The Truman Bulldog men’s basketball team will head to St. Louis for a non-conference game against the University of Missouri-St. Louis on Tuesday.  Tip off is slated for 6:00 p.m.

The Bulldogs are 1-1 on the young season after splitting a pair of games last week.  Truman defeated Culver-Stockton 86-68 at home while dropping a 71-59 decision to Division I, Western Illinois University last Wednesday.

Freshman Tom Norton and sophomore Vesko Filchev lead the Bulldogs in scoring with each averaging 14.0 points per game.  Norton has knocked down eight three-pointers so far and is tied for the team lead in steals with five.

Filchev has averaged a double-double with his 14 points and 10 rebounds.  He matched a career high with 18 points last Wednesday against the Leathernecks while also pulling down a career high 13 rebounds.  Filchev has also averaged three blocks per game to start the season.

Missouri-St. Louis is 3-0 on the young season after winning both games at the Southwestern Oklahoma tournament over the weekend.  The Tritons, behind a big weekend by guard Beaumont Beasley, defeated the host school 80-66 on Friday and then defeated West Texas A&M 81-64 on Saturday.  Beasley scored 26 in the opener and 23 against the Buffalos.

Beasley has averaged 21.7 points per game while also leading the team with 20 assists.  He is shooting 57% from the field and is 5-of-12 from beyond the arc.

SERIES INFO:

The former conference opponents (MIAA) will be playing for the 34th time with Missouri-St. Louis holding a 21-12 advantage over the Bulldogs.

Last season, Truman’s Alex Henderson scored a career high 19 points, along with senior Patrick Fandja, as the Bulldogs defeated the Tritons 65-59 in Pershing Arena.  Ethan Freeman added 13 rebounds with four coming on the offensive end as the Bulldogs trailed by three with 3:45 left to play.

Truman finished the game on a 12-4 run to move to 4-0 on the season.

Missouri-St. Louis was a member of the MIAA from 1980 to 1996 before joining the Great Lakes Valley Conference.  The Tritons, then Rivermen, only conference title was the 1988 tournament championship.

BULLDOGS NON-CONFERENCE RECORD:

Since the 1995-96 season, Truman is 69-57 (.548) in non-conference games .

Truman is 9-33 (.214) in non-conference road games in 1995-96 and 33-47 (.413) in non-conference games played against Division II opponents.

LOOK BACK AT LAST WEEK’S ACTION:

Week one of the regular season sees the Bulldogs shooting 42% from the field and 36% from beyond the arc.  Three Bulldogs are shooting above 50% from the field with Stefan Garrison leading the way at 58% and Vesko Filchev and Ethan Freeman are both shooting 57% from the field.

Tom Norton has a team-leading eight three pointers and is shooting 38% from three while Mark Misiewicz has knocked down five of his 12 three-point attempts for 41%.

Truman has had more rebounds than both opponents and is averaging 42 boards per game.

The Bulldogs averaged 13.5 points off of turnovers, 18 second chance points, 28 points in the paint and 21.5 points from the bench.

Truman’s opponents last week (Culver-Stockton & Western Illinois) shot 43% from the field and 30% (12-of-40) from outside.  Turnovers were tied at 29 apiece while Truman had three more offensive rebounds (29-26).

MIAA COACHES/MEDIA POLLS:

Truman was picked 11th in both the conference coaches poll and the newly created MIAA Media poll that was released on Oct. 27 as part of the league’s Media Day.

Southwest Baptist got the coaches nod as the league’s top team while the University of Central Missouri was the media choice for the league title.  SBU was ranked third in the preseason National Basketball Coaches Association Poll while the Mules were fifth.  Only one other school in the MIAA, Fort Hays State, received votes in the national poll.

BULLDOGS BITES:

Vesko Filchev has the highest single-game point total thus far.  Filchev matched a career high with 18 points in Truman’s loss to Western Illinois on Nov. 18th.  Flichev also leads the team with 10.0 rebounds per game and has the team’s most single-game rebounds in 13 also against Western Illinois.
Filchev’s double-double against WIU was the first this season for a Bulldog.  Ethan Freeman is the only other Truman player on the roster to record a double-double in his career (2).  The last triple-double in Truman history was by Brian Vandehey against Emporia State back on Jan. 7, 1995 (13p, 10r, 10a).
Ethan Freeman is the only Bulldog on the roster to top 20 points in a game.  Freeman scored 20 against William Woods in the season opener during the 2008-09 campaign.  Freeman has had 22 career 10-point plus games and is followed by Alex Henderson with 16.
The Bulldogs have used the same starting line-up for the first two games.  Tom Norton, Vesko Filchev, Mark Misiewicz, Stefan Garrison and Alex Henderson have started the first two games.  Ethan Freeman is the active player leader in starts with 45.
Truman has averaged 72.5 points per game and allowed 69.5.  The Bulldogs have shot below 40% from the field once and above 50% in their other game.
SCOUTING MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS:

The Tritons were 14-13 last season and 11-4 in home games.  UMSL was picked to finish third in the Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division.   The Tritons were 6-11 last year in the GLVC West division and finished in fourth place.

Three other Triton players have averaged in double figures in scoring, Adam Kaatman (14.3), Ryan Lawrence (13.7) and Jeremy Brown (11.7) .  Brown also leads the team in rebounding at 7.0 boards per game.

As a team, UMSL is averaging 83.3 points per game while giving up just 66.3.  They are shooting 55% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc.  The Tritons are a +11.3 in rebounding margin through three games.

COACHES:

Jack Schrader is in his 15th season as head coach of the Bulldogs.  He has an overall record of 154-234.  Schrader has guided two Bulldog team to the NCAA Division II tournament.  The 1998-99 team finished their season at the NCAA Final Four, while the 2005-06 team was a participant in the NCAA South Central regional. 

Truman has only had three men’s basketball coaches since 1946, Boyd King (1946-1971), Willard Sims (1971-1995) and Schrader (1996-present).  Schrader has twice been named the MIAA and NABC South Central region Coach of the Year.

Coach Schrader picked up his 150th victory of his career as Bulldog head coach in a 97-71 win over Central Christian on Nov. 20th.  He is currently third all-time among Truman coaches trailing Boyd King (379 wins) and Williard Sims (310 wins).

Chris Pilz is in his seventh season as the head coach at Missouri-St. Louis and has complied a 68-98 record during that span.  He was a second team all-American while playing at UMSL and is the third on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,673 points.  He was the MIAA Freshman of the Year following the 1987-88 season in which the Tritons won the conference postseason tournament.

UP NEXT:

The first installment of the annual ‘Dogs-Hawks rivalry will take place on Saturday night in Pershing Arena as Quincy University pays a visit.  Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m. following the women’s game at 5:30.

Truman and Quincy have played over 100 times with the Hawks holding a 54-51 advantage over the Bulldogs.  The two teams split last year’s meetings with Truman winning at home.

Round two of the QU-Truman match-up is scheduled for December 19th.

Courtesy Truman State University