For the full PDF version of the Midwest Regional game notes, go to http://goashlandeagles.com/sports/mbkb/2015-16/files/MWREGMBKB.pdf.
Opening Tip
The Eagles are dancing once again.
For the first time in 25 years, Ashland University's men's basketball team is playing in the NCAA Division II tournament. The No. 12-ranked Eagles (25-5) will play in a Midwest Regional quarterfinal against Indianapolis (20-7) on Saturday, March 12 at 1 p.m. Eastern at Wisconsin-Parkside.
The quarterfinal is a rematch of a game on Nov. 14 at Kates Gymnasium, which saw Ashland defeat the then-No. 8-ranked Greyhounds, 75-67.
Ashland is one win away from tying the program record for single-season wins (26, 1968-69 and 1990-91). It recently had a 12-game winning streak, which was the program's longest since a 15-gamer in 1990-91.
Also this season, the Eagles have won a share of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title for the first time, and a first-ever outright GLIAC South Division championship.
Ashland also has set a single-season program record for road/neutral-site victories with 11.
Eagles On The Air
- All Ashland Midwest Regional Tournament games will be live on WNCO-AM 1340, with Matt Brubaker on the call.
- Head coach John Ellenwood appears on "The Early Bird's Word" on WRDL every Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. during the season.
Looking Back At The GLIAC Tournament Semifinal
Ashland lost to Ferris State at home in a GLIAC Tournament semifinal, 67-52.
Junior point guard Adrian Cook paced the Eagles with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, and added three assists and three steals. Cook earned a spot on the all-tournament team.
Sophomore forward Wendell Davis fell a point and a rebound short of a double-double (nine points, nine boards), and added two steals and two helpers.
Ashland's failing came in a 36.5-percent effort from the field, and the Bulldogs' 42-29 rebounding advantage.
"It was a good weekend for us," said Ashland head coach John Ellenwood, whose team played host to the GLIAC Tournament Final Four for the first time. "Getting the Grand Valley win (in the quarterfinal) was big. Just getting that tournament win going into the NCAA Tournament was good.
"Getting beat wasn't necessarily a bad thing for us. We'd have liked to win the conference championship in the tournament, but it was kind of a humbling experience for us. I thought Ferris State played an outstanding game, and deserved that championship. I think it's good for us to kind of take one on the chin so we can get back up and regroup going into the NCAA Tournament."
Ashland Against The Field
The Eagles have played four games against teams in this year's Midwest Tournament field in 2015-16, and have gone 2-2.
Ashland split against the Bulldogs, winning 57-51 in Big Rapids, Mich., on Dec. 5 and losing 67-52 at home to FSU in the GLIAC Tournament semifinals.
The Eagles won over Indy in the second game of the season, and lost to Saginaw Valley State at home, 68-66, on Dec. 12.
"I think every single team in our regional is capable of winning," said Ellenwood. "Kentucky Wesleyan is an 8-seed. That's a scary 8-seed. Ferris State's a 7-seed. They're going to be tough to beat. Indy, the team we're playing, has five seniors. That's a tough team to beat anytime. Lewis is a team that won the GLVC. Bellarmine is seasoned. They understand the NCAA.
"Saginaw Valley, I'm sure, has been sitting around for the past week-and-a-half just itching to get back out there. I know I'm missing a couple teams, but every team in this is capable of beating every other team, so it's going to be a great first day of matchups, and we're eager to get out there and show them what we can do."
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The following are games AU has played against this year's Midwest Regional field all-time in NCAA tournament play:
|
YEAR |
SCHOOL |
SCORE |
PLAYING SITE |
|
1967-68 |
Kentucky Wesleyan |
L, 32-45 |
Evansville |
|
1987-88 |
Lewis |
L, 73-89 |
Owensboro |
|
1989-90 |
Kentucky Wesleyan |
L, 75-79 |
Owensboro |
Eagles' NCAA Tournament History
Ashland is 13-13 all-time in the NCAA Tournament:
|
YEAR |
SCHOOL |
SCORE |
PLAYING SITE |
|
1967-68 |
Roanoke |
W, 71-46 |
Ashland |
|
1967-68 |
Norfolk State |
W, 61-51 |
Ashland |
|
1967-68 |
Cheyney |
W, 45-30 |
Evansville |
|
1967-68 |
Kentucky Wesleyan |
L, 32-45 |
Evansville |
|
1967-68 |
Trinity |
L, 52-68 |
Evansville |
|
1968-69 |
Philadelphia Textile |
W, 43-40 |
Ashland |
|
1968-69 |
Cheyney |
W, 66-56 |
Ashland |
|
1968-69 |
Illinois State |
W, 41-35 |
Evansville |
|
1968-69 |
Southwest Missouri State |
L, 48-58 |
Evansville |
|
1968-69 |
American International |
L, 51-53 |
Evansville |
|
1969-70 |
Cheyney |
W, 50-43 |
Reading |
|
1969-70 |
Philadelphia Textile |
L, 28-45 |
Reading |
|
1970-71 |
Evansville |
L, 74-82 |
Evansville |
|
1970-71 |
Augustana |
W, 88-65 |
Evansville |
|
1975-76 |
Hiram |
W, 75-74 |
Ashland |
|
1975-76 |
Wittenberg |
L, 49-61 |
Ashland |
|
1976-77 |
Muskingum |
W, 72-68 |
Springfield |
|
1976-77 |
Wittenberg |
L, 67-69 |
Springfield |
|
1977-78 |
Humboldt State |
L, 68-69 |
Arcata |
|
1987-88 |
Alabama A&M |
L, 73-75 |
Owensboro |
|
1987-88 |
Lewis |
L, 73-89 |
Owensboro |
|
1989-90 |
Southwest Baptist |
W, 68-64 |
Owensboro |
|
1989-90 |
Kentucky Wesleyan |
L, 75-79 |
Owensboro |
|
1990-91 |
Missouri Western |
W, 103-72 |
Ashland |
|
1990-91 |
Grand Valley State |
W, 82-75 |
Ashland |
|
1990-91 |
North Alabama |
L, 84-92 |
Springfield |
"I think it still hasn't really hit this team and myself, to be honest," Ellenwood said. "At a certain point during the season, you aim for that stuff, and then it becomes expected. It goes from a dream to an expectation. Later in the year, probably during our 12-game winning streak, we realized that we were an NCAA team, and we expect to get there.
"I don't think it's us in the clouds right now. I think we're kind of grounded going into this saying, 'Hey, this is what we've worked for, and now let's go after it.' After the season, we'll kind of look back at that and say, 'Man, that was pretty special.'"
The Davis Watch Continues
Davis has 1,320 career points, seven away from tying Chris Keshock (1,327) for 13th place on the program's all-time scoring list.
After Keshock, Davis' next targets on the list are Ron Pratt (1,344) at No. 12 and Vahn Knight (1,355) at No. 11.
Davis also has 582 career rebounds, and needs 86 to tie Justin Brown (668) and move into the Top 5 on Ashland's all-time list in that category.
AU Ranked No. 12 Going Into NCAAs
Ashland is the No. 12-ranked team in the country going into the postseason.
In the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Top 25 poll, released on Tuesday, March 8, the Eagles moved down two spots. AU is ranked in the Top 25 poll for the 12th time in 2015-16, the most weeks the program has been ranked in a single season since 1970-71, when it was in the Top 25 all 13 weeks.
This is the 75th week all-time that the Eagles have been in the Top 25 poll.
Ashland is the highest-ranked GLIAC team in this week's poll, and is joined in the Top 25 by Saginaw Valley State (No. 25).
ASHLAND 2015-16 TOP 25 RANKINGS: No. 18 (Dec. 8), No. 22 (Dec. 15), No. 16 (Dec. 29), No. 21 (Jan. 5), No. 17 (Jan. 12), No. 23 (Jan. 19), No. 25 (Feb. 2), No. 21 (Feb. 9), No. 18 (Feb. 16), No. 11 (Feb. 23), No. 10 (March 1), No. 12 (March 8).
Eagles Thriving On The Road
Ashland has set a new program standard by going 11-2 away from Kates Gymnasium in 2015-16. Here is how the seven teams coming to Wisconsin-Parkside for the Midwest Regional have done away from home this season:
|
TEAM |
ROAD W-L |
PCT. |
|
ASHLAND |
11-2 |
.846 |
|
Ferris State |
14-4 |
.778 |
|
Lewis |
13-4 |
.765 |
|
Kentucky Wesleyan |
8-3 |
.727 |
|
Saginaw Valley State |
9-5 |
.643 |
|
Bellarmine |
8-6 |
.571 |
|
Indianapolis |
8-6 |
.571 |
Ashland Sporting A Long "D" Streak
In the last 14 games, Ashland - one of the top defensive teams in Division II - has clamped down on opposing teams even further:
|
DATE |
OPPONENT |
FG% |
3PTFG% |
PTS. |
|
1/21/16 |
at Findlay |
45.2 |
22.7 |
71 |
|
1/23/16 |
at Wayne State |
29.9 |
40.0 |
61 |
|
1/28/16 |
OHIO DOMINICAN |
36.2 |
27.8 |
64 |
|
1/30/16 |
TIFFIN |
27.9 |
11.8 |
51 |
|
2/1/16 |
at Lake Erie |
37.5 |
33.3 |
79 |
|
2/4/16 |
at Walsh |
34.9 |
32.0 |
64 |
|
2/6/16 |
MALONE |
38.7 |
30.0 |
63 |
|
2/11/16 |
FINDLAY |
45.0 |
18.2 |
64 |
|
2/13/16 |
WAYNE STATE |
35.3 |
31.3 |
48 |
|
2/18/16 |
at Ohio Dominican |
45.6 |
28.6 |
68 |
|
2/20/16 |
at Tiffin |
40.7 |
29.4 |
76 |
|
2/25/16 |
LAKE ERIE |
34.8 |
34.8 |
65 |
|
3/1/16 |
GRAND VALLEY STATE |
32.8 |
31.6 |
58 |
|
3/5/16 |
FERRIS STATE |
44.0 |
35.0 |
67 |
Ellenwood Climbs The Charts
With 109 wins at Ashland, Ellenwood trails only Roger Lyons (247) and Bill Musselman (129) on the program's all-time list.
Ellenwood's .571 career winning percentage as an Eagle is fourth-best all-time among coaches with at least 125 games (Musselman .811, Joe Gottfried .648, Bob Stokes .580).
And Ellenwood's 191 games coached at Ashland have him second all-time to Lyons' 440.
Cook On Fire Of Late
In his first season as a full-time starter, Cook needed time to settle into the role offensively.
Once there, however, the difference in the last 14 games has been impressive:
|
TIME |
PPG. |
FG% |
FT% |
3PTFG% |
|
First 16 games |
8.8 |
40.7 |
51.5 |
31.3 |
|
Last 14 games |
16.1 |
59.1 |
65.2 |
46.7 |
Eagles Not Shying Away From Comeback Trail
Ashland has won seven games this season when trailing at halftime. Of those, four have come on the road, and a fifth was a neutral-site contest.
The last three times the Eagles have rallied to win following a halftime deficit came away from Kates Gymnasium:
|
DATE |
OPPONENT |
HALFTIME |
FINAL |
|
11/27/15 |
vs. Alderson Broaddus |
Down 33-28 |
W, 70-62 |
|
1/2/16 |
at Northwood |
Down 49-43 |
W, 91-74 |
|
1/7/16 |
NORTHERN MICH. |
Down 36-30 |
W, 81-75 |
|
1/9/16 |
MICHIGAN TECH |
Down 36-30 |
W, 73-67 |
|
1/16/16 |
at Malone |
Down 31-29 |
W, 69-67 |
|
1/23/16 |
at Wayne State |
Down 34-29 |
W, 68-61 |
|
2/20/16 |
at Tiffin |
Down 34-32 |
W, 79-76 |
NCAA Rankings
Through March 6, the Eagles are tied for fourth in Division II in 3-point field-goal percentage defense (29.5), and seventh in both field-goal percentage defense (39.6) and scoring defense per game (65.0).
Hundley is 10th in the country blocked shots per game (2.77).
Yes, Ashland Is More Than Battle-Tested
The Eagles have played more than their fair share of close games in 2015-16. Eighteen of Ashland's 30 games have been decided by eight points or less, and AU is 14-4 in those games:
|
DATE |
OPPONENT |
FINAL |
MARGIN |
|
11/14/15 |
INDIANAPOLIS |
W, 75-67 |
+8 |
|
11/27/15 |
vs. Alderson Broaddus |
W, 70-62 |
+8 |
|
12/3/15 |
at Grand Valley State |
W, 76-72 (O) |
+4 |
|
12/5/15 |
at Ferris State |
W, 57-51 |
+6 |
|
12/12/15 |
SAGINAW VALLEY |
L, 66-68 |
-2 |
|
1/3/16 |
at Lake Superior St. |
L, 76-82 |
-6 |
|
1/7/16 |
NORTHERN MICH. |
W, 81-75 (O) |
+6 |
|
1/9/16 |
MICHIGAN TECH |
W, 73-67 |
+6 |
|
1/14/16 |
WALSH |
L, 72-74 |
-2 |
|
1/16/16 |
at Malone |
W, 69-67 |
+2 |
|
1/21/16 |
at Findlay |
L, 63-71 |
-8 |
|
1/23/16 |
at Wayne State |
W, 68-61 |
+7 |
|
2/1/16 |
at Lake Erie |
W, 87-79 (O) |
+8 |
|
2/4/16 |
at Walsh |
W, 70-64 |
+6 |
|
2/6/16 |
MALONE |
W, 65-63 |
+2 |
|
2/11/16 |
FINDLAY |
W, 67-64 |
+3 |
|
2/18/16 |
at Ohio Dominican |
W, 75-68 |
+7 |
|
2/20/16 |
at Tiffin |
W, 79-76 |
+3 |
"I think it helps us out, being able to handle those tight game situations, where we can all breathe a little bit easier because we've been in those situations so many times," Ellenwood said.
AU
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