MSU, Winthrop relish opportunity

[IE]

Two teams with NCAA Tournament hopes meet on national TV in BracketBuster opener.




Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall easily could dwell on negatives in previewing his team's BracketBuster matchup tonight with Missouri State in Hammons Student Center.
Consider that Marshall's Eagles played a home game Wednesday night in Rock Hill, S.C., caught a flight to the Ozarks on Thursday afternoon and were met by bitter wind-chills upon arrival.



It's short preparation time for a game that will help shape Winthrop's NCAA Tournament prospects, if not its NCAA seeding.

But Marshall was all sunshine on his way to a team dinner Thursday night.

"This is a great opportunity for us, playing one of the marquee teams in the BracketBuster in prime time on ESPN2," Marshall said.

"This won't make or break our season, but it certainly can help us playing a team with an RPI under 40. That's the way we have to look at it."

Winthrop brings a 22-4 record and a 12-game winning streak into the 6:05 p.m. tipoff. The game leads off the fifth BracketBuster weekend and matches teams craving an NCAA Tournament berth next month.

A win tonight provides a valuable addition to that resume.

Missouri State coach Barry Hinson calls the Eagles the "real deal."

"Our guys know how good they are. This is one of the better teams that we've played this season."

Winthrop leads the Big South Conference with a 12-0 record. They lost in overtime earlier this season at Wisconsin, led North Carolina at halftime before losing by seven and the Eagles' other losses were at Maryland and Texas A&M.

Missouri State, of course, beat Wisconsin for its marquee victory. Winthrop could have, leading by two in the final seconds before the Badgers sent it to overtime.

Along with a near-similar result against No. 3-ranked Wisconsin, the Bears and Eagles appear near mirror images in other ways.

Both teams average 74.7 points and have six players averaging between 7.3 and 15.8 points. Both are shooting 48 percent from the field. Winthrop's opponents are shooting 40.6 percent, Missouri State's 41.6.

Listen to Marshall describe his team is like listening to Hinson talk about the Bears.

"We're gonna try to play a good brand of defense, number one, and try to force teams to take contested shots," Marshall said. "We're gonna share the basketball, look to try and get out in transition when the opportunity creates itself through our defense or rebounding.

"We try to play hard and play smart and really get after it."

In looking at Missouri State video, Marshall sees the similarities, though he believes the Bears "shoot it a little better."

Winthrop is led by junior guard Michael Jenkins, who averages 15.8 points and has made 81 3-pointers.

Torrell Martin, an athletic senior wing forward, is getting 14.1 points and 5.1 rebounds. Craig Bradshaw, a 6-10 senior center, averages 12.2 points and 6.2 rebounds.

Martin and Bradshaw already have been invited to the prestigious Portsmouth Invitational in April for NBA hopefuls to showcase their talents.

There's some mystery as to how the Bears will respond after an emotional Missouri Valley Conference home-court loss to 16th-ranked Southern Illinois on Tuesday. Last month after a home loss to Northern Iowa, the Bears were flat in the next game and lost at Evansville.

"We hope so," Hinson said about avoiding the hangover effect. "We had a great practice (Thursday) and everybody seemed really good, really upbeat and energetic.

"We'll find out more as the game gets going. We've tried to move on. You can't linger on about it."

Junior center Drew Richards said the players have tried to draw upon the positives from the SIU game, such as the quality defense the team played most of the way.

"It was a tough loss, but like coach said, we deserved to win the game because of the defensive effort we put forth," Richards said. "If we play defense like that, nine out of 10 times we are going to win."

Richards said the Bears are aware how good Winthrop is, but he and Ahearn are glad to get a night away from the Valley grind.

"You play conference opponents two times a year and it's like they know everything you're going to do and you know everything they are going to do," Richards said. "When it comes to nonconference games, the (pace) is usually more up and down the floor."

Toughness apparently is not an issue for the Eagles. Marshall has an action figure of professional wrestler "Junk Yard Dog" that he awards to players who exhibit rugged, tough play.

An example: senior Phillip Williams had a front tooth knocked backward at a 90-degree angle during the first half of a game against Liberty earlier this month. After a quick trip to the team dentist to wire the tooth into place, he returned to play in the second half and had a go-ahead dunk with 7 minutes to go.

It's that kind of attitude that the Eagles have carried since losing a two-point heartbreaker to Tennessee in the first round of last year's NCAA Tournament. They have been a team on a mission to get back to the tournament, but win this year.

Tonight's game is another important step that the Eagles ? and Bears ? hope leads to the NCAAs.


=====

Three things to watch vs. Winthrop
Mental game: Coming off a tough home-court loss to 16th-ranked Southern Illinois, the Bears cannot allow that to drag their mental process in any way against a Winthrop team that's eager to knock them off.

Make free throws: Pretty matter-of-fact stuff, but poor foul shooting cost the Bears against SIU as it has often this season. They've slid to eighth in the Valley at 69.3 percent. Winthrop has struggled even more, making 60.6 percent, maybe the only weakness it has.

Protect the ball: Winthrop averages 9 steals per game and the Bears have been careless lately, committing 18 turnovers against SIU, many of those unforced. More than 15 turnovers tonight will mean trouble for MSU.

 

[IE]

Eagles ready for Missouri State on national TV


During the film session prior to Thursday's practice, Winthrop basketball coach Gregg Marshall read his players one writer's assessment of the Eagles' game at Missouri State tonight in the O'Reilly's ESPNU BracketBusters game.
The game, the report said, is more important to Winthrop.

The Eagles have an RPI ranking of 76, the Bears are No. 32. The Eagles play in the Big South Conference, which is rated No. 29 out of 32 in the nation. The Bears play in the Missouri Valley which is rated fifth behind only the mighty ACC, Pac-10, Southeastern and Big 12. The Eagles need to win to have any shot at being an at-large entry in the NCAA Tournament should they fail to win their conference tournament.

And finally there was a prediction.

Missouri State 64, Winthrop 59.

"Here's the good news," Marshall said, holding up the sheet of paper. "The game's not played on a piece of paper."

It will be played on national TV.

ESPN2 will carry the game starting at 7 p.m., the first of 14 the network's various branches will carry today and Saturday highlighting some of the top mid-major programs in the nation. It's the first time a team from the Big South has landed a TV game in the event.

For two hours tonight, the Eagles and Bears will have center stage.

Marshall didn't downplay the importance of the game, but didn't blow it out of proportion either, with his team facing two critical Big South Conference games against High Point and Coastal Carolina next week.

How much weight the game will carry remains to be seen. The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee does place an emphasis on a team's final 10 games and especially on how they fare against teams rated in the top 50 and 100 of the RPI.

Winthrop is 22-4, with the four losses coming to top 50 RPI teams North Carolina (2), Wisconsin (5), Texas A&M (10) and Maryland (33). They've beaten Old Dominion (58) and Mississippi State (75).

With Missouri State (19-8) rated among the top 50, a win would carry some weight, because Eagles won't play another top 100 team unless they make the NCAA Tournament.

"It could affect seeding," Marshall said as he team stretched before going through a light workout and then boarding a charter flight for Springfield, Mo.

"Plus, it's late in the year, and everybody's going to see it. People saw the North Carolina game and some of Wisconsin. They didn't see Mississippi State or Old Dominion."

Across the nation, few basketball fans outside their geographic regions have seen the Eagles and the Bears. When they watch tonight, they'll see a lot of similarities -- good defense, rebounding, discipline, effort among them.

The film Marshall showed his players on Thursday got their attention. He said tonight's game "will be one of the most physical games you've been in in a long time."

"If we're not ready to defend and be aggressive, they could blow us out."

After shaky five-game stretch, Radford last Saturday and Charleston Southern on Wednesday got the Eagles' full attention, because of a change of mindset. The Eagles won both games easily.

"Coach has been talking about respecting our opponents," junior forward Antwon Harris said. "We wanted to come out and do that and get back to the things we were doing like locking down on defense."

That will be the focus tonight, especially against 6-2 guard Blake Ahearn, who averages 15.2 points, makes 48 percent of his 3-pointers and 94 percent from the foul line.

"He is probably the single best shooter any of us has ever played against," Marshall said. "He's a guy you don't want to play horse with. He is a lights out shooter."

Coach Barry Hinson's Bears aren't big, with a front line of 6-6 Nathan Bilyeu, 6-5 Tyler Chaney and 6-9 Drew Richards. And they get smaller when they go to their bench.

But they shoot it, with Chaney and Bilyeu and reserves Deven Mitchell and Daley Lamberth all shooting better than 40 percent on threes.

And they're playing in the Hammons Student Center, which should have every one of its 8,846 seats filled. The Bears are 11-3 at home and have won 25 of their past 30 games at home.

"It's going to be a tough environment," Marshall said, "but we've done it before and we can do it again."

The Eagles have won 12 straight and at least have their entire roster, although several players are nursing injuries. Torrell Martin's left knee has been swelling after games and practices, Taj McCullough has a gimpy wrist, Mantoris Robinson has a strained MCL in his right knee, De'Andre Adams has a sore back, Phillip Williams is wearing a protective mouthpiece after taking an elbow in the face in the Liberty game last week, and Chris Gaynor has a bruised thigh.

All will play tonight.

"It's one we can get," Marshall told his players. "It's important, not as important as next week, but it is the next game."