Dec. 8, 2003

Basketball Game Information

Southeast Missouri @ Arkansas

Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2003, 7:05 p.m.

Bud Walton Arena, Fayetteville, Ark.

Probable Starters

Southeast Missouri State (4-2) Ppg Rpg

F 21 Norman Prather, 6-3, Jr. 7.5 5.0

F 01 Dainmon Gonner, 6-6, Jr. 15.0 6.2

C 22 Brandon Griffin, 6-8, Sr. 8.8 5.3

G 33 Derek Winans, 6-3, Jr. 11.5 2.0

G 12 Terrick Willoughby, 6-4, Fr.3.5 1.0

Arkansas (4-1)

F 10 Ronnie Brewer, 6-7, Fr. 12.6 5.6

F 33 Vincent Hunter, 6-10, Fr.6.6 4.8

C 14 Billy Pharis, 6-8, Sr. 4.4 2.6

G 24 Jonathon Modica, 6-4, So.21.2 3.2

G 11 Eric Ferguson, 6-1, So. 9.4 2.2

TELEVISION: The game will be televised by ARSN. The Arkansas Sports Network has stations throughout the state of Arkansas.

THE TEAMS: Southeast Missouri is 3-2 after a season opening 63-62 win over Wisconsin-Green Bay, an 83-51 win over Kentucky Christian, a 61-50 loss to Montana, a 77-75 win over UC Santa Barbara, a 71-58 loss to SIU and an 80-63 win over UMKC.

Arkansas is 4-1 with wins over Nicholls State, Grambling State, Jacksonville and Oral Roberts and a loss to Illinois.

THE COACHES: Gary Garner is 96-84 in his 7th season at Southeast and is 344-248 in his 21st year as a collegiate head coach.

Stan Heath is 13-20 in his second season at Arkansas and is 43-26 in his third year as a collegiate head coach.

THE SERIES: Arkansas leads the series 4-1.

*** SOUTHEAST NOTES***

SOUTHEAST THIRD AT MONTANA TOURNEY: Southeast Missouri State claimed third place in the Montana Holiday Classic by beating UC Santa Barbara 77-75. The Indians lost to Montana 61-50 in the semi-finals.

GONNER MAKES ALL-TOURNAMENT: Junior Dainmon Gonner was selected to the All-Tournament team at the Montana Holiday Classic. He had 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal vs. Santa Barbara and 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists, one block and three steals vs. Montana.

Gonner leads the team in scoring (15.0), rebounding (6.2), blocks (3) and steals (10). He is also the top 3-point shooter with 5-12 for 42%.

WINANS CLOSES ON MILESTONES: Junior guard Derek Winans has started 63 straight games at Southeast and has 930 career points. He needs just 70 points to become the 18th player in Southeast history to score 1,000 points.

This season, Winans is averaging 11.5 points per game, shooting 40% from the field 39% from three and 82% from the line.

GRIFFIN LEADS IN ASSISTS: Senior Brandon Griffin leads the Indians in assists with 15. He is second in rebounding with 5.3 per game after ranking 12th nationally last year with 10.5 per game.

In the last three games, Griffin has averaged 11.3 points per game while shooting 67% (16-24) from the field.

GOLSON EMERGES: Junior Reggie Golson has started slowly after an ankle injury kept him out of all preseason drills until two days before the season opener. Against UMKC on Saturday night, Golson had nine points and 12 rebounds in a season-high 22-minutes of play. He was 3-6 from the field and 3-4 from the line.

BALANCED SCORING: Southeast has only two players averaging in double figures, but five players average 7.5 or more points per game. Dainmon Gonner leads scorers with 15 points per game while Derek Winans averages 11.5 per game, Brandon Griffin 8.8, Brett Hale 7.8, and Norman Prather 7.5.

COPI-RITE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Copi-Rite, Inc. of Cape Girardeau will sponsor a Player of the Game after each Southeast home game. The game-by-game winners follow.

11-21 - Dainmon Gonner

11-24 - Brett Hale

12-6 - Derek Winans

SOUTHEAST PICKED 4th IN OVC: The preseason poll of league coaches and sports information directors picked Southeast to finish fourth in the OVC behind Austin Peay, Morehead State and Murray State.

OVC STAT LEADERS RETURN: Junior guards Brett Hale and Kevin Roberts both led the OVC in statistical categories last season. Hale led the league in free throw percentage with 64-70 for .914. Roberts led the league in assists with 179 and in assist/turnover ratio with 3.1. The 179 assists was the second highest single season market Southeast putting him just behind school record holder Dwayne Rutherford who had 200 assists during the 1998-99 season.

AT THE SHOW ME CENTER: Southeast is 3-0 at the Show Me Center this season and 180-65 (.735) since the 7,000 seat facility opened 1987.

SID STREAK: Ron Hines, sports information director at Southeast Missouri State, has worked 670 consecutive basketball games. He has not missed a game since 1980. The streak is the longest in Division I basketball.

Gary Garner RADIO SHOW: The Gary Garner Radio Show will be heard each Wednesday from 6:00 until 7:00 p.m. live from Buffalo Wild Wings on 1220 AM. Erik Sean will host the show.

Gary Garner TV SHOW: Southeast Missouri Basketball with Gary Garner will be seen each Thursday at 6:30 p.m. on UPN-The Beat beginning on Dec. 25. Steve Sotak will be host for the 30-minute show.

NEXT GAME: Southeast returns to the Show Me Center on Saturday, Dec. 13 vs. Oakland City, 7:30 p.m.