( U OF I RELEASE)
vs. Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles (3-2)
Thursday, Jan. 14, 7:30 p.m. ET, Nicoson Hall
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at Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles (3-2)
Saturday, Jan. 16, 4:15 p.m. ET, Evansville, IN
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ON TAP
The rarities and firsts continue to pop up in this unique season, as the Greyhounds will play the Screaming Eagles of Southern Indiana twice in a three-day span this week, hosting them at Nicoson Hall Thursday night, Jan. 16 before traveling to Evansville to face them once again on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 16. It marks the first-time in program history that the Hounds will compete against the same GLVC opponent in back-to-back regular-season games twice in the same week.
The scheduling quirk came together thanks to a pair of COVID-related postponements. After McKendree, UIndy's originally-scheduled Thursday opponent, announced it was unable to safely make the trip this week, UIndy was able to fill the void with a home game versus the Eagles, a contest originally slated for Dec. 20.
ABOUT SOUTHERN INDIANA
Thursday marks the return o to Nicoson Hall of former UIndy head coach Stan Gouard. The veteran college coach guided the Greyhound program for 12 seasons before taking the head job with his alma mater this past offseason. The second-winningest coach in UIndy history, Gouard compiled a 228-117 (.661) record on the Greyhound bench from 2008-20, a run that included seven NCAA Tournament berths and a Sweet 16 appearance in 2015.
On the court, the Eagles are led by the senior tandem of Emmanuel Little and Josh Price. With both hailing from Indianapolis, the duo has combined to average 32 points and 19 rebounds per game. Little is the reigning GLVC Player of the Week after a 25-point, 14-rebound performance at Quincy last week, while Price tops the league in rebounding for the season (10.6 rpg).
As a team, USI leads the GLVC in rebounding margin (+8.4) and steals (9.8 spg) while ranking second in field goal percentage defense (.410). Conversely, it ranks 15th of 15 GLVC teams in made 3-point baskets per game (5.8).
HOUNDS vs. SCREAMING EAGLES
Heading into the week, UIndy's 82-game history with USI is second only to its 84 all-time meetings with Lewis on the program's list of most games against current GLVC opponents. Though the Eagles own a 58-24 lead in the series, it was the Hounds that swept last season's two matchups, winning each by identical 12-point margins. UIndy handed the Eagles an 86-74 loss in Nicoson Hall last Jan. 9 and later an 88-76 defeat in Evansville on Leap Day. The latter contest featured a team-high 24 points from Cory Miller Jr. Both teams were ranked in the top 25 on both dates.
LAST WEEK
The Greyhounds endured a grueling schedule last week, cramming four road games in seven days. UIndy best chance for a win came at Southwest Baptist Jan. 6. UIndy led by 11 points with 10 minutes to play, but the host Bearcats rallied by scoring 24 of the final 31 points to close the night.
Redshirt-freshman Jesse Bingham delivered a pair of clutch free throws to pull the Hounds within one with 1:35 to go, but SBU immediately answered with a 3-pointer and UIndy would ultimately not score again, falling 64-58.
The Greyhounds put up a season-high point total in each of the first two games last week, but managed to set a season low in both the final two contests.
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
Second-year big man Kendrick Tchoua remains among the GLVC leaders in a number of statistical categories, including topping the conference in both field goal percentage (.657) and offensive rebounds (3.0 orpg) while ranking ninth in blocks (1.0 bpg)
23 & ME
UIndy has launched 23 shots from behind the arc in each of the last three games. After hitting eight triples at McKendree and Southwest Baptist – good for a respectable .348 percentage, the Hounds connected on just five 3-pointers at UMSL (.217). On the season, the Hounds currently sit at just under 30 percent from downtown as a team.
8 & UP
A number of Hounds set personal scoring highs last week of at least eight points, including a pair of first-time 20-point outbursts. Underclassmen Bingham (21 pts at SW Baptist), Tchoua (20 at McKendree), Ben Nicoson (9 at McKendree) and Matthew Ambrose (8 at SW Baptist) each set new collegiate highs of at least eight points.
HOMECOMING
UIndy-alum and Indianapolis-native Paul Corsaro was recently named the 12th head coach in program history, taking over in April after veteran head man Stan Gouard left for his alma mater Southern Indiana. A two-sport student-athlete for the Hounds, Corsaro graduated from UIndy in 2012 before spending six seasons as an assistant under Gouard, which included four NCAA tournament appearances. He went on to spend the next two seasons at Division I Purdue Fort Wayne before earning his first head coaching gig at UIndy.
STACKED STAFF
Corsaro filled out his coaching staff with some well-respected names – especially in the state of Indiana – with the likes of assistants Mike Burris and Roosevelt Jones and graduate assistant Parker Chitty.
Burris, an Owensburg, Ind., native, is spent the previous 15 seasons as the head coach at Olney Central College, leading the Blue Knights to 252 wins on the way to becoming the winningest coach in school history. Jones was an All-Big East performer and 1,500-point scorer at crosstown Butler University before joining the coaching ranks, while Chitty, a Columbus, Ind., product, was a key cog in the recent success of former-GLVC-powerhouse Bellarmine University. See page 5 for complete bios.
ENDURING LEGACY
Sophomore guard Ben Nicoson is a fourth-generation Greyhound, following in the footsteps of Angus Nicoson (his great grandfather), Dan Nicoson (his grandfather) and Brent Nicoson (father).
UIndy's home venue, Nicoson Hall, is named after Angus, who compiled a program-record 483 wins as the Greyhound head coach from 1947-76. Dan was a football player and later an assistant coach for the Hounds and still holds the school record for longest touchdown pass (89 yards), while Brent is currently the UIndy head golf coach, leading the women's team to national championships in both 2015 and 2018 – good the school's first-ever NCAA team national titles.
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