Nov. 10, 2005

Southeast Missouri State Vs.Arkansas Tech

Exhibition Basketball

Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005

Show Me Center, 7:30 p.m.

The Teams: Southeast Missouri is 1-0 in exhibition play after beating Missouri-St. Louis 89-76. Southeast was 15-14 last season.

Arkansas Tech is 0-1 in exhibition play after losing at Texas A & M of the Big 12 Conference, 96-49 last Saturday night. Tech was 7-17 last season.

This will be the final exhibition game for Southeast while Arkansas Tech will play at SMU on Nov. 14.

The Coaches: Gary Garner will go into the 2005-2006 regular season with an overall record of 366-277 in 22 years as a collegiate head coach with a record of 119-112 in eight seasons at Southeast. Exhibition games do not count in a coaches record.

Rick McCormick is 17-37 going into his fourth season at Arkansas Tech.

The Series: Southeast is 0-1 vs. Arkansas Tech.

REDHAWKS NOTES

Johnson Remains Sidelined: Junior college transfer David Johnson suffered a sprained thumb in practice and did not play in the opening exhibition game. He re-injured the thumb on Monday of this week and will be held out of the Arkansas Tech game.

Freshman Eric Jones did not play in the opening exhibition game because of a leg injury but is expected to return vs. Arkansas Tech.

Two Starters Return: The Redhawks return two starters from last year's team that was 15-14 and advanced to the semi-finals of the OVC post-season tournament. Terrick Willoughby, 6-4, junior, averaged 8.2 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. He was second in the OVC in 3-point shooting percentage at .439. Willoughby had 24 points in the exhibition opener.

Sophomore Paul Paradoski started 27 games at the point guard position as a true freshman. He averaged 2.6 points, 1.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while leading the OVC in assist/turnover ratio with 3.0. Paradoski had 11 assists in the exhibition opener. Big Men Return: Inside players Waylon Francis, 6-8, 240, and Ketshner Guerrier, 6-7, 225, are the only two other returnees from last year's team. Francis played in 26 games last season, averaging 2.4 points and 1.8 rebounds per game. He was scoreless in the exhibition opener, but had eight rebounds and three blocked shots.

Guerrier played in just six games because of a knee injury that required surgery. He averaged 8.2 points and 2.0 rebounds in the six games he played. Guerrier had 15 points and 11 rebounds in the UMSL game when he was 6-6 from the field and 3-3 from the line. He also had one block.

Booker Is Ready: Former Portageville all-stater Roy Booker, 6-3, senior, is anxious to get back on the court after sitting out last season under NCAA transfer rules. He played at Montana in 2003-2004 after playing two seasons at Allen County Community College in Kansas where he was rated as the best shooting guard in the nation by The Sporting News.

In the opening exhibition game, Booker had 18 points, but was 5-17 from the field and 3-9 from three.

Six Newcomers: Program sales should be brisk with six new players on this year's squad in addition to Booker who did not play last season. Junior college transfers include 6-8 Andrais Thornton, 6-7 Tyrell White, 6-6 John Chappell, 6-4 Eric Burtin and 6-4 David Johnson. The only freshman on the squad is 6-4 Eric Jones.

Ritter Walks On: Jared Ritter, grandson of former Southeast All-American Carl Ritter, has joined the team as a walk-on. Ritter, a 2003 graduate of Advance High School, played one season at Hannibal La Grange College. He attended Three Rivers Community College last year but did not play basketball. His grandfather, Carl, is the all-time leading scorer at Southeast who had his number retired in 1994 and is a member of the Southeast Athletic Hall of Fame.

Two Transfers Will Sit Out: Two transfers will sit out the 2005-2006 season under NCAA transfer rules. The transfers are 6-9 Michael Rembert from Bradley and 6-6 Brandon Foust from Oklahoma.

20 Game OVC Schedule: There will be a full round robin schedule in the OVC meaning a total of 20 conference games. The first OVC game will be on Dec. 3 at Tennessee-Martin.

National TV For Three Games: Three Southeast games will be nationally televised. The December 28 game at Illinois, last year's NCAA tournament runner-up, will be televised by ESPN U. The Jan. 2 game at the Show Me Center with Eastern Kentucky will also be televised by ESPN U with a 6 p.m. start. ESPN 2 will televise the Jan. 28 Show Me Center game with Murray State with a 3:00 p.m. tip off. The Illinois game on Dec. 28 will also be televised locally by WDKA-TV.

Southeast Basketball With Gary Garner: Gary Garner will have a weekly 30-minute television show on UPN-The Beat. The show ill air at 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays beginning on Nov. 24. The show will be hosted by Todd Richards.

Southeast On Radio: All Southeast games will be broadcast on the Southeast Sports Network anchored by K-103 Radio in Cape Girardeau. Erik Sean will be in his fifth season as play-by-play announcer with Todd Bonacki adding commentary for home games while Sports Information Director Ron Hines will do color on the road broadcasts.

All the games can be heard worldwide on the internet at www.k103fm.com.

Gary Garner Radio Show: The Gary Garner Radio Show will be broadcast from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. each Tuesday beginning on Nov. 22 on KGIR, 1220 AM. The show will originate live from Port Cape Girardeau. Erik Sean will be the program host.