Kangaroos Head To Macomb To Face WIU On Friday Night
1/1/2009 11:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Setting
The UMKC men's basketball team will open the New Year at Western Illinois on Friday night in Macomb. The Summit League contest between the Kangaroos and Leathernecks will begin at 7 p.m. at Western Hall.
On The Air
Friday's game will be aired on 1480 AM with the “Voice of the Kangaroos” Steven Davis calling the play-by-play with Nick McCabe serving as 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 erased an 11-point deficit to tie the game at IUPUI with 6:50 remaining, but the Jaguars scored the next five points before running out 72-69 winners on Wednesday in Indianapolis. UMKC trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half before heading into the locker room down 11 at 37-26.
Game Notes
- UMKC shot 46.6 percent from the floor and 40 percent from three-point land in the game. It was the first time in nine games and just the third time this season that the squad has shot at least 40 percent from three-point land.
- The Kangaroos connected on 10-of-25 three pointers against the Jaguars. It was the third game this season for the team to make at least 10 long balls in a game.
- UMKC went just 5-of-9 from the charity stripe in the contest, while IUPUI made 21-of-27 attempts.
Scouting Western Illinois
The Leathernecks enter Friday's contest with a 5-8 overall record and a 2-0 mark in Summit League play. WIU ended IUPUI's 19-game home winning streak with a 58-48 victory at The Jungle on Dec. 6 before defeating Southern Utah, 61-53, on Wednesday night in Macomb.
Two Leatherneck players are averaging in double figures on the year. Forward David DuBois is leading the way with 17.0 points and 6.3 rebounds, while guard Josh Rivers is averaging 10.5 points with a team-high 30 three-pointers. Guard David Nurse is third on the team with a 9.0 scoring average to go along with a team-best 43 assists.
Western Illinois is shooting .417 from the floor and .384 from long range en route to 59.0 points per game. The squad is -4.4 on the glass (32.2-27.8), but it has more assists (169) than turnovers (157) on the year.
WIU Game Notes
- UMKC and Western Illinois have split the 16 meetings in Macomb over the course of the all-time series.
- This season, the Leathernecks are a perfect 3-0 at Western Hall with wins over Eureka College, Southeast Missouri State and Southern Utah.
- The Leathernecks are getting out scored by 44 points in the first half of games this season.
- Leatherneck guard David Nurse was a member of the UMKC men's basketball program in 2005-06 before transferring to Kansas City Kansas Community College. Nurse is originally from Kearney, Mo., where he attended Kearney High School.
Brumagin Notches Third Straight With 20+
Senior Dane Brumagin notched his third straight game with 20 or more points when he finished with 23 points on a 9-of-14 night from the floor at IUPUI on Wednesday. The forward made 4-of-8 three-point attempts to go along with six boards and four assists in the game. The four assists tied a career-high.
The performance followed a game where the Montgomery City, Mo., native made 12-of-19 attempts en route to a season-high 34 points on Dec. 28 against Eastern Washington. The 34-point game was the fourth 30-point game of Brumagin's career, and it was the third highest scoring output of his career.
Brumagin opened his scoring streak with a 26-point output against UTSA on Dec. 22. The three-game stretch came after the forward was held to just nine points in the win at Eastern Washington.
During the streak, Brumagin is averaging 27.7 points with a .577 (30-52) field goal percentage and a .476 (10-21) three-point clip. He is also averaging six rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.
Brumagin has scored in double digits in 52 games in his Kangaroo career, which includes 22 games with 20 or more points.
This season, the forward is leading team and is fourth in The Summit League with a 18.6 scoring average, while shooting 46.2 percent from the floor and 39.1 percent from long range. He has scored in double figures in 14-of-16 games, while hitting the 20-point mark in a total of six contests.
Brumagin Sixth All-Time In UMKC History In Career Scoring
Senior Dane Brumagin moved past David Robinson into sixth place in the UMKC record books in career scoring with his 34-point performance against SIU Edwardsville on Dec. 28. The forward, who is just the ninth player in school history to reach the 1,000-point milestone, currently has 1,245 career points, which is 159 points behind Quinton Day (1,404) for fifth place all-time.
Perfecto From Long Distance
Sophomore Bakari Lewis went a perfect 4-of-4 from long range en route to his career-high 18-point scoring output at IUPUI on Dec. 31. The perfect 1.000 three-point field goal percentage was a season-best for a Kangaroo player this season.
Spence A Beast On The Boards
Sophomore Spencer Johnson has been a beast on the boards for the Kangaroos this season despite regularly facing taller players at the five position throughout the season. The 6-6 forward has six games this season where he has grabbed double-digit rebounding totals. The Illinois native is leading the team with 7.3 rebounds per game, which ranks fourth in The Summit League. He is also second in the league with 3.0 offensive rebounds per contest. The forward has been UMKC's top rebounder in 13-of-16 games on the year.
Improving His All Around Game
Sophomore Spencer Johnson has been UMKC's most consistent post player this season, as he's scored in double digits in a total of eight contests on the year. During a five-game stretch from Dec. 4 to Dec. 18, the Illinois native led the nation with five straight double-doubles, where he averaged 18.2 points and 12.0 rebounds per game.
On the year, Johnson is third on the team with an 11.7 scoring average on .455 (70-154) shooting. The offensive production is staggering, as the forward scored a total of 54 points as a true freshman, where he averaged 1.8 points per contest.
UMKC's 2008-09 Double-Doubles
Dane Brumagin
29 points/10 rebounds - vs. Oakland (12/4)
Spencer Johnson
20 points/13 rebounds - vs. Oakland (12/4)
12 points/10 rebounds - vs. IPFW (12/6)
14 points/14 rebounds - at Loyola (Ill.) - 12/13
22 points/12 rebounds - at Northwestern - 12/15
23 points/11 rebounds - at Eastern Washington - 12/18
Nail Biters Not Kind To Kangaroos
The Kangaroos have been competitive in just about every game this season, but the squad is having its difficulties in tight contests. UMKC has posted a 3-6 record in games decided by seven points or less this season. The squad has fallen short in the each of the last three games, all of which have been decided by six or fewer points.
Summit League Player of the Week Honorees
The Kangaroos have had a pair of student-athletes earn Summit League Player of the Week honors this season after having just one honoree in 2007-08.
Sophomore Spencer Johnson earned the team's first POW honor on Dec. 22 after posting back-to-back double-doubles at Northwestern and Eastern Washington on Dec. 15 and Dec. 18. The forward had 22 points and 12 boards against NU before finishing with a career-best 23 points and 11 boards at EWU.
Senior Dane Brumagin became the second straight Kangaroo to earn the Player of the Week accolade on Dec. 28 after averaging 30 points, six rebounds, two steals and two assists in a pair of contests. The forward scored 26 points against UTSA before following it up with a season-high 34 points against SIU Edwardsville.
Lewis Gives UMKC Another Scoring Option
Sophomore Bakari Lewis has given the Kangaroos a much needed fourth scoring option since becoming eligible on Dec. 15. On Wednesday at IUPUI, the guard had the best scoring game of his Kangaroo career when he finished with 18 points on a 7-of-11 shooting performance, which included a perfect 4-of-4 day from long range.
Lewis, who has started four straight games for the Kangaroos, has averaged 10.0 points on .462 shooting in five games. He also has an 18 assists to eight turnovers on the year.
Master Thief
Senior Dane Brumagin has tallied at least two steals in seven of the last 10 games for the Kangaroos. The Missouri native has a total of 27 steals or 1.7 per game on the season, which ranks third in The Summit League.
Brumagin Named A Semifinalist For The Lowe's Senior CLASS Award
Dane Brumagin has been named to the initial list of 30 candidates for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. The award, given annually to senior student-athletes across nine NCAA Division I sports, has become one of the most prestigious honors in college athletics and is sponsored by Lowe's, an Official Corporate Partner of the NCAA. Based on criteria focusing on the “Four C's” of classroom, character, community and competition, the award winners will be selected by national balloting of head basketball coaches, national media and college basketball fans.
The 2008 candidates on the men's sides includes student-athletes from 27 different schools from around the country representing 14 conferences. Brumagin is the lone representative from The Summit League.
UMKC Surpasses 2007-08 Road Win Total
The Kangaroos surpassed their 2007-08 road win total when they defeated Eastern Washington on Dec. 18 in Cheney. The squad is 3-5 on the road this season. Last year, UMKC went 2-13 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.
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 30.4 percent (83-273) from three-point range. UMKC has held its opponents under 30 percent from three-point land in a total of nine games on the year.
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 Dec. 15. 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 4.6 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 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 second on the team with a 13.4 scoring average. The Harvey, Ill., native has reached double figures in 12-of-16 games this season, and in five of those contests, the guard finished with at least 20 points.
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 5.9 boards per game, and he has grabbed at least eight rebounds in a total of six 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 8.1 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 11 different starting line-ups over the first 16 games this season. Last season, UMKC used a total of 17 different starting line-ups on the year.
Returners Carry The Load
Through 16 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 70.8 percent of the team's scoring. The four players have scored 742 of the team's 1059 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 261 consecutive regular season or tournament games dating back to January 22, 2000.
Brumagin In The Career Record Books
Free Throw Percentage - 1st - .850 (209-246)
Three-Point Field Goals Made - 3rd - 209
40-point scoring games - t3rd - 1
30-point scoring games - 4th - 4
Three-Point Field Goal Attempts - 4th - 531
Field Goals Attempted - 4th - 982
Points - 6th - 1245
20-point scoring games - 6th - 22
3-Point Field Goal Percentage - 6th - .395 (210-531)
Field Goals Made - 7th - 413
Double Figure Scoring Games - 7th - 52
Games Played - t8th - 106
Minutes - 9th - 2569
Free Throws Made - 9th - 209
Steals - 9th - 107
Rebounds - 12th - 371
