Nov. 25, 2004
MARIST RED FOXES (2-1, 0-0) AT VERMONT (0-1, 0-0)
Patrick Gym - 3,266
Burlington, VT
November 26, 2004 7:00 p.m.
Radio - WKIP 1450 & www.GoRedFoxes.com (Ed Weir and Dean Darling)
The Series
Overall: Marist leads series 6-5
Away: Marist trails seies 0-2
Home: Marist leads series 6-3
Neutral: NA
Streak: Vermont has won last two
First meeting: Jan. 3, 1983
Last meeting: Dec. 21, 2003
Vermont 62, Marist 57 in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
The Last Time Out
Marist: Nov. 23, 74-58 W at St. Bonaventure
Vermont: Nov. 19 68-61 L at No. 1 Kansas
The Next Opponent
Marist: Nov. 28 at Holy Cross, 7 p.m.
Vermont: Nov. 28 vs. Iona, 1 p.m.
Game Notes
HIT THE ROAD JACK: Marist will begin a whirlwind tour this week. Marist began its adventure with a 74-58 win over St. Bonaventure in Olean, N.Y. on Tuesday, Nov. 23 before returning home for a short Thanksgiving break. The Red Foxes departed from Poughkeepsie on Thanksgiving day for Burlington, VT. Marist heads to Vermont to take on Naismith Award Candidate Taylor Coppenrath and the Catamounts for a game at 7:00 p.m. The final stop will be a trip to Worcester, Mass. to take on the Crusaders of Holy Cross on Sunday, also at 7 p.m.
MORE TO COME: Marist's 74-58 win over St. Bonaventure on the road on Nov. 23 was the team's first victory on the road since February 28, 2003. The Red Foxes defeated MAAC foe Canisius, 73-68 in Buffalo in one of the final games of the 2002-03 season. With five more road games before the New Year, the Red Foxes hope that the win over the Bonnies is a sign of good things to come.
FIRST DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Senior Will McClurkin recorded the first double-double of the season for the Red Foxes on Nov. 23 in Marist's 74-58 win over St. Bonaventure. McClurkin scored 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, including sinking both of his three-point attempts. McClurkin was also 5-for-6 from the charity stripe. The senior center pulled down 11 boards to lead the team in rebounding for the second time this season. The night marked the third double-double of McClurkin's career with the Red Foxes. The former transfer from UMBC also recorded double-doubles against Central Michigan (12 points, 10 rebounds-11/03/03) and Rider University (12 points, 10 rebounds- 2/13/04) during the 2003-04 season, his first as a member of the Marist squad.
JORDAN SOARS OVER BONNIES: Sophomore Jared Jordan, a member of the 2004 MAAC All-Rookie Team, recorded a career-high 22 points to lead the Red Foxes over St. Bonaventure on Nov. 23. Jordan connected on 8-of-12 shots from the field and sank five of his seven attempts at the free throw line. His previous career mark was 18 in a 70-64 loss at St. Peter's on Januray 19, 2004. In the Red Foxes' second win of the young season, Jordan also led the team with seven assists. Overall, Jordan has had a nice start to his 2004-05 campaign, posting 12.3 points and 7.0 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game.
SHOOTING IMPROVEMENT: Coach Brady's prowess as a shooting guru has already had an impact with Marist this season. Through three games, the Red Foxes are shooting better than 47 percent from the field (51-for-107) and 45.5 percent (20-for-44) from three-point range. Through three games last year, the Red Foxes shot 77-for-187 (41 percent) from the floor and 20-for-68 (29 percent) from three-point range. Marist has also stepped up its perimeter defense, holding opponents to just 26 percent (12-for-46) from beyond the arc.
BATTLING ON THE BOARDS: After getting beaten on the boards in the 2003-04 season (1045-964), the Red Foxes are sending a clear message early in the 2004-05 season: don't mess with us. The Red Foxes not only hold a 94-85 overall rebounding advantage over their opponents through the first three games, but have won the battle team-to-team in the past two outings. Marist was outrebounded this season only by Cornell in the opener, and even then the Big Red could only manage a 28-27 margin over the Red Foxes.
ELLERBEE MOVING UP THE RECORD BOOKS: Senior Brandon Ellerbee is moving up the record books for the Red Foxes. He now has 232 assists, good enough for eighth on the all-time list. He needs 94 more to tie Joey O'Connor (1987-1990) for seventh on the all-time list. He also has 140 three-pointers, which ties him for fifth on the school's all-time list. His 12 three-point attempts this season also gives him 406 career tosses, which stands fifth on the all-time list behind Danny Basile (1992-96, 698), Andy Lake (1988-93, 511), Steve Paterno (1987-91, 508), and Nick Eppehimer (1999-2003, 473).
WHITTINGTON ON FIRE: Sophomore Will Whittington has been the top producer off the bench for Coach Matt Brady and the Red Foxes this season. In three games, the reserve guard has scored in double-figures each time out. He leads the Red Foxes with 15.3 points per game through three games. He has connected on an astounding 65.0 percent (13-for-20) of his three-point attempts and is 14-for-28 (.500) from the field overall.
PEPSI MARIST CLASSIC: With a 67-66 win over host Marist, the Birmingham-Southern Panthers won the title in the 19th annual Pepsi Marist Classic. Marist guard Will Whittington was named the Tournament MVP. The honor, which was voted on by the members of the media in attendance, was awarded to the sophomore after he tallied 35 points and 11 assists to lead the Red Foxes to a 1-1 record at the start of the season. Marist senior center Will McClurkin was named to the all-tournament team, along with Birmingham-Southern's Jakob Sigurdarson and Shema Mbyirukira, Jose Juan Barea from Northeastern and Lenny Collins from Cornell. In the consolation game, Barea nailed four three-point shots in the final two minutes to give Northeastern the come-from-behind victory over the Big Red.
TRIUMPH OF "WILLS": Will McClurkin and Will Whittington led the Red Foxes to their first win of the season against Cornell in Marist's first-round game in the 2004 Pepsi Marist Classic. The "Wills" combined for 30 points, scoring 15 apiece. McClurkin, a senior, added nine defensive rebounds, while Whittington, a sophomore, dished out five assists.
ONE DOWN, 879 TO GO: With the Red Foxes' 72-67 win over Cornell in the season opener, the Marist team gave first-year head coach Matt Brady his first win at the helm of an NCAA Division I squad. Brady has 17 years of experience on the Division I level, spending the past 11 seasons as the lead assistant at St. Joseph's University.
EVERYBODY SHOOTS, EVERYBODY SCORES: Nine players saw action in the Red Foxes' season opener against Cornell and all nine scored at least two points in the 72-67 win. Four players (Will McClurkin, Will Whittington, and Carl Hood) scored in double figures, accounting for 50 of the 72 points scored by Marist.
COMING OFF OF THE BENCH: Marist reserves scored 31 points in the Red Foxes' win over Cornell on Nov. 19, outscoring the Big Red bench by 27 points. The Red Foxes also got the best of Birmingham-Southern by holding a 32-23 advantage in the category.
SHOOTING FOR THE STARS: The Red Foxes' 52% shooting performance against Cornell in the season opener was the best output by the Marist men's team in almost two years. It was the top performance since the Red Foxes capitalized on 53.8% of their chances in a 97-80 victory over LaSalle on Nov. 30, 2002.
IT'S NICE TO BE HOME: The Red Foxes have won six out of their last seven home openers in the friendly confines of the James J. McCann Center.
NEW FACES IN POUGHKEEPSIE: In addition to an entirely new coaching staff, the Red Foxes enter the 2004-05 campaign with seven freshmen, two of which have cracked the starting lineup. Redshirt frosh Ben Farmer started at the other forward position. Stilphen was a third-team All-Ohio honoree as a senior, while Farmer earned all-Connecticut honors as well. Stilphen has averaged 3.5 points and 4.5 boards this season, while Farmer has posted nine points, and two rebounds per contest. He has also connected on all four of his three-point attempts.
NUMBERS HURT: Marist's overall record wasn't the only place that the Red Foxes suffered last season. The overall statistical categories yielded numbers that were among the worst in school history. Will McClurkin led the team in scoring at 10.8 points per game. That total is the lowest for any Red Foxes' team leader in the program's history. The previous low was 12.2 in the 1983-84 season by Tom Meekins. Will McClurkin .466 field goal percentage was the lowest for a Marist leader since Lucas Pisarczyk shot .450 in 1996-97. Brandon Ellerbee 1.4 steals a season ago was the lowest for the program's leader since Bobby Joe Hatton, now an Olympian for Puerto Rico, averaged 1.0 in 1996-97.
