Spartans, Owls Set for Monday Night Showdown
Game Notes
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SPARTANBURG, S.C. – After falling at Mercer Saturday afternoon, the USC Upstate men's basketball team (14-10, 7-4 Atlantic Sun) will battle Kennesaw State (3-21, 0-12) Monday night at 7 p.m. The contest inside the KSU Convocation Center will be broadcast on ESPN3.
For those fans that cannot attend Monday's contest there are several ways you can follow the action from the opening tip to the final horn. Fans can follow the action by clicking the live stats and live video links above.
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Spartan Specs…
• Upstate head coach Eddie Payne is just six wins shy of 400 for his career.
• Torrey Craig and Ricardo Glenn each posted 13 points at Mercer (2/4/12). Craig pulled down seven rebounds and tallied three steals, while Glenn grabbed six rebounds (four offensive).
• Torrey Craig was named the CollegeHoops.net A-Sun Player of the Month for January. Craig helped Upstate post a 6-3 mark in January including a four-game win streak to close out the month,
• Jodd Maxey was named the College Sports Madness A-Sun Player of the Week (1/30/11) after averaging 12.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.0 steals and 3.0 blocks per contest in a pair of Upstate wins over Lipscomb and ETSU.
• The Spartans, after being out-rebounded at Jacksonville State (1/30/12) are now 2-4 when losing the rebounding battle.
• The Spartans posted their highest field goal percentage of the season (63.8%; 30-for-47) in their 82-77 victory at Jacksonville State (1/30/12). The Spartans also finished 77.8% (7-of-9) from beyond the arc.
• Against the Gamecocks, Ty Greene led a group of five players with a team-high 17 points behind a 4-of-9 effort from the floor (2-2 3FG) and 7-of-8 at the charity stripe. Greene's seven made free three throws tied a career-high.
• Also reaching double figures at Jacksonville State were: Torrey Craig (15 points; 5-6 FG), Adrian Rodgers (13 points; 6-6 FG), Ricardo Glenn (11 points, 5-8 FG) and Mario Blessing (11 points, 4-7 FG [3-4 3FG]). Jodd Maxey finished 3-for-3 from the floor and 2-of-2 at the charity stripe to finish with 8 points. Maxey battled foul trouble, playing just 17 minutes, but finished with four steals and four blocks.
• Jodd Maxey scored a game-high 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the victory over ETSU (1/27/12) Maxey also swatted five shots to become the first Spartan since Babatunde Olumuyiwa (6, vs. UNC Asheville, 11/29/10) to block five or more shots in a single game.
• Mario Blessing tied a career-high with 11 points in the win over the Bucs. His triple from the right wing with 1:17 left clinched the game for the game for the Spartans.
• Ricardo Glenn pulled down a career-best 17 rebounds (8 off, 9 def) against ETSU (1/27/12), while Torrey Craig registered his seventh double-double of the season (11 points, 10 rebounds). Glenn's 17 rebounds were the most since Craig recorded 15 against ETSU (12/5/10). Glenn's 17 rebounds are the tied for the most in the league this season and he is the only player to haul in 17 boards in a conference game.
• Torrey Craig earned A-Sun Player of the Week honors (1/24/12) after leading Upstate to a pair of conference wins over Belmont and Lipscomb. The last time an A-Sun school claimed back-to-back wins over Belmont and Lipscomb was Jacksonville (2009-10 season).
Today's Opponent – Kennesaw State
Kennesaw State enters Monday's contest on a 12-game skid and the Owls have dropped 19 of their last 20. Kennesaw State opened the season 2-2, but its only other win of the season came against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (W, 69-65, 12/23/11).
Markeith Cummings leads the team with 15.6 points per game, with Spencer Dixon (13.1 ppg) and Delbert Love (12.0 ppg) also averaging in double-figures.
Aaron Anderson leads the Owls with 9.1 rebounds per contest, while Dixon owns the assist lead (94).
Since the two teams began competing at the D-I level, the Owls have just two wins over the Spartans; both of Kennesaw State's victories came at the KSU Convocation Center.