AMES, Iowa- Iowa State plays its final tune-up game of the season with a 7 p.m. tip vs. UNC-Pembroke Friday night. ISU’s first regular-season game is against Idaho State on Nov. 13.
Who: Iowa State (0-0, 0-0) vs. UNC-Pembroke (0-0, 0-0)
When: Friday, Nov. 6, 2009 • 7 p.m.
Where: Ames, Iowa • Hilton Coliseum (14,356)
Radio: Cyclone Radio Network/Learfield
Talent: John Walters (pxp); Eric Heft (color)
Television: None
Live Stats: cyclones.com
Webcast/Online Audio: Clone Zone
Cyclone Notebook
- The UNC-Pembroke game will be available on the internet to subscribers of the Clone Zone video package...go to cyclones.com for purchasing information...you can also subscribe to Clone Zone audio to listen online to the radio broadcasts for the entire season.
- Friday’s game will be a homecoming for a pair of UNCP coaches Ben Miller (head coach) and Eldon Miller (assistant coach)...Ben is the son of Eldon, who was the head coach at UNI from 1987-98...ISU head coach Greg McDermott played for Eldon in his final two seasons with the Panthers (1987-88)...Ben played basketball at Luther.
- UNCP will play UNI in Cedar Falls on Saturday.
- ISU is 41-4 in exhibition games dating back to the 1983-84 season after a 96-47 win over Black Hills State on Monday...the last time ISU lost an exhibition game was in the 2005-06 season when it fell to EA Sports, 64-57.
- Three Cyclones did not play in the first exhibition due to injuries (Jamie Vanderbeken, foot; L.A. Pomlee, knee; Antwon Oliver, illness)...Vanderbeken is questionable for Friday.
Last Time Out
- ISU was successful in its first exhibition game of the season with a 96-47 win over Black Hills State on Monday.
- ISU raced out to a 50-25 halftime lead thanks to a 58.1 percentage from the field an 8-of-10 effort from 3-point range.
- The Cyclones finished the game by making 57.6 percent of their shots from the floor and 68.8 percent from 3-point range (11-16 3FG).
- All 14 Cyclones who played in the game scored and no player logged more than 21 minutes of playing time.
- Junior forward Craig Brackins, a Wooden and Naismith Award watch list member, scored all of his 14 points in the first half behind a 3-for-3 effort from 3-point range.
- Marquis Gilstrap, the preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, responded with 14 points (5-9 FG; 3-4 FT) in his first action in a Cyclone uniform.
- Justin Hamilton tallied 11 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
- LaRon Dendy came off the bench to lead all scorers with 16 points behind a 7-of-12 showing from the floor.
- The Cyclones recorded 41 points from its bench and tallied 44 points in the paint in the win.
- ISU also dialed up the defensive pressure, forcing 18 turnovers and recording seven steals.
- ISU continued its trademark of taking care of the basketball...ISU, which broke the school record for fewest turnovers per game at 12.1 last season, had just 10 turnovers and dished out 16 dimes...ISU had more assists than turnovers in a game 19 times last season.
- The Cyclones dominated the glass against BHSU, 43-26...all 14 players except Dominique Buckley grabbed a board.
- Brackins, Buckley, Lucca Staiger, Diante Garrett and Dendy combined for a 9-of-9 showing from 3-point range.
- Jamie Vanderbeken, who averaged 5.5 points last season, missed the exhibition opener while recovering from a stress fracture in his foot...he status for Friday’s game is questionable.
Cyclone-Brave Quick Facts
- UNCP head coach Ben Miller is a 1987 graduate of Cedar Falls High School, a 1991 graduate of Luther College (Decorah, Iowa) and earned his master’s degree from Northern Iowa in 1993...Miller has coached against the Cyclones numerous times when he was an assistant at Kansas from 1995-2003.
- Miller’s father, Eldon, is in his second season as an assistant for the Braves...Eldon compiled a 568-419 record as a head coach in his 36-year coaching career (Wittenberg, Western Michigan, Ohio State, Northern Iowa)...Eldon was the head coach at Ohio State when the Buckeyes defeated ISU in the 1985 NCAA Tournament (75-64)...he coached against ISU numerous times as the head coach at Northern Iowa.
- Eldon coached ISU head coach Greg McDermott in his final two seasons at Northern Iowa in 1986-87 & 1987-88...McDermott earned second-team all-conference honors as a junior under Eldon’s watch.
- UNCP sophomore Tyler Egli is a native of Ankeny, earning all-conference honors for the Hawks in 2007-08.
- UNCP junior Laurice Ellison played at Southwest Iowa CC in Creston last season.
- The Braves will play Northern Iowa on Saturday in an exhibition in Cedar Falls.
A Closer Look At UNC-Pembroke
- UNC-Pembroke, a Division II school located in Pembroke, N.C., returns two starters from last year’s team that went 6-21.
- The Braves lost their starting backcourt from a year ago to graduation (Demarcus Lyday, 14.2 ppg; Cortez Brown, 11.1 ppg).
- The Braves finished 3-17 in the Peach Belt Conference in 2008-09.
- UNCP brings back its second-leading scorer from a year ago in senior Brandon Thomas...a 6-6, 215-pound forward from Cherryville, N.C., Thomas averaged 12.7 points and led the team in rebounding at 7.6 rpg...his 58.4 percent clip from the field was also a team high.
- Guard Marcus Heath is back after a solid freshman campaign where he started 23 games...Heath averaged 9.7 points and led the team in assists (4.0 apg), 3-pointers (36) and free-throw percentage (65-79 FT, 82.3 percent).
- Guard Jason Smith, a native of Charlotte, N.C., averaged 6.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in 12 starts last season.
Exhibition Records
- Iowa State has been playing exhibition games since the 1950s...however, records of exhibition contests played before 1983 are sketchy.
- Iowa State is 41-4 in exhibition games since the 1983-84 season...the majority of ISU’s exhibitions were against AAU teams, foreign national teams or teams comprised of former college players specifically gathered for preseason exhibitions.
- In the 2004-05 season, the NCAA passed a rule where schools could play other NCAA schools in lower divisions in an exhibition game...ISU played Bemidji State in 2004 and 2005, Wayne State in 2006, Dubuque in 2007 and Nebraska-Omaha in 2008.
- All preseason exhibition games now have to be played against four-year collegiate institutions.
