Nov. 26, 2005

BASKETBALL GAME INFORMATION

Southeast Missouri State at Nebraska

Sunday, Nov. 27, 2005

2:00 p.m., Devaney Center, Lincoln, Neb.

The Teams: Southeast Missouri is 2-1 after beating Truman State 59-56 in the season opener, losing to IPFW 65-64 on Monday night and getting a road win at South Dakota State on Thursday night.

Nebraska is 3-0 with home wins over Longwood, Yale and Louisiana Tech.

The Coaches: Gary Garner has an overall record of 368-278 in his 23rd year as a collegiate head coach with a record of 121-113 in his ninth season at Southeast.

Barry Collier is 73-77 in his sixth season at Nebraska and is 269-209 in his 17th year as a collegiate head coach.

The Series: It will be the first meeting between the Redhawks and Cornhuskers.

REDHAWKS NOTES

Booker Leads The Way: After sitting out last season after transferring from Montana, Roy Booker is off to a fast start for the Redhawks. He is averaging 18 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Booker is 6-14 from three and 14-15 from the line.

In the first game of career at Southeast Missouri State, Booker came up with the game winner when he hit a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining to give the Redhawks a 59-56 win over Truman State. For the game, Booker had 17 points including 6-14 from the field 2-3 from three and 3-3 from the line.

Johnson Adds Spark: Junior college transfer David Johnson suffered a sprained thumb in practice and was not expected to play in the Truman State game, but when the Redhawks fell behind early, Johnson came off the bench to hit 3-5 from three. He also was 2-2 from the line for a total of 11 points to go along with two blocks, one steal and one rebound.

Johnson missed the IPFW game with a head injury sustained in practice. He was in the starting lineup at South Dakota State and led the Redhawks with 16 points and seven rebounds.

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 is averaging 9.0 points and 3.3 rebounds per game after two games this season. He is shooting .667 (6-9) from three.

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 is averaging 4.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game after three games.

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. This season he is averaging 0.7 points and 2.7 rebounds per game while playing just 11-minutes per game.

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, who had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds vs. IPFW, averages 9.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.

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.

Jones Doubtful: Freshman Eric Jones played for the first time in the IPFW game and contributed two points, five rebounds and two blocks. He missed the South Dakota State game with a finger injury and is doubtful for the Nebraska game.

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.

Two Early Signings: Southeast signed two players during the early signing period. JaJuan Maxwell, 6-6, 205, is from Raytown High School in Raytown, Mo. He averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds per game as a junior and was all-conference and all-metro in the Kansas City area.

Roderick Pearson, 6-2, 175, is from Raytown South High School in Raytown. He averaged 12 points, six assists and three steals per game as a junior.

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 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.

SID Streak: Southeast sports information director Ron Hines has worked 730 consecutive games, the longest streak in NCAA Division I. Hines hasn't missed a game since 1980.

Next For The Redhawks: Southeast will open Ohio Valley Conference play on Saturday night, Dec. 3, at Tennessee-Martin.