a 75-55 decision at Hawaii on Dec. 13. EWU got a double-double from Benny Valentine in the defeat, as the guard finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Valentine is leading the Eagles in scoring on the year with an 18.4 scoring average to go along with 3.1 assists per game. Valentine is shooting .403 from the floor with a team-most 54 field goals and 134 attempts. Forward Brandon Moore is the only other player in double digits with a 10.7 points per game to go along with 7.0 rebounds.
EWU is averaging 65.6 points per game on 43.9 percent shooting from the floor and a .364 percentage from long range. The Eagles also average 32.0 rebounds and 10.7 assists per game.
EWU Game Notes
- Guard Benny Valentine played one season at Texas Tech under Bobby Knight during the 2006-07 season, where he averaged 3.5 points per game. The 5-7 guard also played one season at Howard College in Texas before joining the Red Raiders.
- Valentine has led the Eagles in scoring in seven of the team's nine games on the year. He scored a season-high 29 points in the loss at Minnesota on Nov. 26.
- Guard Adris DeLeon and forward Chris Busch made their 08-09 debuts on Dec. 13 at Hawaii. DeLeon had three points, two assists and two steals in 12 minutes, while Busch had three points in 11 minutes.
- EWU was picked to finish seventh in the Big Sky Conference this season by the league's head coaches and eighth by the media.
UMKC vs. Big Sky
The Kangaroos are 0-6 all-time against opponents from the Big Sky Conference. UMKC is: 0-3 vs. Montana, 0-1 vs. Idaho State, 0-1 vs. Eastern Washington and 0-1 vs. Northern Arizona. Last season, the Kangaroos played at NAU, where they dropped a 77-62 decision.
Racking Up The Frequent Flyer Miles
The Kangaroos will round out their current three-game and seven day road trip at Eastern Washington on Thursday, as they will make the 1,631-mile trek to Cheney. It is the team's second extended road trip this season, as the squad spent 10-days in Florida in November. UMKC made the 1,423 mile trip from KC to Boca Raton on Nov. 21, and now it is venturing to the Pacific Northwest for a single game against the Eagles.
The contest will be the ?Roos first game in the state of Washington and the team's first venture to the Pacific Northwest. UMKC did, however, did play out West, albeit in Alaska in the 2006 Great Alaska Shootout.
Spencer “Double-Double” Johnson
After finishing with zero double-doubles in his first 38 collegiate games, sophomore Spencer Johnson has posted double-doubles in each of the past four contests for the Kangaroos.
The Champaign, Ill., native tallied his first career double-double when he finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds against Oakland on Dec. 4 before following it up with a 12-point, 10-rebound output in the win over IPFW. He then scored 14 points to go along with a career-high 14 rebounds at Loyola (Ill.) before finishing with a career-best 22 points and 12 boards at Northwestern. He made 11-of-18 shot attempts in the contest.
Over the past four games, Johnson has been averaging 17.0 points and 12.3 rebounds in 34.2 minutes of court time per game. It is the first time since the 2004-05 season for a UMKC player to record four straight double-doubles. Former ?Roo Carlton Aaron also tallied four straight from Jan. 3 to Jan. 10 during UMKC's school record 11-game winning streak.
On the year, the Illinois native is third on the team with an 11.3 scoring average to go along with a team-best 6.8 rebounds per game, which ranks fourth in the league. Johnson has reached double digits in scoring in a total of six games on the year.
Johnson Tied For Longest Double-Double Streak In The Nation
With his current streak of four straight double-doubles, sophomore Spencer Johnson is tied for the longest streak in the nation. Appalachian State's Isaac Butts and North Dakota State's Brett Winkelman have also posted four consecutive double-doubles this season.
Johnson is listed ahead of several high profile players on the list including National Player of the Year candidate Blake Griffin (2) of Oklahoma and Luke Harangody (2) of Notre Dame.
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 a career-high 20 points and 13 rebounds 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.
Miscellaneous Notes
- Senior Dane Brumagin ranks 37th in the nation with a .878 free throw percentage.
- The Kangaroos are one of two teams in The Summit League to have two players listed among the top-10 in scoring. Senior Dane Brumagin ranks seventh with a 17.2 average, while Reggie Hamilton is ninth with 16.1 points.
Closing Out On The 3's
UMKC has been contesting the three-point shots through the early portion of the schedule. The Kangaroos are third in the league in allowing its opposition to shoot 30.1 percent (66-219) from three-point range. UMKC has held its opponents under 30 percent from three-point land in a total of seven games on the year. In the NCAA statistical rankings on Dec. 15, the Kangaroos ranked 35th in the nation in three-point field goal defense (.285).
Brumagin Leads Team In Scoring
Senior Dane Brumagin scored in double figures for the eighth straight game and for the 11th time this season when he finished with 14 points on a 5-of-11 night from the floor at Northwestern. The forward made 4-of-7 three-pointers in the contest.
Leading up to the current three-game road trip, Brumagin hit the 20-point mark in back-to-back league games. He had a season-high 29 points, the fifth highest scoring game of his career, against Oakland before finishing with 28 points in the win over IPFW. They were the 18th and 19th games of Brumagin's career with 20 or more points.
The Montgomery City, Mo., native is leading the team with a 17.2 scoring average on .431 shooting from the floor. He has reached double figures in 11-of-12 games. 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 registered his third game this season with seven or more assists when he tallied eight in the loss at Northwestern on Monday night. The guard has six games this season with five or more assists, which included a career-best nine helpers against Oakland on Dec 4. Hamilton currently ranks third in The Summit League with 5.0 assists per game.
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 ninth in The Summit League with a 16.1 scoring average. The Harvey, Ill., native has reached double figures in 11 of 12 games this season. In five of those contests, the guard finished with at least 20 points.
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 1,153 career points, which is 57 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 555 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 12.3 per game. Sophomore Spencer Johnson grabbed nearly half of the boards, as he finished with 10 offensive rebounds on the night.
Mushatt Hitting The Glass
Freshman Latreze Mushatt has been one of UMKC's top rebounders this season. The Michigan native is second on the team with 5.8 boards per game, and he has grabbed at least eight rebounds in a total of five games. In his second career game at nationally-ranked Kansas, Mushatt finished with a career-best 10 rebounds.
Offensively, the forward is fourth on the team with a 8.4 per game scoring average, and he's scored in double figures in five games this season.
Switch-A-Roo
Head Coach Matt Brown has used eight different starting line-ups over the first 12 games this season. Last season, UMKC used a total of 17 different starting line-ups on the year.
Returners Carry The Load
Through 12 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 73 percent of the team's scoring. The four players have scored 572 of the team's 779 points on the season. In the season opener against North Dakota, the group scored 50 of the squad's 56 points, and in the Dec. 13 game at Loyola (Ill.), the foursome scored 44 of the team's 47 points.
Raining Threes
UMKC has made at least one three-point basket in 257 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 - 4th - 199
Three-Point Field Goal Attempts - 4th - 504
Field Goals Attempted - 6th - 919
20-point scoring games - 7th - 19
Points - 7th - 1153
3-Point Field Goal Percentage - t7th - .395 (199-504)
Field Goals Made - 7th - 379
Double Figure Scoring Games - 8th - 49
Free Throws Made - 10th - 196
Games Played - 10th - 102
Rebounds - 13th - 352
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.
