EMU Heads to Houston for Road Game with Texas Southern

YPSILANTI, Michigan - The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team will square off against the Texas Southern Tigers Tuesday, Nov. 15, in the first of four games the Eagles will play in during the Auto Owners Spartan Invitational hosted by Michigan State University. Game time is 7 p.m. in Texas Southern's H & PE Building in Houston, Texas. After Tuesday's outing the Eagles will have three more games as part of the invitational. Eastern will host Arkansas-Little Rock Friday, Nov. 18, before traveling to Indianapolis, Ind. to meet IUPUI Sunday, Nov. 20. Eastern closes out the Auto Owners Spartan Invitational Sunday, Nov. 27, with a home game against the Michigan State University Spartans. Game time for that MSU contest is noon in the Convocation Center.

MURPHY ERA STARTS WITH A WIN: The Rob Murphy Era of Eastern Michigan University men's basketball opened successfully as the Eagles downed the University of Illinois-Chicago Flames, 68-57, Friday, Nov. 11, in the Convocation Center. The Eagles rallied from six-points down in the second half to record the win.

FAMILIAR FACE: When the Eagles travel to Houston, Texas for Wednesday's, Nov. 15, matchup with the Texas Southern University, Nov. 15, there will be a familiar face on the opposition's sideline. TSU Head Coach Tony Harvey, now in his fourth season, was an assistant men's basketball coach at EMU for a three-year period, from 1996-99. He has a 43-55 record at Texas Southern and led his team to the 2010-11 Southwest Athletic Conference championship and a berth in the post-season NIT.

FOR THE 115th TIME: The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team kicked off its 115th season of competition Friday, Nov. 11, 2011, when the Eagles posted a 68-57 win over the Flames of the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) in a 7 p.m. game in the Convocation Center. Eastern played its first season in 1897-98 and split games with Detroit, losing a 2-0 decision before coming back for a 4-0 victory. The Eagles are are 67-48 in season openers.

38th MAC SEASON: The 2011-12 season will also be the 38th for the Eagles in the Mid-American Conference. The first year of MAC play for EMU was 1974-75 when the then-Hurons went 12-14 overall and 4-9 in league play.

EMU has won three Mid-American Conference titles: 1987-88, 1990-91, and 1995-96, and the Green and White captured MAC Tournament crowns in all three of those years in addition to winning the tournament title in 1997-98.

CHECKING THE SERIES: EMU and Texas Southern are meeting for the first time Tuesday, Nov. 15, when the two teams square off in the H & PE Arena in Hoston, Texas.

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CIAA championship game is a hit

DURHAM, North Carolina -- It wasn't hard to spot commissioner Leon Kerry of the CIAA during the championship game at overflowing Durham County Stadium on Saturday afternoon. He was the one wearing the ear-to-ear smile.

The great experiment known as the football championship game reached a pinnacle with more than 10,000 people cramming into the stadium to watch Winston-Salem State beat Elizabeth City State 38-18 in what many described as one of the best atmospheres in recent memory for a CIAA game.

After all tickets were sold, late-arriving fans were reduced to watching from a hill just outside the stadium. "This was a great game and a great facility and a dream come true with how this worked out," Kerry said on the field after presenting the trophy to WSSU.

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Stetson Hats rout FAMU Rattlers for rare 2-0 start

Tallahassee, Florida -- Stetson routed Florida A&M, 78-60, on Monday night to open the season with two consecutive victories for the first time since the 1952-53 season. The win was also the first non-conference road victory for the Hatters since an 89-79 victory at Wake Forest to start the 2010-11 season.

It wasn't always pretty, though. Stetson turned the ball over 26 times, but FAMU (0-2) gave the ball back 19 times. Stetson was able to build a lead by beating the Rattlers on the boards to the tune of a 54-31 advantage.

"If you put the entire 40 minutes together tonight, it was significantly better than the first game," Hatters coach Casey Alexander said. "We all know there is miles and miles of improvement left to go."

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FAMU men's basketball falls to Stetson

Tallahassee, Florida -- Midway through the second half, FAMU guard Avery Moore went to the free throw line to shoot two shots for a technical called against Stetson University on Monday night.  He missed the second one, then rolled his eyed toward the ceiling of the Lawson Center as he mumbled a few words not suitable for printing.

Such was the kind of night that the Rattlers had as they fell 78-60. They just couldn't get their shots to fall on a night when they could have used some sure points from Amin Stevens, Brandon Hosely and Chris Watson. Eligibility issues forced them to watch from the bench.

The Rattlers tried getting its points from behind the arc. They got 2 of 16. They tried jumpers, lay-ups. Nothing worked, especially in the second half.

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Norfolk State University MEAC Championship Postgame

Analysis: Norfolk State has waited ... and waited for this

BALTIMORE, Maryland -- Twenty-seven years ago, an NCAA championship football bracket included Norfolk State for the first and only time. Those 1984 Spartans, coach Willard Bailey's first team, went 10-1 in their CIAA championship season. They departed the Division II tournament field in the first round, however, on a 10-point loss to Towson State.

But they would be back soon; of course they would. Isn't that how players and coaches and teams and programs are trained to think, to feel, to believe? As six head coaches came to know - seven if you include a guy who once took the job and almost immediately gave it back - "soon" didn't happen.



But maybe that makes Norfolk State's pending postseason return, secured by a 47-14 triumph Saturday at Morgan State that locked down the MEAC title, the purest of nectars to a long-famished fan base. Because it was for this renown that the Spartans (9-2, 7-1) made their then-controversial jump from Division II to the I-AA MEAC in 1997.

And it's for this turn in the national spotlight in two weeks - as 1 of 20 teams in what's now known as the Football Championship Subdivision tournament - that athletic director Marty Miller, among many, has waited.     And waited.

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TSU has depth to make coach's vision work

With all five starters returning, Tigers hope to contend in OVC

Nashville, Tennessee -- Of the three transfers eligible to play men’s basketball at Tennessee State this season, Muniru Bawa stands taller than the others. The 6-foot-11, 240-pound Indiana transfer and Ghana native is pretty hard to miss. But like the other two transfers, Bawa will not be counted on to do anything more than contribute and find a role on the team, TSU Coach John Cooper said.

“My biggest concern is that I really worry about the expectations that he faces,” Cooper said. “Any time you’re at this level and you come in with that size there’s an expectation from the fan base and everybody around that he just comes in and he’s the savior.”

Beginning his third season, Cooper has five returning starters and adds three transfers and redshirt freshman M.J. Rhett to the mix. “I don’t even know who’s starting Friday,” Cooper said of the opener at Saint Louis. “Guys are going to play and guys are going to get minutes. I want them to be ready."

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Albany State, ECSU, Winston-Salem State Earn D-II Playoff Berths

Undefeated Winston-Salem State earned a first-round bye in the NCAA Division II playoffs, while Albany State and Elizabeth City State received at-large bids. ASU (8-3) and ECSU (8-3) were both runners-up for the SIAC and CIAA championships respectively.

Miles (7-4), which defeated then 15th-ranked Albany State, 20-17, in the SIAC championship Saturday, missed the playoffs. Of the 24 teams selected (six each in four regions), Concord (7-3) had the worst record.

Albany State will travel to North Greenville (9-2) for a noon contest on Saturday. The winner will face Mars Hill Nov. 26 at noon.

Elizabeth City State goes to California (Pa.), the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference winner, for a first-round game Saturday at noon as well. The winner between those two meets Winston-Salem State Nov. 26 at noon. WSSU is undefeated at 11-0 and dominated ECSU this past weekend, 38-18, in the CIAA championship.

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