The Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team will travel for its first University Athletic Association away series this weekend. First, the Spartans head to Rochester, New York to face the University of Rochester on Friday, January 24 at 8 p.m. Then, the team will head to Atlanta, Georgia to face eighth-ranked Emory University on Sunday, January 26 at noon.
LIVE COVERAGE
at Rochester (Friday, January 24 · 8 PM)
Live stats: https://uofrathletics.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Webcast: https://uofrathletics.com/watch/?Live=846&type=Live
at Emory (Sunday, January 26 · 12 PM)
Live stats: https://athletics.case.edu/sports/mbkb/2019-20/boxscores/20200126_et0r.xml
Webcast: https://emoryathletics.com/sports/mbkb/live
CWRU SPARTANS
The Spartans dropped both of their conference matchups last weekend at home, falling to then-No. 13 WashU 88-66 on Friday night and Chicago 78-65 on Sunday afternoon. In the loss to Chicago, first-year forward Cole Frilling scored 25 points, two shy of his career high. Senior forward Michael Hollis averaged 6.0 rebounds per game on the weekend, leading the team.
Case Western Reserve is 8-6 overall, including a 2-4 mark away from home, and 1-2 in the UAA. The team averages 74.2 points per game while allowing 73.4 points per game. The Spartans make 42.5% of their shots, including 37.0% from three-point range, while opponents shoot 43.7% overall and 37.6% from beyond the arc against the Spartans. Frilling paces the squad with 13.2 points per game, despite making just three starts, and contributes 1.2 blocks per game. Hollis leads the team with 8.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game while contributing 6.8 points per game on the offensive end.
Coaching the Spartans is fourth-year Head Coach Todd McGuinness, who has compiled a 37-52 record at CWRU. Previously, McGuinness coached for seven years at Hartwick College and owns a 151-122 career record as a head coach. He is assisted by Mike Fitzpatrick, Greg Van Pelt, and T.J. Duckett.
ROCHESTER YELLOWJACKETS
Rochester split its last two UAA contests, losing to Brandeis 76-54 on Friday night but defeating NYU 76-62 on Sunday afternoon, with both contests on the road. The Yellowjackets stand at 10-4 overall with a 1-2 record in the UAA and an 8-0 record at home. The team averages 69.1 points per game on 48.7% shooting and 38.3% shooting from three-point range. They allow 60.9 points per game on 38.7% from the field and 31.3% from three-point range. Junior forward Ryan Algier leads the team with 14.9 points and 7.1 rebounds per game and leads the UAA with 2.4 blocks per game. The team's assist leader is sophomore guard Ross Gang, who averages 3.9 per contest while also contributing 9.9 points per game.
Luke Flockerzi is in his 10th season leading the Yellowjackets as head coach. In his first nine seasons, Rochester made four NCAA tournament appearances, including an Elite 8 run in 2017. Flockerzi has a 169-81 record with the Yellowjackets and an overall head coaching record of 199-127, which includes three seasons at Skidmore College. His assistants are Taylor Roth, Dan Kaigler, and Jacob Wittig.
The Spartans are 11-45 in the all-time series with the Yellowjackets, which dates back to the 1980-81 season. Case Western Reserve's last win was on February 19, 2017. Last season, Rochester swept the season series, winning 81-68 in New York and 68-62 in Cleveland. In the home loss, junior guard Michael Volkening scored a career-high 22 points and collected six rebounds. In the first matchup last season, first-year players scored 31 of the team's points, led by eight from forward Solomon Wells. The two teams will play again later in the year, when Rochester visits Cleveland on Friday, February 21.
Rochester received votes in this week's edition of the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll and has received votes in every edition of the poll this season.
#8 EMORY EAGLES
The Eagles started the season with 10 straight wins but split their last four contests. Most recently, the team defeated NYU 83-69 on the road but lost to Brandeis in Massachusetts 75-73 on a last-second basket. Emory is 12-2 overall, 2-1 in the UAA, and 7-1 at home. The Eagles high-scoring offense averages 88.1 points per game, 17th most in Division III, while they allow 74.9 points per game. Emory makes 46.5% of its shots and 38.4% from three-point range while opponents shoot 42.7% from the field and 29.6% from beyond the arc, the 23rd lowest mark in the nation. Junior guard Romin Williams scores a conference-leading 19.8 points per game, and junior guard Matthew Schner makes 50.8% of his three-point attempts leading to 16.9 points per game.
Head Coach Jason Zimmerman, the school's all-time winningest coach, is in his 13th season at the helm. At Emory, he has compiled a 226-105 record, four UAA Championships, and seven consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. Prior to landing in Atlanta, Zimmerman spent 11 seasons as an assistant coach at the Division I level. His assistants are Kevin Sullivan and Charlie Copp.
In the series history, which dates back to the 1986-87 season, Emory holds a 34-20 advantage, including victories in the last six meetings. Last season, the Spartans fell in Atlanta 91-74 and lost in Cleveland 83-71. Hollis achieved a double-double on the road, scoring 20 points and collecting 12 rebounds. Three other Spartans reached double figures, including senior guard Sam Hansen (17), junior guard Antonio Ionadi (15), and former Spartan Connor Nally (11).
Emory has been ranked in the Top 10 in every edition of the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, with its highest ranking of No. 2 occurring in the Week 4 poll. Last week, the Eagles were No. 3 in the poll but fell to No. 8 following the loss to Brandeis.
SPARTAN NOTES
- Cole Frilling leads the UAA with 21.0 points per game in conference play. He is also fifth in the conference with 1.3 blocks per game in UAA contests. Frilling has scored in double figures in five-straight games, including each of the Spartans' three conference games this season. In addition, he has tallied three games of 20 or more points, including 27-point efforts against UMass Dartmouth (Dec. 19) and Carnegie Mellon (Jan. 11) and a 25-point affair against Chicago (Jan. 19).
- Frilling is also shooting 86.5% from the free throw line this season, which is on pace for the eighth-best mark in program history among players with 30 or more made free throws in a season. He is second among UAA players and 45th in Division III in free throw percentage.
- The Spartans are 20th among Division III teams with 5.0 blocks per game this season. In addition to Frilling's 17 blocks this season, sophomore forward Ryan Newton has blocked 13 shots, and sophomore guard Robert Faller has tallied 12 blocks.
- CWRU has turned the ball over just 172 times this season, the fewest among UAA teams and the 35th-best mark in Division III. The team's 12.3 turnovers per game and 0.6 turnover margin also pace the conference this year.
- Michael Hollis ranks second in the conference with 8.8 rebounds per game this season. He currently ranks eighth in program history with 567 career rebounds, and is 31 rebounds away from matching Mason Conrad (2004-08) for the seventh-most rebounds in program history.
- With his starts against Washington and Chicago last weekend, senior guard Sam Hansen started in 61consecutive games. His 76 career starts are the eighth-most in program history. Hansen, Antonio Ionadi and Michael Volkening are the only three Spartans to start each of the team's 14 games this season.
- Sophomore guard Conor Pederson and first-year guard Jackson Lamb each notched career highs in points against Washington. Pederson scored nine points and Lamb dropped in eight.
- Antonio Ionadi's three-point shooting percentage (45.1%) is on pace for the 10th-best mark in program history. He currently ranks seventh in program history with 131 three pointers made over his career, while his career 39.0% mark on three-point attempts is tied for the sixth-best mark in CWRU history. He currently ranks 21st among Division III players in three-point percentage.