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The Truman (4-10, 2-5 MIAA) men’s basketball team will look to pick up its first MIAA road win of the 2011-12 campaign on Wednesday night when it travels to Missouri Western (6-7, 1-6 MIAA) for a 7:30 pm tipoff in St. Joseph.
 
Both the Bulldogs and Griffons are out to snap four-game MIAA losing skids, having both gone winless in league play since December 7th when Truman beat Southwest Baptist and Missouri Western downed Missouri Southern.
 
The two teams have been nearly identical in conference play, both dropping a handful of tight decisions with one solid win to hang their hats upon.

 For the Bulldogs, it’s been a quartet of close losses (three coming away from home) since that Dec. 7th 80-79 win against SBU, while the Griffons have been in each of their four games – against all but one of the same opponents as Truman – since a stunning 75-67 home win against then-No. 1 MSSU.
 
Truman is coming off a 65-47 loss at Northwest Missouri on Saturday afternoon in a game that never grew to more than 11 at any point until the waning minutes as the Bearcats iced the game at the charity stripe.

All-time, the Griffons hold a 37-23 lead dating back to the first ever meeting in 1926.

Despite the recent success for Missouri Western, Truman was undefeated for nearly 50 years by going a perfect 11-0 from 1926-1974 when the Griffs finally got on the board with a ten-point win on Dec. 14, 1974.
 
Three to Watch:

1.     Long-Range Attack. Both the Bulldogs (6.6) and Griffons (5.8) rank amongst the top-half of the MIAA in three-pointers made per game; however, both also appear in the top-half of three-point defense as each team holds its opponents to 36% or less from beyond the arc.

2.     Keeping ’em Off the Boards. Missouri Western features two of the conference’s six best offensive rebounders in Lavonte Douglas (3rd) and Jeff Reid (6th). Truman ranks fourth in the MIAA in defensive rebounding at 25.0 per game.

3.     Converting the Freebies. The Bulldogs are shooting 69% from the free throw line this season, but Missouri Western is at an MIAA-worst 60.7% with no regular foul shooters hitting better than 69%.

Courtesy Truman State University