eekuku Men’s Basketball 2012-13 Season In Review NEW RECORD FOR WINS IN A SEASON RPI in the OVC and a higher RPI than such schools as Season Highs With its win over Tennessee Tech (Feb. 28), EKU broke Florida Gulf Coast, Virginia, St. John’s, LSU, Florida Points the school record of 22 wins in a season set in 2004-05. State, Xavier, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Purdue, 28 – Corey Walden at Jacksonville St. (1/28) The 2012-13 Colonels fi nished with 25 wins. Georgia and Western Kentucky. [49 – School record] FIRST POSTSEAON GAME SINCE ... CHANCE FOR AN OVC TITLE UNTIL LAST DAY Field Goals Made Eastern’s appearance in the CollegeInsider.com The Colonels went into the fi nal day of the regular 9 – Corey Walden at Illinois (12/16) Postseason Tournament (CIT) was its fi rst appearance in season with a chance to fi nish tied with Belmont and [18 – School record] a postseason national tournament since playing host to share the OVC regular season championship. Field Goals Attempted the College of Charleston in the 2010 College Basketball 18 – Mike DiNunno at UT Martin (1/31) Invitational (CBI). It was EKU’s third postseason appear- POST SEASON SPOT CLINCHED 18 – Glenn Cosey at UT Martin (1/31) ance in the last seven years (2007 NCAA Tournament). With its win over Tennessee Tech (Feb. 14), Eastern 18 – Mike DiNunno at Valparaiso (2/23) clinched its 11th straight appearance in the Ohio Valley 18 – Mike DiNunno at Tennessee State (3/2) 68 YEARS SINCE LAST POSTSEASON WIN Conference tournament. EKU and Murray State are [na – School record] Eastern’s Kentucky’s victory at Gardner-Webb (March the only two teams to earn spots in each of the last 11 19) in the CIT was the program’s fi rst win in a national conference tournaments. Field Goal Percentage (min. fi ve made) postseason tournament since March 17, 1945. EKU 1.000 – Eric Stutz (5-5) vs. Delaware St. (11/28) defeated Southern Illinois in the third place game of the OVC POSTSEASON AWARDS [1.000 – School record] NAIB Tournament. The NAIB became the NAIA in 1952. Senior Mike DiNunno earned fi rst team All-OVC honors. Glenn Cosey and Corey Walden were named to Three-Point Field Goals Made SECOND-BEST RECORD IN THE OVC the OVC All-Newcomer Team. 6 – Glenn Cosey vs. Cincinnati Christian (11/9) Eastern Kentucky fi nished with the second-best 6 – Glenn Cosey at Chattanooga (12/8) record in the OVC (12-4). MORE POSTSEASON AWARDS 6 – Glenn Cosey at UT Martin (1/31) Mike DiNunno and junior Glenn Cosey were chosen to 6 – Glenn Cosey at Gardner-Webb (3/19) SECOND-BEST 2-YEAR RUN the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) [7 – School record] EKU’s 41 wins over the last two years is tied for the All-District 19 team. Three-Point Field Goals Attempted second-best two-year total in program history. Eastern 14 – Glenn Cosey at UT Martin (1/31) had 41 wins combined in 1944-45 (20-5) and 1945-46 NEUBAUER RECOGNITION 14 – Mike DiNunno at Tennessee St. (3/2) (21-3). The two-year record of 42 was set in 1945-46 Head coach Jeff Neubauer was chosen as the District (21-3) and 1946-47 (21-4). 19 Coach of the Year by the NABC. [na – School record] Three-Point FG Pct. (min. three made) RPI UPDATE LEWIS DUNK MAKES SC TOP-10 & POY FINALIST 1.000 – Corey Walden (4-4) at Gardner-Webb (3/19) Eastern Kentucky fi nished No. 69 in the fi nal rankings Marcus Lewis’ alley-oop dunk off an inbounds pass at [1.000 – School record] by RPIRatings.com. EKU had the second highest fi nal Southeast Missouri (Feb. 2) climbed to No. 3 on ESPN’s Free Throws Made 10 – Corey Walden at Jacksonville St. (1/19) 10 – Corey Walden vs. Belmont (1/26) [21 – School record] Free Throws Attempted 12 – Corey Walden vs. Belmont (1/26) [28 – School record] Free Throw Percentage (min. seven made) 1.000 – Corey Walden (10-10) at Jacksonville St. (1/19) 1.000 – Corey Walden (8-8) vs. SIUE (1/5) 1.000 – Mike DiNunno (8-8) vs. Tennessee St. (1/24) [1.000 – School record] Rebounds 11 – Eric Stutz at Southeast Missouri (2/2) 11 – Tarius Johnson vs. Jacksonville St. (2/16) [33 – School record] Assists 9 – Mike DiNunno vs. Austin Peay (2/20) [na – School record] Blocked Shots 7 – Eric Stutz at Southeast Missouri (2/2) [na – School record] Steals 7 – Eric Stutz vs. Crowley’s Ridge (2/5) [na – School record] Marcus Lewis had several spectacular dunks, including one that reach No. 3 on ESPN’s SportsCenter Top-10. EKUSports.com 42 Men’s Basketball 2012-13 Season In Review CCOLONELSOLONELS NEW RECORD FOR WINS IN REGULAR SEASON Carolina A&T, Valparaiso, Belmont (2) and Illinois in the With its 21st win of the season, over Jacksonville NCAA Tournament; Norfolk State in the NIT; and Tennes- State (Feb. 16), EKU broke the program record for see State (2), High Point, Gardner-Webb and Evansville victories during the regular season. The previous best of in the CIT. 20 was set in 2009-10. THREE-POINT LEADERS LAST TIME EKU STARTED OVC PLAY 4-0 After fi nishing fi rst in the OVC with an average of 8.8 EKU started 4-0 in OVC play for the fi rst time since three-pointers per game, Eastern Kentucky has now led opening with fi ve straight wins in 1978-79. This was the conference in 3-pointers four of the last fi ve years. the sixth time EKU has started league play with four or more wins. Eastern’s best conference start ever is 7-0. STUTZ TURNS IT ON AT TOURNAMENT TIME In two OVC Tournament games and two CIT games, 9-0 START BEST SINCE ... sophomore forward Eric Stutz averaged 15.8 points, 6.3 Eastern Kentucky’s 9-0 start was its best in 66 years. rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.5 steals and one block per game. The last time EKU started a season with more than fi ve He shot 70 percent (21-for-30) from the fi eld and 75 straight wins was in 1946-47 when the “Maroons” won percent (18-for-24) at the free throw line their fi rst 11 games. Stutz had 22 points and 10 rebounds in the OVC quarterfi nals and 18 points and fi ve rebounds in the LAST TIME EASTERN WON 9 STRAIGHT GAMES OVC semifi nals. EKU’s nine game winning streak was its longest since winning 10 in a row in 1964-65. 20/20 FROM THE LINE, 6TH BEST IN NATION Eastern’s 20-for-20 performance at the free throw 9 UNBEATEN TEAMS IN THE NATION line against Tennessee State (March 2) tied for the sixth Eastern Kentucky was one of the fi nal nine unbeaten best in the NCAA in 2012-13. Oklahoma (34-for-34) is teams in the nation. the nation’s best this year. UNBEATEN MID-MAJORS 80 = WIN FOR COLONELS EKU was the last remaining undefeated mid-major Eastern fi nished 10-1 (10-0 in non-overtime games) Eric Stutz led the team in rebounding in 2012-13. He team in the nation. when scoring 80 or more points. The Colonels are 36-6 averaged 16 points in four postseason games. (.857) under Jeff Neubauer when scoring 80 or more. SportsCenter Top-10. The dunk was also a fi nalist for WHERE DOES 9-0 RANK GEICO Play of the Year. The Colonels’ 9-0 start tied for third best in program TURNING TURNOVERS INTO POINTS history. EKU’s best starts have been 12-0 (1943-44), Eastern committed 199 fewer turnovers than its op- NCAA RANKINGS 11-0 (1946-47) and 9-0 (1939-40). ponents and out-scored its foes by 268 points (736-468) In the fi nal NCAA rankings, EKU fi nished in the top- off turnovers. Twenty-eight percent of the team’s points 50 in the nation in free throw percentage (4th), turnover 2ND WINNINGEST OVC TEAM LAST 8 YEARS came off turnovers. margin (4th), three-point fi eld goals per game (6th), EKU is the second winningest program in the Ohio steals per game (21st), assist-to-turnover ratio (31st), Valley Conference over the last eight seasons. The WINNING THE CLOSE ONES fi eld goal percentage (32nd), assists per game (36th), Colonels have 143 total victories over that time. The Colonels went 3-0 in games decided by three scoring off ense (36th) and scoring margin (49th). points or less. Eastern is 24-13 (.649) under Jeff Neu- 20-WIN SEASON, EIGHTH EVER bauer in games decided by three points or less. ROAD WARRIORS With a win over Tennessee Tech (Feb. 14), the Colo- EKU’s nine road wins broke the school record of eight nels secured their fi rst 20-win season since 2009-10 and NEUBAUER BECOMES 2ND WINNINGEST COACH (1945-46, 1948-49, 2004-05, 2006-07) and tied for the the eighth 20-win campaign in program history. It also When EKU beat Crowley’s Ridge (Feb. 5), eighth-year most in the OVC this season. made Jeff Neubauer the fi rst coach in program history to head coach Jeff Neubauer became the second win- lead his team to three 20-win seasons. ningest coach in program history with 136 victories on In The OVC Rankings the Colonel bench. With 143 wins, he is now 71 behind Scoring WINNING SEASON IS CLINCHED all-time leader Paul S.