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KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State Owls men’s basketball team makes their 2011-12 regular season home debut on Wednesday night, when they take on the Reinhardt Eagles on Thanksgiving Eve at the KSU Convocation Center at 7:00 p.m.
The Owls (1-2) play a home contest for the first time after starting off their season with three consecutive road games, the first time they have played their first three games of the season away from home since they first joined NCAA Division I in 2005-06. The Black and Gold are fresh off of a, 65-59, victory at Chattanooga on Friday evening, their first road non-conference win in nearly three years.
Markeith Cummings led the Owls in the victory on Friday evening, scoring 21 points and adding eight rebounds in a reserve role. Spencer Dixon chipped in 17 points for the Owls, while senior Romain Henry added a career-high 10 points. The win was the first of Owls head coach Lewis Preston’s career.
Owls Giving Back Food Drive: All fans who bring two canned goods to Wednesday evening’s game will receive five dollar admission to the game. General admission to all men's basketball games are 10 dollars, with youth in eighth grade or younger being admitted for four dollars. Admission to all KSU athletic events are free with a valid student ID. Students are encouraged to being canned goods on Wednesday evening.
Listen to the action on www.KSUOwls.com: If you can’t make it to the game, tune in to
www.KSUOwls.com/showcase for free, live audio of the game. Brian Harper and Art Eckman will be on the mic. All Owls men’s basketball games will have free and on-demand audio streaming all season long.
The Owls in Home Openers: The Black and Gold are 22-4 all-time in home openers, and have won their last four. Overall, they are 5-1 in the Division I era in their first home game of the season. Reinhardt was the guest in the Owls 2002-03 opener at KSU, with the Black and Gold winning an, 84-72, decision.
On Wednesday Night’s Game
Owls Sophomore Nick Turner:
“It will be great to be back in front of our home crowd and show them how much we are improving as a team. The win on Friday evening I think has really given us a lot of momentum. We’ve had some really good practices and workouts since, and we’re all working really hard to learn from the challenges Coach Preston is presenting to us. The biggest thing for us most recently is that we’re all starting to feel like more of a team and doing things on the court that show that, like doing a better job on help defense and making the extra pass. Our fans being there Wednesday night will be great.”
All-Time Series: Owls lead, 3-0
Last Meeting: Nov. 18, 2004: Owls 67, Reinhardt 57- Spec Landrum Centre, Kennesaw, Ga.
-The Owls led by just two points at halftime before pulling away for a decisive, 10-point victory.
-The victory was their 28th in a row, a streak that had spanned back Jan. 3 of the prior season. They would win two more after defeating the Eagles to put a cap on a program-record 30-game winning streak.
-Kennesaw State was led in the contest by senior Cardale Talley, who scored 20 points on 10-for-11 shooting. Georgy Joseph pulled down 12 rebounds.
About Reinhardt: Reinhardt competes in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC). They are coached by Jeffrey Pourchier, who is 54-72 with the Eagles in his fifth season with the program.
The Eagles were selected to finish second this season in the AAC in the preseason coaches’ poll, and also received votes in the preseason NAIA Division II coaches’ poll.
Reinhardt is most recently coming off of a, 74-72, win over Young Harris on Friday evening.
The Eagles have been led this season by senior guard David Lawson, who is currently averaging 17.2 points per game. Seniors Jerome Carmichael (11.8 ppg) and Tyler Blackwell (10.8 ppg) also provide much of the Eagles’ offense.
Though the game will count as a regular season one for the Owls, Reinhardt will counting it as an exhibition for their recordkeeping purposes.
No Better Time to Start: Owls senior Romain Henry has appeared in the starting lineup for the Owls in each of the last two games, and he has made the most of it. After achieving career highs on 11/14 at Auburn with five points, three rebounds and 25 minutes, he went out and set new personal standards, scoring 10 points while pulling down five boards and also dishing out a career-best four assists, in 37 minutes of work.
Learning to Share: The Owls 18 assists on Friday evening at Chattanooga was the most they have had in a game since they had 19 on Dec. 22 of last year at Fordham.
Getting Better From the Floor: After struggling mightily with their shooting in their season-opener at Wisconsin, the Owls have steadily improved their accuracy from the field, shooting 32.7 percent at Auburn last Monday and 44.6 percent at Chattanooga on Friday after opening up with a 10-43 (23.3 pct.) performance against the Badgers.
