ODU MONARCHS (24-6/13-5)
Tied for second & No. 3 Seed
C-USA Basketball Championship
Will play the winner of UTSA(7) and FIU (10) at 3:30 ET Thursday
RADIO/TV COVERAGE
ESPN 94.1 in Hampton Roads; Sports FM 100.5 in Richmond, Va.;WBRG 104.5 FM & Super Talk 1050 AM in Lynchburg, Va. Play-by-play: Ted Alexander- Color Analysts: Dave Twardzik (ODU’72)
TV: – American Sports Network
Mike Gleason-Play-by-play;Ben Braun - color analyst. The game will be televised live nationally on the American Sports Network which can be seen in Hampton Roads on channel 33 (over the air) and channel 2 on Cox.
MONARCH PROBABLES
G 1 Aaron Bacote, 6-4 Jr, Hampton, VA. 10.7 ppg/ 3.3 rpg
G 0 Jordan Baker , 6-2, So., Hampton, VA. 4.0 ppg/ 2.2 rpg
G 20 Trey Freeman, 6-2, Jr. Virginia Beach, VA. 17.2 ppg/ 3.34apg
F 35 Jonathan Arledge, 6-9, Gr. Silver Spring, MD. 8.4 ppg./4.8 rpg.
F 21 Denzell Taylor, 6-7, So., Ontario, Canada 3.2 ppg/ 6.0 rpg.
RESERVES
G 3 Keenan Palmore, 6-1, Jr. Stone Mountain, GA. 2.6 ppg/ 1.4 rpg
F 23 Richard Ross, 6-6, Sr., Wichita Falls, TX./ 8.3 ppg/ 5.6 rpg.
G 22 Ambrose Mosley, 6-2, RSo. Jacksonville, FL. 6.8 ppg/ 2.1 rpg
F 30 Nik Biberaj 6-8, Jr., Fairfax Station, VA. 2.2 ppg/ 1.8 rpg.
F 10 Javonte Douglas, 6-7, Jr., Charlotte, NC. 3.1 ppg/ 2.6 rpg
G 15 Deion Clark, 6-3, RSo. Naples, FL. 0.8 ppg/ 0.5 rpg.
F 11 Joe Ebondo, 6-7, Sr. Euless, TX. 0.3/ 1.0 rpg
G 2 Martin Shaw, 6-1, JR., Hampton, VA. 0.3 ppg/ 0.0 rpg.
MONARCH NOTES
ODU enters the C-USA Tournament on a six-game winning streak.
ODU won 21 straight at home(Constant Center Best), 17-0 this year (2nd in C-USA to LA. Tech)
Head Coach Jeff Jones has 399 career wins.
So. Miss 38 points is the second lowest by an opponent this year(MT. St. Mary’s held to 35)
ODU has shot .50 percent or better vs. FIU,FAU, So. Miss & NC A&T
After losing 5 straight road C-USA games, ODU won two straight.
ODU is the only C-USA team to hold both LA Tech & Charlotte below 60 pts. They lead C-USA in scoring
ODU home attendance average is 7,132, (3 sellouts) second only to UTEP at 8446
Aaron Bacote became the 49th Monarchs to reach 1,000 career points vs. Charlotte.
The Ga. State win was ODU’s first OT win since 2-22-12 at GSU & first at home since 2-14-08 vs. Drexel.
ODU RPI is 36 as of March 8 (2 top 50 wins LSU and VCU)
81 points (.703 FG PCT) by UAB is the most ODU has allowed this year
ODU has been held under 50 points twice (Ill. State & at UTEP)
13-1 start was the best in ODU’s Div. I history.
ODU is 3-0 against the Atlantic 10 (beating VCU, Richmond & Mason)
ODU’s win over No. 14 VCU was the first since the 61-57 at 11th ranked Georgetown in 2010
Trey Freeman (C-USA Player of the Week twice) & Paradise Jam All-Tourney Team.
Jeff Jones is second vice-president of the NABC
Aaron Bacote is pre-season All-C-USA
Asst. coaches John Richardson & Lamar Barrett were teammates at Elizabeth City St.
ODU basketball players hail from seven different states & Canada.
SERIES VS. MIDDLE TENNESSEE
MT defeated the Monarchs 68-58 back on Jan. 22 in Murfreesboro. ODU led 54-52 with less than 30 seconds remaining after a Jonathan Arledge three-pointer, but Jacob Ivory driving layup with nine seconds left tied the game and sent it to overtime. Middle Tennessee knocked the Monarchs out of last year’s tournament 62-48.
SERIES VS. CHARLOTTE
The Monarchs defeated Charlotte, 61-54 in Charlotte and 61-57 at ODU. In game one Freeman scored 14 and Richard Ross added 12, while Torin Dorn came off the bench to lead the 49ers with13. In game two, four Monarchs scored in double figures led by Aaron Bacote’s 14, while Charlotte turned the ball over 18 times despite shooting .49 percent from the field.
Jeff Jones record
Record at ODU: 42-24 (2nd season)
Career Record: 399-311 (22 years)
ODU NCAA NATIONAL RANKINGS
(15th) .56.6 Scoring Defense
(29th) +5.6 Rebound Margin
ODU C-USA RANKINGS
Scoring – Freeman (2nd) 17.2
Field Goal PCT: Ross (4th) .588
Free Throw PCT: Bacote (3rd) .846
Rebounding: Taylor (14) 6.0
Assists: Freeman (8) 3.4
Steals: Freeman (11) 1.3
Asst/TO Ratio: Freeman (5) 2.1
Blocked Shots: Ross (4th) 1.6
Offensive Rebs: Taylor (1st) 3.6
Team Scoring Def: (1st) 56.6
Team FG Def: (1st) .402
3 PT FG DEF: (2nd) .309
Team Rebounding: (5th) 36.1
COMPARING THE TEAMS
ODU CHA MT
Scoring 65.8 74.3 64.3
FGPCT .437 .462 .420
FG DEF: .402 . 443 .436
3 PT PCT .331 .378 .354
FT PCT .683 .643 .712
REBS 36.1 36.4 34.3
R-Margin +5.6 +1.8 +3.6
ASTS: 13.4 13.8 11.4
TO 10.9 13.4 13.7
STLS 6.4 6.6 6.0
ODU VS. C-USA TEAMS
Charlotte 17-13
FIU 2-0
FAU 3-0
LA TECH 1-1
Marshall 8-4
Middle Tenn. 0-4
North Texas 3-0
Rice 4-0
Southern Miss. 7-1
UAB 9-19
UTEP 0-2
UTSA 1-2
WKU 13-16