Austin vs. Tennessee | December 10th, 2011 | Tipoff: 11:00am
Thompson-Boling Arena | Knoxville, TN.
Knoxville, TN – As one injured Governor returns to action, another exits. So goes the frustrating story of Austin Peay baskeball during the first third of the 2011- 12 season.
As the Governors prepare to play Tennessee, 11:00am, Saturday, at Thompson-Boling Arena, they are expected to have back on a limited basis center John Fraley, who returned to physical activity in the past week after suffering a concussion a month ago in the season opener against Middle Tennessee.
The good news/bad news situation comes after the Governors recorded their longawaited first win, Monday, an 86-82 overtime decision against Arkansas State, in a contest that saw forwards Josh Terry and Melvin Baker take over the overtime period. Terry finished with 22 points while Baker had 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Tennessee enters the contest at 3-4, coming off consecutive losses to Oakland and Pittsburgh. The Vols, in fact, have not played since last Saturday because of finals.
Tennessee is led by sophomore guard Trae Golden, who is averaging 16.3 ppg and shooting 43 percent from three-point range. Forward Jordan McRae is averaing 13.9 ppg while forward Jeronne Maymon is at 13.1 ppg and a team-best 7.7 rpg.
Golden, McRae and Maymon were the respective scoring leaders in each of the first six games until Cameron Tatum was the leading scorer (13 points) against Pittsburgh.
The Vols are averaging 8.7 three-point field goals compared to just 3.7 for the Govs.
Governors Pardon
- This is Austin Peay’s 80th season of basketball.
- Dave Loos, APSU’s all-time winningest basketball coach, also is the OVC’s all-time wins leader with 352 victories. He also has 434 career coaching wins.
- The Dave Aaron Arena playing floor was named Dave Loos Court, Summer 2007. Loos is believed to be one of only three current Division I men’s coaches who are coaching on courts that bear their respective names–Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim–are the other two. Valparaiso’s Homer Drew, who retired after the 2010-11 season, had the floor named after him last season.
- Since 1993-94, Austin Peay has finished no worse than fifth in the OVC standings.
- Austin Peay has reached at least the OVC tournament semifinals in 13 of the last 17 years.
- Austin Peay has made 27 straight appearances in the OVC tournament.
What You Should Know
The Series: This is the ninth meeting between Austin Peay, a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, and Tennessee, a member of the Southeastern Conference. The Governors still are seeking their first win in the series. The two teams last met in the
season opener in 2009-10, with the Govs dropping an 83-54 decision in Knoxville.
Deeper Meanings
What A Win Would Mean: The Govs would gain their second 2011-12 victory…they would improve to 2-9….it would make the Govs 2-1 in December after going 0-8 in November…it would be APSU’s first win in the series…it would give Loos his first victory against Tennessee after five previous losses…it would make Loos 1-0 against Volunteer coach Cuonzo Martin…it would be APSU’s third win against the Southeastern Conference…would be Loos’ 435th career coaching victory and his 353rd APSU win.
What A Loss Would Mean: The Govs would fall to 1-10 on the season…the Govs would fall to 0-9 all-time in the series with the Vols…it would drop Dave Loos to 0-6 against Tennessee…it would drop the Governors to 2-42 all-time against current
Southeastern Conference members…it would be head coach Dave Loos’ 353rd career loss and 300th Austin Peay defeat.
Knee Injury Halts Campbell For Second Straight Year
For a second straight year Anthony Campbell’s basketball season has ended because of a knee injury. Campbell suffered lateral and medial meniscus tears in the left knee during Monday night’s overtime win against Arkansas State. In preseason, the APSU junior forward tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, the same injury to the knee that ended his 2010-11 season and allowed him to gain a medical redshirt.
After APSU’s medical team met with Campbell and his family, it was decided to brace the junior forward’s knee to permit him to compete in the 2011-12 season’s first third. However, the most recent injury no longer will allow him to continue play.
After allocating time for swelling to reduce along with building strength in the muscles surrounding the injured areas, the Edwardsville, IL, native is expected to undergo surgery in the next three to four weeks.
Fraley Returns To Practice
With 2:58 left in Austin Peay’s season-opening game at Middle Tennessee, center John Fraley got tangled up with MTSU Kerry Hammonds when the Blue Raiders guard drove to the basket. Both players hit the floor during the collision, but Fraley’s head slammed against the floor.
The Clarksville native was removed from the floor on a stretcher and taken to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a concussion. That head injury has kept the 6-9 local product out the last three weeks.
Last Thursday, he was cleared to begin resuming physical activity for the first time in three weeks. He went through shooting drills and other noncontact work through Saturday. He was allowed to return to limited contact work, Sunday, and resumed full practices, Tuesday.
He is expected to play at Tennessee.
Line-Up Shuffle
After attempting to shake up a lethargic offense against Memphis with a lineup change that saw TyShwan Edmondson start at point guard, the Governors reversed direction with its lineup reshuffling against Arkansas State, going with a defensive-minded lineup.
In fact, Jerome Clyburn returned as one of the starting guards along with freshman Herdie Lawrence, who gained his first start with TyShwan Edmondson coming off the bench. Josh Terry, Melvin Baker and Will Triggs started up front. It was the sixth different starting lineup the Govs have utlizied this season. APSU used seven different lineups a year ago.
Bake And Shake
For the second time this season senior forward Melvin Baker recorded a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds versus Arkansas State. He posted those same number against Detroit back November.
Baker, who was APSU’s only double figure scorer against both Lipscomb and Memphis, has scored in double figures five straight games and is averaging 16.4 ppg, shooting 55.8 percent from the floor, and 8.0 rpg during that span.
No Joshin’ Around
After scoring in double figures in Austin Peay’s first six games this season, senior forward Josh Terry struggled through a scoring slump over the next three games, being held to single digits in all three.
He snapped that slump against Arkansas State in the overtime win, scoring a season-best 22 points on 9-of-15 field goal shooting. He also scored six overtime points, the first four and the last one to seal the verdict.
Dimes And Nickels
Austin Peay was credited with 18 assists against Arkansas State, 15 of them coming from three players. In fact, Jerome Clyburn, TyShwan Edmondson and Will Triggs each had five.
Clyburn tied his career best with the five assists while Triggs set his career with those dimes. For Edmondson, it was a season high.
Impressive Line
Will Triggs did a little bit of everything Monday in the Govs’ 86-82 overtime win. He narrowly missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.
He also recorded a career-best five assists while matching his career-high in blocked shots.
Triggs also played a career-high 40 minutes.
Shooting Pain
After shooting just 33.3 percent against Memphis–making it the seventh time this season the Govs shot below 40 percent–the Govs reversed their fortures against Arkansas State. The Govs shot 29 of 57 (50.9 percent) to match their previous season best they shot against Bowling Green during the CBE. That raised the Governors’ overall shooting percentage from 39.5 percent to 40.6.
Three-Point Woes
When Austin Peay connected on five three pointers against Arkansas State it was the most three pointers by the Govs since they had six in the season opener at Middle Tennessee. In fact, between those two contests, the Govs connected on just 26 three pointers combined, including only a pair at Lipscomb (November 28th) and Memphis last Saturday. Even after the 5-of-14 night, the Govs still are shooting just 24.7 percent from threepoint range.
After making five three pointers against Arkansas State, the Govs remained unranked in three-point field-goal percentage. Why? To be ranked by the NCAA a team must average five made three pointers. The Govs are averaging only 3.7 made three pointers per game this season.
Free-Throw Improvement
Entering the November 26th game against MTSU, the Govs were shooting a struggling 59.4 percent from the free-throw line this season. Against MTSU, APSU shot 72.7 percent (24 of 33), including 15 of 18 (83.3 percent) in the second half. Last Monday at Lipscomb, the Govs again showed improvement, making 11 of 15 free throws for 73.3 percent, including 8-of-9 in the final half.
Then at Memphis, the Govs connected on 10 of 13 (76.9 percent). Although the Govs slipped some against Arkansas State (23 of 33/69.7 percent), they have watched their overall freethrows percentage improve to 64.9 percent.
Steal Away
APSU recorded a season-low four steals against Arkansas State. It stopped a streak of five straight games where the Govs tallied eight or more steals, including back-toback 13-steal games against Detroit (November 23rd) and Middle Tennessee (November 26th).
Board Room
When Austin Peay was outrebounded 35-34, Monday night, it represented the ninth straight game it had been outrebounded. In fact, the Governors have not won the rebound battle since the season opener, since center John Fraley went down with a concussion. APSU out-boarded Middle Tennessee, 41-34 in the opener.
Despite their lack of size inside without Fraley, the Govs have held their own for the most part on the boards, with the second MTSU game (Nov. 26), the only game this season APSU has been outrebounded by a double-digit margin (40-26).
Defensive Woes
Not only are the Govs struggling on the offensive end, but playing from behind and being forced to play fullcourt defense has also created some defensive issues. Entering Saturday’s game, Govs opponents are shooting 49.1 percent from the floor, including allowing five teams to shoot better than 50 percent this season.
Streak Snapped
When Austin Peay defeated Arkansas State, Monday, it halted the worst start in APSU history. The 1964-65 team opened 0-8 as the previous worst start.
Next Game
Govs prepare to face NAIA foe Rochester Rochester (MI) is off to a hot start. In fact, the Warriors came flying out of the game, winning their first eight games. Although they have cooled off since, a 9-4 record for first-year coach Klint Pleasant, a one-time graduate assistant for Bret Campbell at UT Martin.
Pleasant took over the head-coaching reign from his father after serving two seasons as head man at Abilene Christian, where he was the youngest Division II head coach in the country. His Warriors are led by 6-4 forward Dramel Hogan, who has scored 29 points in a game earlier this season and had 19 points and nine rebounds vs. UT Martin earlier this season.
