Dec 19, 2008

AU Men's Basketball Continues Road Swing at UMBC Saturday Live on MASN


Dec. 19, 2008

Media Information
TV: MASN - Scott Garceau (Play-By-Play), Troy Green (Analyst)
Web: Eagle Vision All*Access - Dan Laing (Play-By-Play), David Bierwirth (Analyst)
Game Notes

WASHINGTON - The American University men's basketball team will take on UMBC Saturday night live on MASN at 7 p.m. in the Retriever Activities Center in Baltimore, Md. The Eagles and Retrievers met for the first time in 20 years last season, a game which UMBC took, 83-68, at Bender Arena. UMBC holds a 2-1 advantage in the all-time series which began with a 71-69 AU win at home on Feb. 25, 1987.

Seniors Garrison Carr and Derrick Mercer have scored 985 points and 986 points, respectively, in their careers and are set to become just the 27th and 28th players in AU history to surpass 1,000 points. Andre Ingram, `07, was the last player to break the 1,000 point plateau and did so on Jan. 2, 2007 at Saint Francis (W, 62-52). Ingram finished his career as AU's fifth all-time leading scorer with 1,655 points.

News and Notes

  • American opened the year with a 4-1 record, matching the team's best start to a season since 1999-2000 and marking the program's best start to a season under Head Coach Jeff Jones. The Eagles had previously began the year with a 3-2 record three times (2000-01, 2004-05, 2006-07) under Coach Jones. In the program's 83 year history, AU has started 4-1 or better only 21 times.

     

  • Saturday's contest at UMBC will be the third in a five game road trip for the Eagles and will continue a string in which AU plays 10 of its first 12 contests on the road. American is one of only eight teams in the nation which will play at least 10 of its first 12 games away from home this season (Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Mississippi Valley State, Texas Southern, Bethune-Cookman, Jackson State, Oral Roberts, Coppin State).

     

  • American is led on the offensive end of the court by a duo of double-digit scorers in Garrison Carr and Brian Gilmore. Carr currently ranks second in the conference in scoring at 16.2 ppg and is shooting 84.0 percent from the free throw line. Gilmore enters Saturday's game averaging 13.1 ppg and is the team's leading rebounder at 5.8 rpg. Derrick Mercer is AU's third-leading scorer at 8.4 ppg and is averaging 2.9 apg.

     

  • Senior Brian Gilmore scored a season-high 23 points at George Washington (L 63-50, 12/17/08) and narrowly missed his second double-double of the season with nine rebounds. Gilmore shot 9-of-15 from the field against the Colonials, including 4-of-7 from behind the arc, grabbed four offensive rebounds and dished out three assists, all while playing a career-high 39 minutes.

    Against Mount St. Mary's (L 57-52, 12/1/08), Gilmore scored 15 points and pulled down 16 rebounds to record the first double-double of his career. Gilmore was also the first Eagle to record a double-double since Travis Lay accomplished the feat last season with 14 points and 10 rebounds against Navy on Feb. 27 (L, 83-68). His 16 rebounds marked a career-high and is the highest total for an Eagle since Jason Thomas pulled down 16 boards at Fairleigh Dickinson on Nov. 29, 2003 (L, 55-54).

     

  • Senior Derrick Mercer will make his 100th career start on Saturday at UMBC. Mercer is a four-year starter for the Eagles and has been listed among Jeff Jones starting five in at least 29 games each season. If Mercer continues to start every game for AU this season, he will finish his career with 118 starts and break the AU record of 117 held by Andre Ingram, `07. If Mercer appears in every remaining game, he will have played in 120 career games, surpassing Ingram's AU record of 118.

Milestone Watch

  • Garrison Carr (985 pts.) and Derrick Mercer (986 pts.) are on pace to become just the 27th and 28th players in AU history to record 1,000 career points this season. The last player to do so was Andre Ingram, `07, who broke the 1,000 point plateau on Jan. 2, 2007 at Saint Francis (W, 62-52). Ingram finished his career as AU's fifth all-time leading scorer with 1,655 points.

     

  • Garrison Carr set new AU and PL records last season with 135 made three-point baskets and scored 606 total points, the seventh highest total in school history. Carr is currently ranked fifth in the PL for career three-point percentage (40.6, 213-525), third at AU in career three-pointers (213), and second at AU in career free-throw percentage (86.8, 138-159).

     

  • With 410 career assists, Derrick Mercer ranks fifth all-time at AU and ninth all-time in the PL. Mercer has also played in 101 career games, including 99 starts, and is on pace to set a new AU record in both categories.

     

  • Jordan Nichols has recorded 75 career blocks and ranks sixth all-time at AU.

Inside the Series - UMBC

All-Time Record: UMBC Leads, 2-1
Last Meeting: L 83-68, 12/1/07

  • UMBC owns a 2-1 advantage over American in the all-time series. The Eagles and Retrievers met for the first time in 20 years last season, a game which UMBC took, 83-68, at Bender Arena. Despite the loss, AU received 28 points from Derrick Mercer and 13 from Bryce Simon, both then career-highs. Mercer shot 10-of-12 from the field and added five assists, four rebounds and two steals. Simon meanwhile hit a then career-high three three-pointes and pulled down four rebounds.

     

  • American won its first-ever meeting with UMBC, 71-69, in Bender Arena on Feb. 25, 1987. The following season the team's squared off again, this time in Baltimore, Md., where the Retrievers pulled out an 85-70 victory. Following that game, the team's did not play again for 20 years until last season's Dec. 1 meeting in Bender which UMBC won, 83-68.

     

  • UMBC enters Saturday's contest with a 5-4 record coming off 91-56 loss to No. 3 Pittsburgh. As a team they are averaging 67.3 ppg and shooting 45.4 percent (224-493) from the floor while allowing 66.6 ppg. The Retrievers have been outrebounded by an average of -3.3 rpg to this point in the year but have caused 19 more turnovers than they have committed.

    The Retrievers are led by Darryl Proctor who averages a team leading 17.3 ppg and 8.4 rpg. Proctor has hit 47.0 percent (62-132) of his shots from the field this season while playing 38.2 mpg. Jay Greene also averages double-digits for UMBC at 12.9 ppg and is the team's leading three-point threat with 21 treys on the year and assist man with 6.9 apg. Rich Flemming and Chauncey Gilliam average 9.9 ppg and 9.1 ppg, respectively.

    UMBC enjoyed the most successful year in program history last season. The Retrievers won a school recrod 24 games en route to the America East Regular Season and Tournament Championships, earning thier first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. UMBC set many other school records as well, including scoring the most points in school history, while leading the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio.