By: KSU Sports Information
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Game Notes Live Stats
Tickets A-Sun Weekly Release
Coach Preston Pregame
Coach Preston's Friday morning appearance on Fox Sports Radio 1670 AM
MACON, Ga. - The Kennesaw State Owls play their third straight road game on Friday evening when they make the short trip down I-75 to face their in-state rivals, the Mercer Bears, at the University Center at 7:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on CSS and ESPN3.
The Owls (3-14, 0-6 Atlantic Sun Conference) will be looking to snap a five-game slide on Friday evening, and will be looking to avenge a 2010-11 home-and-home sweep at the hands of the Bears (12-7, 4-2 A-Sun), who have won four of their last five games.
Watch and Listen Live: Fans can watch Friday evening's broadcast on Comcast Sports Southeast or on ESPN3.com, as part of the CSS/A-Sun Friday Night Game of the Week package. Live audio will be available on KSU All Access, accessible at
www.KSUOwls.com/Showcase. Coverage on KSU All Access will begin at 6:45 p.m.
Owls Senior Spencer Dixon on Friday Night's Match-Up:
"It's going to be a very hostile environment, it definitely gets heated in the crowd and on the court when we play them, but we can't worry about that, we need to treat this like it's any other game and execute our game plan. We need to continue to focus on our attitude, our effort, and our enthusiasm, it was definitely there for the most part on Monday evening [at ETSU], if we bring it for 40 minutes at Mercer we have a chance to do some really good things out there."
About The Match-Up
All-Time Series: Mercer Leads, 7-5
Last Season: 2/15/11 in Macon, Ga.: Mercer 57, Owls 55; 1/25/11 in Kennesaw, Ga.: Mercer 78, Owls 70
-The rivalry between the Owls and the Bears has historically been a close one; of the 12 match-ups between the two squads since the Owls moved up to Division I in 2005, nine of them have been decided by single digits, with five of them ending with a margin of five points or less, and two games being decided in overtime.
-The first three home-and-home season series ended in splits, while either the Owls or Bears have swept each of the last three season series.
-Markeith Cummings led all scorers in both games last year, dropping 30 points on 2/15, the fourth 30+ point performance of his career, to follow-up on the 23 points he scored against the Bears on 1/25.
-While the Owls did not lead for any of the last 38 minutes in their last meeting on 2/15, they were able to tie the game on two occasions in the last 2:50. The Bears came out on top thanks to a Brian Mills layup with three seconds left.
About Mercer:
-The Bears enter Friday’s match-up the winners of four out of their last five games. Just prior to this recent stretch, they duplicated what the Owls achieved last season, taking down local power Georgia Tech by a score of 65-59. They enter the weekend in a tie for second in the A-Sun, despite having been fifth in the preseason and not having anyone picked to the Preseason All A-Sun team.
-Mercer has been led this season by senior forward Justin Cecil, who enters play on Friday leading the team with 12.3 points per contest, including 26 points at USC Upstate on Monday and 24 in the squad’s win over Florida Gulf Coast on Jan. 2, their two highest point totals of the season. Sophomores Langston Hall (10.3 ppg) and Jakob Gallon (10.2 ppg) join Cecil in double digit scoring this season.
-The Bears are coached by Bob Hoffman, who is in his fourth season at Mercer and comes into Friday evening with a 60-57 record in Macon. In his ninth season as an NCAA Division I head coach, Hoffman has a career mark of 129-33 at this level.
Stars of the A-Sun, and the Nation: Aaron Anderson enters Friday leading the A-Sun with 8.8 rebounds per game, while Cummings and 16.1 points per contest are second best in the league. As of the NCAA’s most recent stat release on 1/8, Anderson is ranked No. 47 in Division I in rebounds per game, while Cummings is 120 in scoring. In addition, Owls senior Spencer Dixon ranks tied for first in the A-Sun in three-point baskets per game, draining an average of 2.5 shots from behind the arc each contest. He’s currently 97 in the nation in that category.
Improving Defense Pacing the Owls: The Owls have held each of their last four opponents to under 50 percent shooting for the contest, their longest such stretch this season. Their first 11 games yielded an opposing shooting percentage of 50.8 percent.
The Elder Statesmen: Cummings and Dixon enter Friday ranked first and second among active A-Sun players in career points with 1,399 and 1,137, respectively. Dixon is the active career leader in steals (156) and second in assists (345), while Cummings is fifth in rebounds (444). The duo has combined for 29.9 ppg this season, tops among teammates in the A-Sun.
Watch Out From Long Distance: The Black and Gold have made at least five three-point field goals in 15 of 17 games this season, and at least eight in eight of them.
Delbert Among Top A-Sun Freshmen: Owls freshman Delbert Love has made his mark as one of the top newcomers in the Atlantic Sun Conference during the first half of the regular season. Entering Friday, the Cleveland, Ohio, native ranks first among freshmen in minutes per game (36.3) and three-point field goals made (35) and is second among first-year college players in points per game (10.1) and third in assists (3.2).
