Kangaroos & Mastodons Set To Tango On Saturday Night At Municipal
12/5/2008 3:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Setting
The UMKC men's basketball team will return to the hardwood on Saturday night for a 7 p.m. match-up against IPFW at Municipal Auditorium. The game will be the second of a Kangaroo-Mastodon doubleheader, as the UMKC women will battle IPFW to start the day beginning at 4 p.m.
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 dropped an 84-78 decision to Oakland in their Summit League opener on Thursday night in Kansas City. The Kangaroos battled back from a 10-point second half deficit to take the 77-76 lead with 1:11 remaining, but the Grizzlies scored eight of the final nine points to run out six point winners.
Game Notes
- The Kangaroos made a season-high 14 three pointers against OU. It was the second game this season where UMKC has made at least 10 long balls. The squad also had a season-most 39 three-point attempts. The ?Roos had 13 more three-point attempts than two-point attempts (39-26) in the game.
- UMKC out rebounded Oakland, 44-36, in the contest. It was just the second game this season that the Kangaroos have won the battle on the glass. UMKC hit the offensive glass hard, as 22 of the rebounds came on the offensive side of the court.
- UMKC had three players finish in double figures in the contest. Dane Brumagin (29 points) and Spencer Johnson (20 points) both hit the 20-point mark. It was the second game this season where the Kangaroos have had two players score 20 or more points. Reggie Hamilton, meanwhile, was the third player in double digits with 15 in the game.
Scouting IPFW
The Mastodons bring a 3-4 overall record and a 0-1 Summit League mark into Saturday's game after dropping a 78-62 decision at Southern Utah on Thursday night. IPFW had three players finish in double figures in the game with forward David Carson leading the way with 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
The Mastodons have a pair of student-athletes averaging double digits on the year. Carson is leading the team with 15.4 points per game on .463 shooting from the floor, while sophomore guard Ben Botts is averaging 12.7 points a night. Forward Deilvez Yearby, meanwhile, is leading the team with 4.9 rebounds per game.
IPFW is averaging 64.6 points per game on .436 (159-365) shooting from the field and .379 (44-116) from three-point land. The squad is minus four (33.7-29.7) on the boards, but it has nearly a one-to-one assist to turnover ratio (81-85).
IPFW Game Notes
- The Mastodons are in the midst of a seven-game road swing, where they will face the likes of Valparaiso, Marquette, Nebraska and Purdue.
- Senior guard Jakari Johnson has not seen any action for IPFW this season. He is listed as day-to-day while recovering from injury.
- IPFW's Deilvez Yearby has Big 12 ties, as he played two years at Kansas State University from 2005-07.
Double-Double Duo
The Kangaroos recorded their first two double-doubles of the season on Thursday night 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.
UMKC has already surpassed its 2007-08 final double-double total. Last season, Brumagin was the lone Kangaroo to record a double-double, when he finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Southern Utah.
Hamilton Tallies Career-High
Sophomore Reggie Hamilton dished out a career-high nine assists on Thursday night against Oakland. The guard, who is second in The Summit League with 5.0 assists per game, has had five or more assists in five of the last six games.
Brumagin Goes Off For 29 Against Oakland
Senior Dane Brumagin tallied his second 20 point game of the season when he finished with 29 points on 8-of-17 shooting against Oakland. The forward scored 19 points in 18 minutes in the first half, as he made five long balls in the opening 20 minutes. The 29 point outing is the fifth highest scoring game of Brumagin's career.
Brumagin now has 18 games with 20 or more points, and he has reached double figures in a total of 46 games in his Kangaroo career.
The forward is second on the team with a 16.4 scoring average, and he has reached double figures in 8-of-9 games this season. 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.
Hamilton Shines In Florida
Sophomore Reggie Hamilton had a superb five-game stretch during UMKC's trip to the state of Florida. The guard hit the 20-point mark in four of the 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 was 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 leading the team and is fifth in The Summit League with a 17.6 scoring average. The guard also ranks second in the league in steals (1.7), and assists (5.0), fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.500) and fifth in three-point field goals (2.8).
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 1,095 career points, which is 116 points behind David Robinson (1211) 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 520 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 Thursday against Oakland. The performance moved the Kangaroos into third place in the league in offensive rebounds with 12.2 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 5.8 rebounds per game this season, and he's third on the squad with 10.1 points per game. The forward has grabbed eight or more boards in three 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 leading the league in allowing its opposition to shoot 28 percent (47-168) 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.
Steals Away
Sophomore Reggie Hamilton tied a career-high with five steals against No. 17/18 Florida on Nov. 30. The five steals are tied for the third most in a single game in school history.
Switch-A-Roo
Head Coach Matt Brown has used five different starting line-ups over the first nine games this season. Last season, UMKC used a total of 17 different starting line-ups on the year.
Returners Carry The Load
Through nine 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 429 of the team's 600 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 254 consecutive regular season or tournament games dating back to January 22, 2000.
Brumagin In The Career Record Books
Free Throw Percentage - 1st - .862 (187-217)
40-point scoring games - t3rd - 1
30-point scoring games - t4th - 3
Three-Point Field Goals Made - 5th - 190
Three-Point Field Goal Percentage - 6th - .393 (190-483)
Field Goals Attempted - 6th - 876
Three-Point Field Goal Attempts - 7th - 483
20-point scoring games - 7th - 18
Points - 7th - 1095
Field Goals Made - 10th - 359
Double Figure Scoring Games - 10th - 46
Free Throws Made - 11th - 187
Games Played - 12th - 99
Rebounds - 13th - 338
