Roos Try to Cap Off MBB Home Schedule With a Win on Senior Night

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Kansas City Men's Basketball (14-14, 6-7) program will honor four seniors as the Roos host Chicago State (4-24, 0-13) Saturday at 7 p.m. on Senior Night. Seniors Jordan Giles, Jahshire Hardnett, Javan White and Rob Whitfield will be recognized in a special post-game ceremony. On the court, Kansas City is shooting for a top-four position in the conference standings, as the unit is one-game back of potentially a No. 4 seed in the upcoming WAC tournament.

On Saturday, all players will wear a throwback Kansas City Monarchs uniform to honor Black History Month. The Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of Baseball's Negro Leagues. Fans will have an opportunity to buy these jerseys through a silent auction and, by doing so, help support the men's basketball fundraising arm called Shot Makers Club.

Five Things to Know

Kansas City brings a five-game home winning streak against Chicago State into Saturday's meeting. The Roos have played well at home overall sporting an 8-4 home record this season. The team shoots 47.1 percent at Swinney Center and averages 77.5 points per game.
With three regular-season games remaining on the schedule, the Roos prepare to make some noise heading into the WAC tournament scheduled for March 12-14 in Las Vegas. With California Baptist not eligible for the tournament with their Division I transition, the Roos currently are the No. 5 seed if the tournament started today. They would match up with the No. 4 seed at 4:30 p.m. CT in the first round on March 12.
Senior Jordan Giles is one of four seniors to be honored Saturday, but he is the only Roo to be playing in his fourth year in the Kansas City program. Saturday's game will mark game No. 118, which is three shy of tying the all-time games played record. He has an outside shot of reaching 1,000 career points as he is 16^th all-time with 915 points.
Since Jan. 25th and the victory at California Baptist, the Roos have gathered a 5-3 record. In all five of those victories, Kansas City has led at halftime. The strong start in the first half runs parallel with the first-half scoring advantage the Roos hold in 12 home games this year. On average, Kansas City out-scores the opponent by nearly seven points in the first half in all home games.
The 60-point mark is an important one for the Kansas City scoring defense. The Roos are 8-0 this year when holding the opposition to 60-or-fewer points. In the 14 wins this year, the scoring defense has limited opponents to score just 59.7 points.

Last Time Out: Kansas City def. California Baptist, 69-63 (Feb. 19)

Senior Jordan Giles led five players with 17 in the 69-63 victory sweeping the season series with the Lancers. The Roos (14-14, 6-7) had 28 bench points and shot 51.0 percent overall from the field.
Giles stole the show in the first half – really the first six-plus minutes. He came out attacking the rim and it paid off scoring 10 of his team's first 12 points. At the 13:36 mark, he already had compiled his team-leading 15th double-digit effort of the year.
At the start of the second half, California Baptist cut the margin to two points twice, the last one on a lay-up from Tre Armstrong. But that is when a different Kansas City player again stepped up offensively, only this time it was Nesbitt Jr. His five-straight points forced a CBU time-out at the 14:43 mark and the Roos were up again by seven (49-42).
Two possessions later, Kansas City had its first double-digit lead of the game, 53-42, with 13:28 remaining. California Baptist never could get over the hump down the stretch, due to the Kansas City perimeter defense not allowing easy looks. The Lancers finished the game shooting just 20 percent (5-of-25) from three-point range. The Roos maintained at least a five-point lead the rest of the way and improved to 8-4 at home this year.

Last Time Out against Chicago State (Feb. 1)

The shooting efficiency shined for Kansas City in a 69-51 dominating win over Chicago State (4-19, 0-8), stretching the win streak to three games.
Kansas City led wire-to-wire, jumping out to a 15-0 start to the game and never letting the game get to within less than 10.
The Roos shot the ball at a 45.7 percent clip from the field and 53.3 percent clip from three. Rob Whitfield came out firing, going 3-3 from deep in the first ten minutes of play. Whitfield eventually finished with a game high 21 points, going 5-9 from three. Another senior, Jordan Giles, finished behind Whitfield with 12 points.
The Roos, who rank second in the WAC in steals per game with 8.3, racked up 12 today in the win. Whitfield and Kamgain snatched three a-piece, while Williams and Allick nabbed two a-piece.

All-Time Series vs Chicago State

Kansas City holds a commanding 35-12 record against Chicago State, including 10 wins in the last 11 meetings.
The Roos have won five-straight times in games played in Kansas City. Overall, KC is 18-5 in home contests.
The 35 wins against the Cougars is the most all-time against any opponent in Kansas City history.
During the current 10-1 stretch for Kansas City, the Roos have won by double-digits in six of those games and hold an average margin of victory in those 10 wins of 13.0 points.

Roos Try to Cap Off MBB Home Schedule With a Win on Senior Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jordan Giles

Jahshire Hardnett

Javan White

Rob Whitfield

Roos Try to Cap Off MBB Home Schedule With a Win on Senior Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jordan Giles

Jahshire Hardnett

Javan White

Rob Whitfield

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