Midwestern State (4-11, 1-5) vs. Western New Mexico (3-11, 0-5)
Lone Star Conference game
Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018 | 7:30 p.m.
D.L. Ligon Coliseum | Wichita Falls, Texas
Live Stats: MSUMustangs.com |
Radio: ESPN 95.5 FM |
Audio: Mustangs Digital Network |
Video: Mustangs Digital Network
MUSTANGS NOTES
- Midwestern State begins a two-game home stand Thursday night against Western New Mexico at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
- The Mustangs are currently tied for seventh with Cameron in the Lone Star Conference standings with a 1-5 record.
- Nelson Haggerty boasts a 139-61 record (.695) in his seventh season at the helm. He has guided the Mustangs to four Lone Star Conference championships (2012-14, 16) and five NCAA Division II tournament appearance advancing to the Elite Eight in 2012.
- Midwestern State leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks 20th in NCAA Division II by forcing 17.33 turnovers per game and also tops the LSC in team steals per game with 8.7 ranking 19th nationally.
- MSU is second in the league in turnover margin at +3.00.
- The Mustangs average 20.1 points off of turnovers per game accounting for 25.2 percent of their total output.
- Midwestern tops the Lone Star Conference in offensive rebounds per game (12.67) while averaging 15.5 second-chance points a contest.
- Midwestern is fourth in the league in scoring at 79.8 points per game, but 10th in scoring defense allowing 85.2 points a game.
- MSU ranks 115th in NCAA D2 in scoring at 79.8 points per game. The Mustangs have scored 80-or-more points in eight games this season.
- The Mustangs are second in the LSC and 55th in NCAA D2 with a 74.6 team free throw percentage.
- MSU has held a lead in 14 of its 15 games this season. The Mustangs are 2-4 in games in which they held a lead of at least 10-or-more points this season.
- Senior guard Brandon Neel ranks fifth in the LSC and 124th in NCAA Division II in scoring at 17.5 points per game.
- Neel boasts 12 games with at least 10 points this season four games of 20-or-more. He poured in a season-high 30 points at Western State (Colo.), had 27 versus Southwestern Assemblies of God and 26 against Colorado Mesa. He poured in a team-high 24 points in MSU's win over Rollins on Dec. 18th.
- Neel tops MSU and is 11th in the LSC pulling down 6.1 rebounds per game.
- Neel notched his second double-double of the season scoring 19 points and pulling down 11 rebounds in a win at Texas A&M-Kingsville (12/30).
- Senior guard Devante Pullum ranks second in the LSC 4.9 assists per game and is fifth in steals per game with 1.6. The Little Elm High product has scored in double figures in six consecutive games from Nov. 24th-Dec. 18th including a campaign-best 26-point, 6-assists effort at Angelo State.
- Pullum is averaging 15.3 points, 5.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game over his last 10 outings while shooting 49.5 percent from the field (53-of-107) to bring his season scoring average to 12.9 points per game.
- Pullum ranks third in the LSC and 90th in NCAA D2 in free throw percentage at 85.2 percent (46-of-54).
- Pullum rates fourth in the Lone Star Conference during league play averaging 18.0 points per game – just one spot above brother Devin, who is scoring 17.2 point per game during LSC play as a freshman at Eastern New Mexico.
- Pullum's two best scoring games have come during conference play scoring 26 at Angelo State (12/7) and 24 at West Texas A&M (1/4).
- Sophomore guard Logan Hicks ranks third on the team in scoring at 11.3 points per game notching double-figures in each of MSU's first seven games this season. He had a season-high 19 points in the opener against Arkansas-Fort Smith. He is shooting 39.2 percent from the field and 33.7 percent from the arc (28-for-83).
- Senior guard Trey Kennedy scores 9.5 points per game notching 10-or-more points in seven games including a season-best 25 points on 11-of-25 shooting against Western State on Nov. 18th. He put up performances of 17 points against Saint Leo and 14 versus Florida Southern at the Florida Southern Thanksgiving Classic.
- Senior forward Nick Powell has scored at least eight points in eight games this season and is averaging 8.0 points and 4.6 rebounds in 22.6 minutes per game.
- Powell buried his first five 3-pointers against Texas A&M-Commerce on Dec. 2nd to finish with a season-high 17 points and also grabbed seven rebounds.
- Powell connected on at least one triple in each in a five-game stretch (Nov. 30th-Dec. 19th) while shooting 11-of-20 (55 percent) from beyond the arc during the stretch before going 0-for-2 at Texas A&M-Kingsville.
- Powell has fired in 50 percent of his 3-point attempts over the last 10 games (17-of-34).
- Senior forward Josh Huntley has scored in double figures five times this season including matching season bests of 16 against Western State (11/18) and Southern Indiana (12/19). He notched his lone double-double of the campaign with 10 points and 10 rebounds against Southwestern Assemblies of God (11/21).
- Junior forward Wanaah Bail poured in a season-high 18 points shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from the field while going 7-for-8 at the free throw line at Angelo State on Dec. 7th.
- Bail scored in double figures in two of his last three games going for 12 points and five rebounds at Texas A&M-Kingsville (12/30) and 12 points and seven boards at UT Permian Basin (1/6).
- Sophomore guard Romello Walker has missed the last six games due to injury. Despite averaging 5.0 points and 2.1 rebounds per game, he possesses the top +/- statistics for MSU. The Mustangs have outscored the opposition by a total of 34 points in Walker's 85 minutes of court time for a +4.86 points per game average.
VERSUS WESTERN NEW MEXICO
- Midwestern State and Western New Mexico meet for the 10th time on the hardwood Thursday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
- MSU has won each of the previous nine meetings of the Mustangs including a season sweep in 2016-17.
- Midwestern has won all three meetings at D.L. Ligon Coliseum beating WNMU 69-67 on Feb. 6, 1993, 94-81 on Feb. 5, 1994 and 89-72 on Feb. 18, 2017.
- The teams played for the first time in 23 years with Western New Mexico joining the Lone Star Conference prior to the 2016-17 season.
- Western New Mexico is 1-9 against NCAA Division II competition with the lone victory coming against Texas A&M International (71-51) on Nov. 27th. The Mustangs are 2-2 against NAIA opponents this season splitting games with the University of the Southwest (in Hobbs, N.M.) with losses also coming to Arizona Christian and Embry Riddle (Ariz.).
- Western New Mexico is 0-23 against the Lone Star Conference since joining the league prior to last season. WNMU was 1-21 in its last season in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in 2015-16.
- The Mustangs have dropped their last 34 conference games dating back to a 74-70 overtime win over Chadron State (Neb.) on Jan. 16, 2016 in Silver City.
- Western New Mexico ranks 264th in NCAA Division II in scoring offense at 69.6 points per game. The Mustangs surrender 80.7 points per game to rank 244th nationally.
- On the positive side, WNMU ranks second in the LSC and 65th in NCAA D2 with 7.7 steals per game and are second in the league and 53rd nationally in 3-point field goal defense (32.2 percent).
- Junior guard Willie McCray paces the Mustangs scoring 14.2 points per game. He tallied double figures in nine games this season with a high of 26 against Fort Lewis.
- Junior guard Haneef Vaughn-Wilson scores 10.1 points per game shooting 47.2 percent from the field. The Baltimore CC transfer ranks third in the LSC with 1.71 steals per game.
- Senior forward Latrell Spivey averages 8.9 points and ranks sixth in the LSC with 7.0 rebounds per game. He shoots a team-best 53 percent from the field.
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