EMU Hoops Hosts Toledo in MAC West Matchup Tuesday

Men's Basketball vs. Toledo
Date	Tuesday, Feb. 20 \| 7 p.m.
Venue	Ypsilanti, Mich. \| Convocation Center (8,754)
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live Stats	Fan Stats \| Media Stats
Watch	ESPN3
Listen	WEMU (89.1 WEMU-FM) \| TuneIn Radio
Twitter	@EMUHoops \| @EMUAthletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team welcomes the top team in the Mid-American Conference's West Division Tuesday Feb. 20, as the University of Toledo makes the short trip to the Convocation Center for a divisional mid-week battle.Topoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
   The Eagles (16-11, 7-7 MAC) came from down 10 in the second half to defeat in-state rival Central Michigan 72-67, Feb. 17, while the Rockets (19-8, 11-3 MAC) suffered a tough road loss to Ball State, 99-71, Feb. 17.
   Chad Bush will have the call on WEMU (89.1 FM), with Kyler Ludlow joining as the analyst. The game will also be shown on ESPN3 as part of the campus connection initiative, where Ryan Wooley will have the play-by-play and Greg Steiner will provide the analysis.

MILESTONE WATCH: Senior Tim Bond is now just four steals away from breaking Earl Boykins' all-time record (220), and is 24 points away from 1,000 for his career. The Baltimore, Md. native will become the 31st member of the EMU 1,000 point club.

WE'LL BE SEEING YA: Eastern Michigan and Toledo play each other twice over the final four games of the season. After Tuesday's matchup in Ypsilanti, the two will finish the season in Toledo, Friday, March 2.
   The Mid-American Conference announced earlier this month that the Eagles and Rockets matchup to end the regular season was selected to be nationally televised on the CBS Sports Network. The game will begin at 6 p.m.

DOUBLE DOUBLE-DOUBLES: For the third time this season, EMU had two players finish with double-doubles in the same game in the win over Central Michigan, Feb. 17. James Thompson IV (22p/14r) and Elijah Minnie (13p/11r) have done it all three times.

DOMINATING DEFENSE: Eastern Michigan has the Mid-American Conference's best defense, allowing opponents just 67.6 points per game on the season, and holding them to a conference-best 40.4 shooting percentage. The Eagles have been even better since league play began, allowing just 65.6 points per game while holding opponents to a 39.4 mark from the floor.
   Eastern has held opponents to 69 points-or-less in a game 13 times this season. EMU is 12-1 in those games, having added two more against Miami (W, 58-57), and Central Michigan (W, 72-67) in its first sweep of the week in MAC play. The Eagles had a season-low 41 point effort, Feb. 3, against Ball State to go along with impressive performances against Spring Arbor (60), Arkansas State (59), South Florida (47), Rochester (48), Miami (48), and Akron (49).

CALL IT A COMEBACK: After multiple well-documented second-half swoons this season, the Green and White had its most impressive comeback performance of the season against Central Michigan, Saturday, Feb. 17. Trailing by six at the half and by as many as 10 in the second stanza, the Eagles climbed back into the game thanks to a defense that forced four of the Chips' seven turnovers in the final five minutes of play. Central, meanwhile, also shot just 3-of-10 from the floor during that span, and Eastern turned a seven-point deficit into a five-point advantage.

PATIENCE PAYS OFF: After not seeing action in any of the previous four games, freshman Kevin McAdoo stepped up in a big way in the Eagles' win over Central Michigan. The West Bloomfield, Mich. native scored nine points off the bench and knocked down two of EMU's three three-pointers in 18 minutes of play.

HOW SWEEP IT IS: In the week of Feb. 12-17, the Eagles completed season sweeps of both Miami and Central Michigan. Eastern has won each of the last six matchups against Miami, and has also dominated Central of late, also winning six in a row. It marked the first time this season that EMU has won both games in a week.
   The last time EMU had two conference in-season sweeps was in the 2015-16 season under coach Rob Murphy. The Green and White went a perfect 6-0 against Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, and Toledo that season, on its way to winning 18 total games.
   Eastern's last in-season sweep of Miami came in the 1988 season.

MAC TOURNAMENT PICTURE: With just four games remaining in the regular season, Eastern currently sits sixth in the conference standings. Buffalo is the lone team to have clinched the first round bye, with Toledo needing just one win to join the party in Cleveland.
   EMU's record of 7-7 ties it with Bowling Green, Western Michigan, and Kent State. The Eagles own the tie-breaker with Kent, and will have an opportunity to even the season series against Western in Kalamazoo, Feb. 27. As the conference currently stands, the Green and White would host Akron in the first round.

WELCOME TO THE BLOCK PARTY: With a slim two-point lead in the waning minutes of Eastern's battle with Central Michigan, senior Tim Bond swatted his second block of the game to reject what would be a go-ahead three. The Eagles lead the conference in swats by a 60-block margin, with the next closest to EMU's 172 sitting at 111.
   Eastern's 13-block performance against Ball State, Feb. 3, etched a new place in the EMU record book, tying three other occasions in which the Eagles had 13 rejections. It also catapulted the Green and White into the NCAA elite when it comes to shot blocking. Eastern Michigan's 6.3 blocks per game leads the MAC and ranks fourth in Division I, while their block total of 172 also leads the league and is fourth nationally.

AMONG THE LEAGUE's LEADERS: EMU leads the Mid-American Conference in steals per game (8.8) and blocks per game (6.4). Eastern ranks eighth in the NCAA in steals, fourth in blocks, and is the only team in the country ranked in both top eights. The Eagles are also in the top three in defensive field goal percentage (1st - .404), and scoring defense (1st - 67.6).
   Individually, James Thompson IV leads five categories (double-doubles, defensive rebounds, offensive rebounds, total rebounds, and field goal percentage), while also being in the top three in blocks per game and sitting 12th in scoring (15.1). Redshirt junior Elijah Minnie currently ranks eighth in scoring with an average of 15.9 per game, second in blocked shots per game with a 1.8 average, and fifth in free throw shooting at 82.6 percent. Fellow redshirt junior Paul Jackson is third in assists per game (4.3) and 19th in scoring (14.6).

ALL-TIME VERSUS TOLEDO: Eastern narrowly trails Toledo in the all-time series, with the Rockets holding the 52-50 edge. The Eagles last defeated the Rockets in the opening round of MAC Tournament play in March 7, 2016, 69-60 in the Convocation Center.
   EMU and UT will square off twice in the next four games, the second of which is to be broadcast on national television via the CBS Sports Network.

THOMPSON IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: Junior James Thompson IV is among the upper-echelon of big men in all of college basketball. Not only does he rank second in double-doubles (18) and offensive rebounds per game (4.3), he's also third nationally in rebounds per game (12.0) and sixth in field goal percentage (67.0).
   The Baton Rouge, La. native is the NCAA Division I active career leader in rebound average at 11.2 caroms per game, while he is fourth in career rebounds (1,023), trailing three seniors.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE: Junior James Thompson IV recorded his 58th career double-double with his 22-point, 14-rebound performance against Central Michigan, Feb. 17. Thompson, who is ranked second nationally in active career double-doubles, still trails Kennedy McIntosh by 20 on EMU's all-time list.

I'LL TAKE THAT: After leading the Mid-American Conference in steals per game (9.6) last year, Eastern has continued that trend, currently averaging a conference-high 8.8 steals per game. Led by Tim Bond's 2.4 steal per game average, the Eagles have three players ranked within the conference's top eight in average steals per game, totaling 237 thefts thus far.

ELITE COMPANY FOR MR. BOND: With Tim Bond's first steal against Ohio, Jan. 20, he became just the second player in EMU history to tally 200 steals in their career. Bond, who trails only Earl Boykins, needs just five to pass and become the all-time thefts leaders .
   The Baltimore, Md. native currently has 64 steals on the year with an average of 2.4 per game, which ranks second in the conference. The tally also puts him on pace for 77 in the season, just behind the all-time single-season record of 78, set by Lorenzo Neely, in the 1988-89 season.

JAMES THOMPSON IV, MR. 1,000: On Saturday, Feb. 10, junior James Thompson IV became just the third player in Eastern Michigan history to join the 1,000 rebound club. The Baton Rouge, La. native is just the 17th player in the history of the Mid-American Conference to eclipse the 1,000 mark for both points and rebounds.
   The feat puts him in rare company, as only Kennedy McIntosh (1967-71) and Brandon Bowdry (2006-11) are in the exclusive club in EMU laurels.

ON THE HORIZON: EMU hosts its final home regular season game of the 2017-18 campaign against Northern Illinois, Saturday, Feb. 24, at 12 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Tim Bond

Paul Jackson

Kevin McAdoo

Elijah Minnie

James Thompson IV

Eastern Michigan Athletics