October 31, 2008

Men's Basketball Begins Exhibition Slate at Kentucky Tonight

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THE SETTING: With its season opener still 17 days away, University of Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball sixth-year head coach Chris Pilz will get an opportunity to gauge the progress of his team with the first of three exhibition games.

The Tritons will have the test of a lifetime, traveling to NCAA Division I power Kentucky. UMSL will also host NCAA Division III defending national champion Washington University in St. Louis on Nov. 8 before its final exhibition game on Nov. 14 at Saint Louis in the Billikens’ regular season opener,

UMSL will tip-off its 43rd season of intercollegiate basketball Nov. 20, hosting cross town foe Harris-Stowe.

WHY PLAY EXHIBITION GAMES?: Head coach Chris Pilz has three reasons for playing exhibition contests. First, he said it’s great exposure for the university and for the program to be shown on a national stage. Second, it’s good for recruiting purposes in allowing his team to play against some of the best teams across the country. Finally, it’s a financial gain for the program.

LAST YEAR IN PRESEASON PLAY: The Tritons also played three exhibition contests last season, posting an 0-3 record against three Division I schools. UMSL lost a 71-54 decision at Saint Louis on Nov. 2 and less than 24 hours later lost a 78-51 verdict at Missouri. The Tritons closed out the preseason with a 70-37 loss at Illinois State.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS: Kentucky, the NCAA’s all-time wins leader with 1,966 victories, return seven letterwinners from last year’s 18-13 team, including a pair of starters. Sophomore Patrick Patterson returns as the team’s top returning scorer and rebounder, averaging 16.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game last season. Junior Ramon Harris is the Wildcats’ other returning starter. Harris averaged 4.2 points and 3.5 rebounds a year ago.

THE OPPOSING COACH: Billy Gillispie enters his second season as head coach at Kentucky following a three-year stint at Texas A&M, where he was a three-time Big 12 Coach of the Year. He has a career coaching record of 118-71 in six years, which also includes two years at UTEP.

HEAD COACH CHRIS PILZ: Chris Pilz enters his sixth season as head coach of the UMSL men’s basketball program where he holds a 51-85 record.

Pilz came to UMSL having built a successful program at Hazelwood Central (Mo.) High School, leading the team to a 107-55 record and never finishing with a losing season. He also spent two years at Senath-Hornersville (Mo.) High School and four years at Salem (Mo.) High School.

A former standout at UMSL, Pilz was a second team All-American during the 1990-91 season and ranks as the school’s third all-time leading scorer in school history with 1,677 points.

SIZING UP THE TRITONS: UMSL returns seven letterwinners from last year’s team, which finished 10-17 overall, including 5-14 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. However, those seven returnees, along with six newcomers are expected to make a push to return to the top of the league standings.

Headlining the list of returnees is senior forward Tim Green, the squad’s top returning scorer with 11.3 points per game last season.

Accompanying Green on the UMSL offensive attack will senior center Adam Kaatman and senior guards Jason Black and Nathan Whittaker. Kaatman earned a starting role for the final eight games of the season and averaged 10.8 points during that stretch and totaled 153 total points (6.6 ppg) on the season.

Senior forward Aaron Jackson also returns to the line-up, hoping for an injury-free season. Jackson missed most of his junior year following an ACL injury and red shirted the previous year due to injury.

Junior guard Adam Fear and junior forward Cody Kliethermes also both return for their third season with the Tritons.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: Among the list of incoming players is senior forward Alex Jackson, a transfer from St. Louis Meramec Community College, who earned NJCAA All-American honors after averaging 13 points per game during the 2006-07 season.

Junior guard Jeremy Brown returns to the basketball court following a three-year stint in the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball organization. Brown played one season of basketball at Arkansas-Fort Smith before transferring to Pratt Community College to spend two years with the baseball team. He was then selected in the 10th round of the 2005 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he quickly worked his way up to the Las Vegas 51’s of Triple A.

Sophomore guard Ryan Lawrence joins the UMSL program after playing one year at Mineral Area Community College. Lawrence helped his team to a 19-12 record last season and a conference championship and averaged 5.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.1 points per game.

A trio of freshmen will also make their collegiate debuts for the Tritons. Guards Beaumont Beasley and Ryne Bechtel and forward Sam Buxton could all see significant playing time this season.

Beasley comes from Lincoln Prep in Kansas City, Mo., where he was a first team all-stater after averaging 19 points, five rebounds and three assists per game, while Bechtel played four years at Lebanon (Mo.) High School where he averaged 19 points, 3.5 rebounds and three assists per game as a senior. He also set a school record for 75 three-pointers made in a season. Buxton comes from Gibraltar, Europe where he averaged 24 points and 15.5 rebounds per game at Bayside High School.

GLVC PRESEASON POLL RELEASED: UMSL has been picked to finish fourth in the West Division of the Great Lakes Valley Conference preseason poll, as determined by the league’s head coaches.

Drury and Southern Indiana tied as the preseason favorite in the West Division, earning 23 total points, including three first-place votes, and was followed by Quincy, which claimed 16 points.

UMSL received 12 points, while Rockhurst received nine and Missouri S&T tallied seven.

Kentucky Wesleyan garnered 32 total points, including three first-place votes, to earn the title as preseason favorite in the GLVC East Division poll. Northern Kentucky followed closely with 31 total points and picked up two first-place votes, while Lewis earned 30 points and received the final two remaining first-place votes.

Bellarmine (18), Saint Joseph’s (15), Wisconsin-Parkside (11) and Indianapolis (10) round out the GLVC East Division poll.

The Tritons finished 5-14 in the GLVC last season for a fifth place finish.

CHALLENGING SCHEDULE: The Tritons’s 2008-09 schedule includes six teams which advanced to the 2008 NCAA Division II Tournament.

UMSL begins its 43rd season of intercollegiate play at home on Nov. 20, hosting Harris Stowe.

Following a non-conference road test at Truman State two days later on Nov. 22, the Tritons return home for three straight games, beginning with Robert Morris (Ill.) on Nov. 25. UMSL will then host the UMSL Thanksgiving Classic Nov. 28-29, hosting Central Bible College Friday, before welcoming cross-town foe Missouri Baptist Saturday.

Other non-conference home dates include Upper Iowa on Dec. 22 and Oakland City on Dec. 30.

The Tritons will compete in the Quincy/Subway Holiday Tournament Dec. 13-14 and will face Henderson State and Robert Morris (Ill.) in that tournament. UMSL also travels to Memphis, Tenn., on Dec. 19 to face Christian Brothers. The Bucs are coming off a 20-10 season in which they reached their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

The Great Lakes Valley Conference ledger begins Dec. 4 with a trip to Quincy. The Tritons’ conference home opener is two days later on Dec. 6 against Lewis, which qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season.

Also in GLVC play, UMSL will face Northern Kentucky, which reached the NCAA Tournament second round last season, as well as Drury, Saint Joseph’s and Kentucky Wesleyan, which all qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

2007-08 TRITON TIDBITS:
• Tim Green led UMSL in scoring in eight games last season and reached double-figures in 17 of 27 games.
• Nathan Whittaker started the final 11 games he played in during the 2007-08 season, averaging 7.1 points during that stretch and reaching double-figure scoring three times. He also shot 42.2 percent from the floor, including 35.1 percent from three-point range during that time.
• Adam Kaatman was inserted into the starting line-up for the final eight games of the season and averaged 10.8 points during that stretch. He also led the team in scoring three times during that run.
• Aaron Jackson returned to the court for the first time following an ACL injury at Quincy on Jan. 31 and responded with nine points in seven minutes, connecting on a pair of three-pointers and going 3-3 at the free-throw line.
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