Nov. 11, 2008

Game Notes

THE TEAMS: The Redhawks, 12-19 last season, were 2-0 in exhibition games with wins over Missouri Baptist and MacMurray. New Mexico, 24-9 last season, is 1-0 in exhibition play with an 88-59 win over Western New Mexico. Kansas State, 21-12 last season, is 1-0 in exhibition games with an 81-57 win over Washburn. The Wildcats begin their regular season by hosting Florida A & M on Friday night.

THE COACHES: Zac Roman will be in his first regular season game as Redhawks acting head coach. Steve Alford, former head coach at Missouri State and Iowa, is in his second season at New Mexico where he was 24-9 last season. His overall collegiate record is 332-192 in his 18th season. Frank Martin is in his second season at Kansas State with a record of 21-12 last season.

THE SERIES: This will be the Redhawks first meeting with both New Mexico and Kansas State.

SEASON OPENERS: Southeast opens the regular season Friday at New Mexico. Since moving to Division I in 1991, Southeast is 9-7 in season openers but the Redhawks are 0-6 when opening on the road. Last season, Southeast lost at Xavier.

THIN ROSTER: With the recent suspension of junior Calvin Williams, the Redhawks will have only four players in uniform who played on last year's team. Jaycen Herring, Kenard Moore, Jimmy Drew and Johnny Hill combined for an average of 29 points and 11 rebounds per game. Jajuan Maxwell played for the Redhawks in 2006-2007 but missed last season with a knee injury. The Redhawks will dress only nine players including one walkon.

WILLIAMS RETURNS TO PRACTICE: Junior Calvin Williams, 6-9, returned to practice on Friday afternoon but he will not be allowed to play in the games at New Mexico or Kansas State. Williams had been suspended from all basketball activities on October 25. He will return to action on Nov. 21 vs. Culver Stockton.

PIRRI WILL LEAVE PROGRAM: Freshman Stuart Pirri, 6-8, will leave Southeast after the completion of the first semester. At his request, Southeast has given Pirri his release. He will continue to practice with the team, but will not play in games.

LAS VEGAS INVITATIONAL: Sunday's game at Kansas State is the Redhawks first game in the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Invitational. The Redhawks will also play at Iowa on Nov. 25 before playing two games in Las Vegas on Nov. 28 and Nov. 29. The Redhawks play Longwood at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Nov. 28 and will play either Oakland or Delaware State on Nov. 29.

MAXWELL STARTS FAST: Sophomore Jajuan Maxwell, 6-6, who missed last season with a knee injury, is off to a fast start, averaging 17.5 points and 23 rebounds per game in exhibition play. Maxwell had double-doubles in both exhibition games and in fact had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the first half of the MacMurray game.

MOORE LAUNCHES: Senior Kenard Moore shot 25 treys in the two exhibition games. He was 9-25 from three for .360. He averaged 22.5 points per games. Last season, Moore ranked 68th nationally in 3-point field goal percentage at .397.

HITTING THE BOARDS: Junior college transfers, Israel Kirk, 6-6, and LaMont Russell, 6-6, combined to average 16.5 rebounds per game. Kirk averaged 7.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game while Russell averaged 8.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.

JONES AT THE POINT: Junior college transfer Bijon Jones averaged 33.5 minutes per game in the two exhibition tilts. He is a true point guard who averaged 7.5 points per game while leading the team in assists with 6.5 per game. He was 5-6 from the free throw line.

REDHAWKS HAVE ST. LOUIS RADIO STATION: The Southeast Basketball Network includes Team 1380 Radio in St. Louis. The network operated by Mississippi River Radio, will be anchored by 100,000 watt K-103 FM in Cape Girardeau. Other network stations include KSIM, Sikeston;, KWOC, Poplar Bluff and KMAL, Malden. Erik Sean will be the play-by-play voice of Redhawks basketball with Todd Bonacki adding commentary at home games and Ron Hines adding color during the road games.

REDHAWKS BASKETBALL WITH Zac Roman: Roman will have a weekly television show on WQWQ-TV, the Heartland's CW. The show will be seen at 11:05 p.m. each Monday night beginning on Dec. 1 and will be hosted by Heartland Sports Director Todd Richards. The show will also be shown on Charter Cable Channel 11 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday's at 8 p.m. It will also be run on the KFVS-TV/Southeast Weather Channel (Charter Channel 113) on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights at 6:30 p.m.

SID STREAK: Southeast SID Ron Hines has worked 822 consecutive men's basketball games. He has not missed a game since 1980.

NEXT FOR THE REDHAWKS: The home regular season opener is against Culver Stockton on Nov. 21, 5:30 p.m., at the Show Me Center.