By: KSU Sports Information
Listen Watch
Live Stats Game Notes
Coach Preston Pregame
KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State Owls play their second straight home game on Monday evening, when they host their Atlantic Sun Conference rivals, the North Florida Ospreys, at 7:00 p.m. at the KSU Convocation Center.
Monday evening will be the Owls final home at the KSU Convocation Center during the month of January. Tickets are 10 dollars for adults and six dollars for youth in eighth grade or younger. KSU students receive free admission to all Owls home athletic events when they present a valid student ID.
Free Food For Students, Free T-Shirts For Everyone: KSU Residence Life will be hosting a student tailgate prior to tip-off, with free food for all students provided by Jimmy John’s. In addition, Monday night will mark the department’s Fifth Annual “Give a Shirt About KSU” t-shirt swap, in which anyone who brings a t-shirt from another college can exchange it for a Kennesaw State t-shirt.
Watch, Listen Live: Free, live audio of Saturday night’s game will be available via KSU All Access, at
www.KSUOwls.com/Showcase. ASun.tv, the conference’s subscription streaming service, will provide live video of the game.
About the Match-Up:
All-Time Series: Owls lead, 16-12
Last Game: 2/20/11- Jacksonville, Fla.: North Florida 90, Owls 88 (Triple-OT)
Notable:
-Kennesaw State leads the all-time series against the Ospreys, 16-12, with the two squads being an even 6-6 against each other at the NCAA Division I level. The two were Peach Belt Conference rivals for many years, with both programs moving up to Division I and the Atlantic Sun Conference in the fall of 2005.
-Three of the 12 games that the two have played as A-Sun rivals have gone to overtime, with their last meeting on Feb. 20 of last season needing three extra sessions before the Ospreys triumphed on their home court, 90-88. Markeith Cummings led the Owls with 27 points, but was just out-dueled by Granberry, who dropped 28 for the home team.
-The Owls are 9-5 all-time at home against North Florida, and 4-2 since joining Division I.
-Cummings has scored 20 or more points against North Florida in three of his four career contests against them, and is averaging 20.8 points per game overall.
-Owls head coach Lewis Preston and Matt Driscoll last met on the sidelines when Preston was an assistant coach at Penn State and Driscoll at Baylor in the 2009 NIT Finals, with Preston's Nittany Lions taking home the victory. This is becoming a recurring theme in Preston's debut season in Kennesaw; on 1/18 the Owls faced the Charlotte 49ers, who are coached by Alan Major, an assistant at Ohio State when Preston and the Florida Gators defeated the Buckeyes in the 2007 NCAA National Championship.
About the Ospreys:
-The Ospreys are a deep team in which all 10 of their active players have appeared in at least 20 of their 21 games and have averaged at least 10.5 minutes per contest. They are paced by their top four scorers in juniors Parker Smith, Jerron Granberry and Andy Diaz and sophomore Travis Wallace. Smith leads the way with 11.9 points per game, while he and Granberry are two of the most prolific three-point shooters in the A-Sun, each coming into Monday shooting over 40 percent from beyond the arc.
-North Florida is coached by Matt Driscoll, who is in his third season at the helm of the Ospreys and previously spent six years as an assistant coach under Scott Drew at Baylor.
-While they come into Monday with a 9-12 record, their non-conference slate included road games at Alabama, Florida, Miami (Florida), Ohio State, Kansas State, Auburn and Virginia Tech, taking Kansas State to overtime on Dec. 11. They have dropped their last four contests, but their first three losses during that stretch all came by single digits. They are most recently coming off of a, 69-58, loss at Mercer on Saturday night.
He’s Getting Closer: With his 16 points on Saturday evening against Jacksonville, Markeith Cummings moved to within 14 points of matching Columbus Ballard (1990-94) for third place on the Owls all-time scoring list. Cummings, who now has 1,437 career points, is the Owls all-time scoring leader at the NCAA Division I level.
Aaron’s Big Night: Aaron Anderson pulled down 17 points and 11 rebounds on Saturday evening against Jacksonville, giving him his sixth double-double and ninth double digit rebounding game of the season, both tops in the A-Sun. Anderson currently leads the A-Sun with 8.9 rebounds per contest.
Call Them Captains: Owls head coach Lewis Preston announced in early January that juniors Aaron Anderson and Markeith Cummings and freshman Delbert Love were named floor captains for the remainder of the 2011-12 season.
Cold Long-Range Shooting Uncharacteristic: The Black and Gold were just 1-for-10 from three-point range on Saturday night, their lowest three-point output this season. Kennesaw State has made at least five threes in 16 of their 20 games this season.
Protecting the Ball...: Kennesaw State heads into Monday evening averaging just 14.1 turnovers per contest, the second lowest in the Atlantic Sun Conference. They have turned it over 12 times or less on nine occasions this season.
...But Spencer Doesn't Protect it For Opponents: Spencer Dixon's two steals on Saturday evening moved him into a tie for second with Tony Williams (1989-93) for second place on the Owls all-time steals list with 163. Tommy Thompson (2002-04)
is the all-time leader, with 206 career swipes.
Monday Night Marks the Halfway Point in Conference Play: After hosting the Ospreys on Monday night, the Owls will have faced each A-Sun opponent once, and will embark on their second tour through the league on Saturday evening, when they visit Florida Gulf Coast. The A-Sun schedule is just 18 games this season, down from 20 in 2010-11.
Very Dynamic Duos: Entering Monday, Markeith Cummings (15.7 ppg) and Spencer Dixon (13.3 ppg) are the highest scoring duo in the A-Sun with a combined 29.0 points per contest. Cummings (5.4 rpg) also has his hand in another two-man act, as he and Aaron Anderson (8.9 rpg) and their 14.3 rpg are the most prolific rebounding teammates in the league.
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 throughout the regular season. Entering
Monday, the Cleveland, Ohio, native ranks first among freshmen in minutes per game (36.4) and three-point field goals made (41) and is second among first-year college players in points per game (11.3) and fourth in assists (3.0). His 2.2 three-point field goals per game ranks 12th in the nation among freshmen as of the NCAA’s latest statistical release on Jan. 19.
The Iron Men: One constant for the Owls this season has been the consistent court presence of Owls Spencer Dixon (36.6 mpg) Delbert Love (36.4) and Markeith Cummings (34.8). Entering Monday, the trio rank first, second, and third in the A-Sun in minutes per game, respectively. Love, for his part, played 295 out of a possible 320 minutes during the month of December.
Owls Schedule Among Nation’s Toughest: The Owls enter Sunday with a schedule that is currently ranked as the 143rd in the nation among the 344 NCAA Division I teams, according to ESPN.com. That rank is currently the second highest in the Atlantic Sun Conference, only behind North Florida, and their non-conference strength of schedule is at 82 in the nation.
