Jan. 31, 2007

Contact: Brian McCann

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GAME 24
Loyola (14-9, 5-5) at Cleveland State (8-15, 2-8)
Date: Thursday, Febuary 1, 2007
Time: 7:30 p.m. EST
Site: Goodman Arena (8,500), Wolstein Center, Cleveland, Ohio
TV: None Live.
(Highlights available on The Viking Basketball Report, which airs weekly on SportsTime Ohio.)
(Live Video Streaming available through the Horizon League Network at Horizonleague.org.)
Radio: WKNR, 850 AM (Al Pawlowski)
(Audio also available on Sirius Radio, Channel 161)
(Streaming available at www.WKNR.com)
Series: Loyola leads, 20-9
Last Meeting: @Loyola 66, CSU 55 (1/4/07)
Sponsor: Sun Newspapers
Promo: Free CSU Basketball Yearbook To First 2,000 Fans
Tickets: $8, $10 & $14

SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State returns home for the first time in two weeks when the Vikings open a three-game homestand against Horizon League preseason favorite Loyola on Thursday, Feb. 1 beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. The game is a true doubleheader for CSU as the women's basketball team will also face Loyola beginning at 5:00 p.m. The Vikings have played better than their 8-15 overall and 2-8 league mark shows, owning the halftime lead in 14 of the 23 games this season. CSU is coming off a split of a two-game road trip over the weekend, wining 60-55 at UIC on Saturday (Jan. 27) and dropping a heartbreaking 57-56 overtime decision at UW-Milwaukee on Monday (Jan. 29). Loyola (14-9, 5-5) enters the game after dropping road games at Horizon League front-runners Butler (70-66 in OT) and Wright State (59-47) last week.

PREVIEWING CLEVELAND STATE: The Vikings begin the second half of the Horizon League schedule with just nine healthy scholarship players, each of whom factor into the playing rotation. CSU did receive a big boost when guard Victor Morris (7.1 ppg, 2.1 apg) returned to play in the last four games last week after missing the previous eight contests with a broken foot suffered against Ohio State on Dec. 5. The starting unit is led by senior guard Raheem Moss (10.5 ppg) and forward Patrick Tatham (4.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg), sophomore forward J'Nathan Bullock (14.2 ppg, 6.7 rpg) with freshman Joe Davis (9.3 ppg) and sophomore Bahaadar Russell (6.3 ppg) filling the two guard spots. Junior Breyohn Watson (2.5 ppg) and sophomores Tristan Crawford (1.7 ppg) and Renard Fields (1.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg) provide depth off the bench.

HEAD COACH Gary Waters: A 32-year collegiate coaching veteran, Gary Waters took over as the head coach of the Vikings in the spring of 2006, bringing with him to Cleveland a head coaching history that included six trips to the postseason in his first 10 years as a head coach. He posted a 92-60 record in five seasons at Kent State, making NCAA appearances in both 1998-99 and 2000-01 and becoming the third coach in Mid-American Conference history to be named league coach of the year in successive years. Waters moved to Rutgers in 2001-02, compiling a 79-75 mark in five seasons, including three trips to the NIT.

HARVEST FOR HUNGER: National City Bank, Cleveland State Athletics and Harvest for Hunger are "Teaming for our Community" during the February 8 CSU men's basketball game vs Butler. Fans bringing a canned good to the matchup will receive a buy one ticket get one free voucher for the CSU men's and women's doubleheader versus Youngstown State on Feb. 24, and will be eligible to win a fantastic grand prize courtesy of SportsTime Ohio. More importantly, your donation will assist in providing more than 8 million meals to the hungry in Northeast Ohio.

ENGLISH & FRANCIS REMAIN OUT: Senior Carlos English and junior Kevin Francis remain on the bench indefinitely after being ruled academically ineligible on Jan. 13. The duo, who have not yet met NCAA continuing eligibility requirements, will not be permitted to participate until coursework from their fall semester classes is evaluated and approved.

MURPHY OUT FOR THE YEAR: Junior forward Luke Murphy will not return to the lineup this year. He underwent surgery to repair a dislocated patella in his right knee on Jan. 15 and will not be healthy enough to practice until April. Murphy, a 6-9, 220-pound forward from Boone, Iowa, will miss the last 22 games of the season since being injured in practice just before the Dec. 2 game at Butler.

CSU DRAWS CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE IN THE BRACKETBUSTERS: Cleveland State has drawn Cal State Northridge of the Big West Conference as its opponent in the 2007 O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters. The Vikings will travel to Northridge, Calif. on Saturday, Feb. 17 to take on the Matadors. A game time has not yet been determined. This years' BracketBusters lineup consists of 102 schools from 16 conferences. Thirteen games will be televised over two days (Feb. 16-17) with the remaining 38 pool games being played on Saturday, Feb. 17. This is the fourth year that CSU is taking part in the event. The Vikings hosted Eastern Michigan in 2004, played at Central Michigan in 2005 and hosted Delaware last season. CSU is 1-2 in the games, defeating Delaware last year. Cal State Northridge begins the week with a 10-10 overall record and in sixth place in the Big West with a 3-4 mark.

SIRIUS-LY: Thursday's game is also being broadcast nationally via Sirius Satellite Radio as part of the Horizon League package. It is the first Horizon League game being broadcast this year, being available on Sirius Channel 161 (normally the Christian Talk station). This is the third year that the Horizon League has had a contract with Sirius.

OVERTIME: The overtime loss at UW-Milwaukee on Monday marked the third overtime game of the season for the Vikings, one shy of the school record four set in both 1986-87 and 1987-88. Overtime has unfortunately been a bad omen for CSU as the Vikings have dropped all three of those games. CSU lost at Central Michigan (78-76 on Dec. 17), at home against Chicago State (82-77 on Dec. 19) and at UW-Milwaukee (57-56 on Jan. 29). CSU was 2-1 in overtime games last season.

WELCOME BACK VICTOR: The Vikings received good news on the injury front on Jan. 18 when senior guard Victor Morris returned to the lineup just 34 days removed from foot surgery. Morris duffered a Jones fracture in his right foot in the second half against Ohio State on Dec. 9 and had a screw implanted into his foot doing surgery on Dec. 15. He was cleared to practice on Jan. 16 and has played 73 minutes in the four games since. He had his best performance at UW-Milwaukee on Monday, scoring six points with four rebounds and two steals in 30 minutes.

NOT A BAHAAD SUBSTITUTE: With Carlos English out of the lineup the last five games, sophomore Bahaadar Russell has made the most out of moving into the starting lineup. Russell, who entered the Detroit game having scored just 10 points this season and 23 in his career, has been on fire, averaging 16.8 points to quadruple triple his career scoring total. Against Detroit on Jan. 13, he obliterated his previous career scoring high (of five) by totaling 21 points to key the win over the Titans. Russell connected on seven of his 13 field goal attempts and both of his free throws to lead CSU in scoring for the first time in his career. He came back on Jan. 18 to add 17 points against Wright State and 11 vs. Youngstown State on Jan. 20. He keyed the win at UIC on Jan. 27, scoring nine of his team-high 15 points in the last three minutes to seal the win. At UW-Milwaukee on Monday, he scored 20 points to lead CSU back from a 12-point first half deficit and force overtime. In his five starts this season, he is shooting .386 from the field (27-70) and .360 from three-point (18-50), averaging 33.8 minutes a game. In his first 27 games, he was just 3-for-29 from behind the arc (.103).

. . . RUSSELL HAS ALSO BEEN A STEAL: Russell has also more than made up for the defensive hole that was created in the lineup when English, who has made 68 steals in 48 career games, was sidelined. Russell has made 13 steals over the last four games, another considerable jump from the nine steals that he made in his previous 28 games.

BULLOCK'S IN-N-OUT SPECIAL: Like the famed hamburger chain on the west coast, sophomore J'Nathan Bullock has become noted for his ability to turn out the double-double, recording the seventh of his career (and team-best fourth of the season) on Jan. 27 when he scored 14 points with 10 rebounds in the win at UIC. Bullock previously had double-doubles against Detroit (10 points, 10 rebounds), at Delaware (17, 11) and at home against West Virginia Tech (17, 14).

. . . AND ANOTHER 20-POINT EFFORT: Bullock's 21 point effort against Wright State on Jan. 18 was the sophomore's eighth career 20-point effort. Bullock was six-for-12 from the field and made nine of his 10 free throws to surpass the 20-point mark for the fifth time this season.

. . . AND BULLOCK PUTS SCORING STREAKS TOGETHER: Bullock enters the week having scored in double figures in a personal-best seven straight games, surpassing the previous high of five games accomplished once earlier this season and again in the last five games last season. He is averaging 15.0 points over those seven games, shooting .414 from the field (36-87), .364 from three-point (4-11) and .763 from the line (29-38), adding 10 assists and nine steals.

2,000 MINUTE MEN: Raheem Moss and Patrick Tatham each reached a career milestone in the games around the Christmas break, surpassing the 2,000-minute plateau for their collegiate playing careers. Moss leads the way with 2,317 career minutes played, 304 of which came in 2002-03 as a freshman at Bowling Green. All of Tatham's 2,257 minutes have come at Cleveland State as the senior forward has averaged 20 minutes a game in each of his four seasons. The duo joins teammate Victor Morris, who has played 371 minutes this year to raise his career total to 2,418.

. . . TATHAM STARTING STREAK HITS 58: Senior center Patrick Tatham enters the week having started in 58 straight games, the eighth longest streak in school history. By starting on Thursday against Loyola, he will catch Gravelle Craig, who started 59 straight games from 1991-93. That is quite an accomplishment, especially considering that the Brampton, Ontario native missed 13 of his first 44 games as a Viking because of various leg injuries. Tatham leads all active CSU players with 80 career starts.

DOUBLE-DIGIT WOES: A 10-point lead in the second half is usually a pretty good sign for the team ahead. Unfortunately for the Vikings this year, this has not been the case as CSU has dropped five games during which it had a 10-point or larger lead after the intermission. An omen of the things came in the season opener against George Mason when CSU led the 2006 Final Four participant by as many as 16 points in the first half and 46-36 with 18:45 left before falling, 79-74. On Dec. 17 at Central Michigan, the Vikings held a 41-31 lead with 13:03 left but went on to lose in double overtime, 78-76. CSU led Chicago State by 11 (65-54, 5:47) on Dec. 19 and UIC by 12 (50-38, 12:06) on Dec. 27 only to fall victim to scoring runs. On Jan. 6, the Vikings held a 44-31 lead over UW-Green Bay at the break, but scored nine second half points to fall, 65-53.

. . . AND THE HALFTIME LEADS HASN'T BEEN SAFE: The Vikings have held the lead at the intermission in 14 of the 23 games this season, owning a 7-7 mark in those contests.

. . . BUT TRAILING AT HALF HAS BEEN EVEN WORSE: The loss to UW-Milwaukee on Monday extended the Vikings' streak of consecutive games lost after trailing at the half to 10, including all eight this year. CSU has not come back from a halftime deficit since claiming a 63-56 win at Wright State last year (Feb. 15, 2006), a game which saw the Vikings trail 29-23 at the intermission.

CONSECUTIVE TREYS AT 255 & COUNTING: Cleveland State has made at least one three-pointer in all 23 games this season to extend its streak of consecutive games with at least one trey to 255, a streak that began following an 0-for-8 shooting effort in a 60-57 win over Detroit on Feb. 21, 1998. The men's milestone is nothing when it is compared to what the CSU women's team has accomplished. The women have made at least one trey in a NCAA ongoing record 407 straight games.

MOSS MOVES UP THREE-POINT CHART: Raheem Moss continues to make his mark as one of the most prolific three-point shooters in Viking history. He enters the week ranking fourth on the CSU charts in three-point field goals made (158) and attempted (433). Moss needs five three-pointers to catch third-place Jermaine Robinson (163 from 1999-04) and 44 attempts to reach third place Jamaal Harris (477 from 1998-02).

A STEADY STARTING FIVE: The Vikings have found some stability in their starting lineup, using just three different starting combinations in the 23 games this season with the lone changes being made when Victor Morris broke his foot in early December and then again on Jan. 13 when Carlos English was declared ineligible. The stability is quite an accomplishment, especially considering that the Vikings had 13 different starting combinations in 27 games last year. CSU used the same starting five in each of the first 11 games, going with guards Carlos English, Victor Morris and Raheem Moss along with forwards J'Nathan Bullock and Patrick Tatham. The lineup changed at Central Michigan on Dec. 17 when Morris was unable to play because of a foot injury and freshman Joe Davis started for the first time. The 11 straight games is the longest stretch with the same group of starters in the last four seasons, surpassing the nine straight games started by a combination last year. Over the previous three years, CSU used 36 different starting combinations in 83 games.

BULLOCK TAKES OVER SCORING ROLE: Forward J'Nathan Bullock has lived up to the preseason billing that made him a preseason second team All-Horizon League choice. He leads the Vikings and ranks 10th in the Horizon League in scoring (14.2), shooting .738 from the line (96-130).

. . . BULLOCK FINDS HIS MARK IN OTHER WAYS: One of the most impressive statistics about J'Nathan Bullock this year has nothing to do with shooting the basketball. In 23 games this year, Bullock has handed out 30 assists, including a career high five assists vs. West Virginia Tech, to surpass the assist total that he compiled during his entire freshman season. Last year, Bullock had only nine assists in 28 games (and 707 minutes).

BULLOCK'S FREE THROW REVERSAL: J'Nathan Bullock has undergone a metamorphosis at the foul line since late last season. Bullock shot just .597 from the line as a freshman (83-139), including a dismal .511 in the first 22 games (47-92). He finished the year strong, shooting .766 over the last six games (36-47) and then carried that improvement over to this season as he has made 96 of his 130 attempts this year (.738) to rank 11th in the league. Bullock was nine-for-10 from the line against Wright State and 10-for-12 against Miami (Fla.), including a five-for-six effort in the final four minutes. Over his last 29 games, Bullock is 132-177 from the line (.746).

THE VIKING BASKETBALL REPORT: A new addition to the television lineup this year is The Viking Basketball Report, a weekly half-hour show that includes game recaps, highlights and features on players and other elements featuring information about the CSU program. The show, which is hosted by Mike Cairns with commentary from head coach Gary Waters, airs several times each week on SportsTime Ohio. (A complete schedule is available online at www.sportstimeohio.com).

WAITING IN THE WINGS: CSU fans may have to wait until next fall to see the true strength of the Viking recruiting class as three of the seven newcomers are transfers from other Division I schools and will have to sit out the 2006-07 season to meet NCAA transfer guidelines. The trio -- each of whom are juniors and will have two years of eligibility remaining -- includes guard Cedric Jackson and forwards Chris Moore and George Tandy. Jackson is the most experienced of the group, starting 35 games the last two years at Big East Conference member St. John's, while Tandy, a native of Indianapolis who played his senior year of high school at Cleveland's Lincoln West High, was named the Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in 2004-05 while playing at Eastern Illinois. Moore, who lives in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood and attended St. Edward High, returns home after playing two seasons at UC Santa Barbara.

. . . AND CSU ADDS THREE DURING EARLY SIGNING PERIOD: Keeping a promise that he made at his introductory press conference, head coach Gary Waters stayed local, signing three players from northeast Ohio, including two from the greater Cleveland area, during the early signing period. The signees included:

D'Aundray Brown (Youngstown, OH/Ursuline)
A 6-4 guard, Brown averaged 14.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game as a junior, earning first team all-league and all-district honors. He averaged 13.8 points and 6.3 rebounds as a sophomore.

Daitwan Eppinger (Garfield Heights, OH)
A 6-6 wing, Eppinger averaged 18 points, nine rebounds and three blocks a game as a junior, earning first team all-league and all-region honors. Eppinger, who is coached by former Viking standout Sonny Johnson, is ranked as one of the top five prospects in the city and among the top 15 players in Ohio by Prep Spotlight.

Joe Latas (North Olmsted, OH/St. Peter Chanel).
A 6-11 center, Latas averaged 11.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.1 blocks a game as a junior. He is rated as the No. 4 center in Ohio this year by Hoopscoop and was tabbed as a "Standout" at the 2005 Five Star Basketball Camp.

NEXT UP: The Vikings remain at home to host UW-Green Bay on Saturday (Feb. 3) beginning at 5:30 p.m. The game is a doubleheader with the CSU women facing UIC at 3:00 p.m.