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The Truman men’s basketball team is set to make its first MIAA tournament appearance since the 2006-07 season on Monday night, as the 10th-seeded Bulldogs travel to No. 7 seed Pittsburg (Kan.) State for an opening round game in Pittsburg, Kansas.
 
The Bulldogs are coming off a 63-56 regular season-ending victory on Saturday (March 2) afternoon at Northwest Missouri to pick up win No. 10 on the season.

Truman trailed by 18 early in the second half but out-scored the Bearcats 45-22 during the final 16 minutes to jump into a three-way tie for ninth in the MIAA standings at 7-11.
 
Truman will be meeting Pitt State for the second time this season, as the Gorillas downed the Bulldogs 79-75 on February 7 in Pittsburg.
 
Projected Starters:
G – #2 – Seth Jackson – 6’3” – 200 – SO – 12.2 ppg | 4.3 rpg | 1.2 apg | 2012 MIAA FOY
F – #5 – Mike Carlson – 6’9” – 200 – JR – 16.9 ppg | 6.5 rpg | 1.8 apg | 88% FT; 36 blocks
G – #12 – Cory Myers – 6’3” – 190 – FR – 6.2 ppg | 2.7 rpg | 4.5 apg | 41% FG; 35 steals
C – #21 – Marek Bush – 6’6” – 245 – JR – 3.8 ppg | 4.9 rpg | 0.2 apg | 42 O-Rebounds
G – #22 – Tom Norton – 5’9” – 170 – SR – 11.4 ppg | 1.0 rpg | 1.1 apg | 2.9 3FG/gm
 
Off the Bench:
G – #3 – Isaac Gardner – 6’4” – 205 – JR – 7.3 ppg | 1.5 rpg | 0.4 apg | 59 3FG
G – #10 – Matt Patterson – 5’10” – 165 – SR – 1.6 ppg | 0.8 rpg | 0.9 apg | 39% 3FG
G – #11 – Cole Myers – 6’3” – 190 – FR – 4.8 ppg | 2.2 rpg | 1.8 apg | 32 steals
F – #15 – Jaylon Jones – 6’5” – 230 – FR – 3.8 ppg | 1.9 rpg | 0.3 apg | 45% FG
G – #20 – Dominic Kacich – 6’3” – 170 – SO – 2.0 ppg | 0.0 rpg | 0.3 apg | 3 GP
F – #33 – Tyler Anderson – 6’5” – 210 – SO – 5.5 ppg | 3.8 rpg | 0.4 apg | 58% FG
C – #35 – Patrick Burmester – 6’9” – 235 – SO – 2.3 ppg | 2.4 rpg | 0.6 apg | 5 blocks
 
2013 Redshirts:
C – #24 – Kiefer Starbird – 6’10” – 200 – FR
G – #30 – Andrew Vander Zwaag – 6’3” – 185 – SO
F – #32 – Connor Erickson – 6’8” – 190 – FR
 
 
Tournament Tidbits:

· The Bulldogs finished tied for ninth in the final MIAA standings with a 7-11 record. After tiebreakers were applied, Truman earned the No. 10 seed behind No. 9 Missouri Southern but ahead of No. 11 Southwest Baptist.
· Truman is playing in its first MIAA tournament since the 2006-07 season, when the squad went 1-1 in reaching the tournament semifinals.

   Truman defeated Emporia State 88-75 in the MIAA quarterfinals before falling 72-68 to Central Missouri in the semifinals.

·   Due to the MIAA expanding the tournament to 12 teams this year, this is the first time Truman will play on a campus site in an MIAA tournament game since a 96-65 loss at Washburn on Feb. 26, 2001. ·  

Turning the Corner:
With its 10th win of the season on Saturday afternoon, the Bulldogs continue to improve on last season’s win total and giving them the most by a Truman squad since the 2006-07 season (16).
 
In addition, the Bulldogs have already won more road games this season (5) than the last four years combined (4) and tied the most in a single-season since 2006-07. The Bulldogs also won more MIAA regular season games this year (7) than any since 2006-07 (9), despite playing two fewer games.
 

Courtesy Truman State University