College of Idaho Men's Basketball to Host EOU

Live Stats: https://sidearmstats.com/cofidaho/mbball/xlive.htm
Watch (NOTE: New platfrom of the Yotes Digital Network): https://team1sports.com/collegeofidaho/

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WELCOME BACK: At halftime, College of Idaho will recognize Talon Pinckney, Jake Bruner and Nate Bruneel, who exhausted their eligibility in 2020. Pinckney was a two-time All-American, Bruner was a part of 110 wins and set the stage with his play to be still called "Brunos" by the Yotes coaching staff. Bruneel, a transfer from Snow College as a freshman, went on to earn second team All-American honors and won a championship all four years of his college career. The three were leaders for a team that reached the NAIA Division II National Tournament in 2020 before the CoVID virus forced the tournament to be canceled as College of Idaho entered the tournament at No. 1 in t

SERIES HISTORY: College of Idaho holds a 16-6 advantage in the all-time series between the two teams with a 14-2 mark in games played in Caldwell. The last win by the Mountaineers was a 93-91 decision on January 25, 2022. The last win in Caldwell by EOU was last of three-straight on January 11, 2013.

SWEEP x 2: Wednesday's win over NNU marked the first back-to-back series sweep for the Yotes over the local rival since 2013-14, 2014-15.

MO' POINTS FOR MORGAN: Sophomore Samaje Morgan scored a career-best 27 points (previous best: 19 vs. NNU - Nov. 9, 2023) against Oregon Tech, last Saturday. In the win, he went 12 of 12 from the free throw line. The last Yote to shoot and make all of at least 12 of their free throw attempts was Bryan Champ, who also made 12 attempts against Corban on January 17, 2009.

BOARD WORK: Three players - Caden Handran (10 vs. Hope International - 11/24/23); Jake O'Neil (10 vs. Montana Western - 11/25/23) and Paul Wilson (10 vs. Montana Western - 11/25/23) - have had double-digit rebounds in a game in 2022-23. With O'Neil and Wilson each grabbing double-digit rebounds against Montana Western, the last time that C of I had two players with double-digit rebounds was at Multnomah on Feb. 4, 2023. Furthermore, the last HOME game with two players with double-digit rebounds was on December 7, 2019 against Multnomah when Talon Galloway had 10 boards and Connor Desaulniers had 16 against the Lions. 

THANKSGIVING DISH: Samaje Morgan has handed out six assists in three games - against Southern Oregon (Dec. 1), Antelope Valley (Nov. 18) and Hope International (Nov. 13). In his freshman season, he dished out six assists or more in 13 games en route to averaging 4.8 assists per game (18th all-time) / 183 assists (ninth all-time). His 212 assists for his career is already 23rd in program history. Brother and assistant coach Emanuel Morgan is tied for second all-time with 560 along with Talon Pinckney. 

UNCHARTERED TERRITORY: The last time that College of Idaho lost back-to-back games was during the 2021-22 season when they dropped back-to-back games against Carroll (Nov. 13, 2021; 59-51) and NNU (Nov. 17, 2021; 80-70). The last time that they lost back-to-back home games was in 2015-16 against Northwest Christian (Jan. 23, 2016; 72-62) and Warner Pacific (Feb. 5, 2016; 101-75).

HITTING THE AREA CODE JUMPER: College of Idaho knocked down 14 3-pointers in the 100-80 win over Antelope Valley on November 18. The most since they drained 16 at Multnomah on February 4, 2023, the most at home since they made 18 against Walla Walla on January 28, 2023. Last season, College of Idaho made 320 3-pointers, the most since a school record 368 in 2018-19.

POLL CHATTER: With the loss to Vanguard on Nov. 17, College of Idaho moved to the No. 2 spot after spending four weeks at the top spot including the final three polls of 2022-23.  The eight weeks at No. 1 by the Yotes ranks 24th among NAIA programs and among CCC teams, it is second to Oregon Tech, who has spent 15 weeks at the top spot.

The Yotes have spent the last 19 weeks ranked in the top 25 which is the fourth-longest active streak in the NAIA. C of I moved into fourth after William Penn (Iowa) dropped out after the first poll after three-straight losses.

BOARD TALK: College of Idaho has outrebounded seven of its last eight opponents - dating back to 2022-23, the Yotes have outrebounded its 26 of its last 27 opponents.

DIALING LONG DISTANCE: Johnny Radford has made 21 3-pointers in 2023-24 for 191 in his career to share fourth place all-time with Matt Ballinger, who did it in 80 games. Next on the list for Radford is 220 by Neal Roberts. Radford made just his third start on Saturday against Oregon Tech. He started one game as a freshman in 2020-21 and one game in 2022-23. 

HOME COURT EDGE: The J.A. Albertson Activities Center is arguably one of the toughest venues in all of NAIA Basketball, as the Coyotes posted a perfect 20-0 mark in 2022-23 and have posted a staggering 153-16 overall record on their home floor since the start of the 2013-14 season. The 20 home wins were just one win shy of  a new school record held by the 2021-22 team. Since the Activities Center opened in 1991, the Yotes have recorded a 372-100 all-time record – with the mark ballooning to 489-109 when accounting the previous decade at O'Connor Fieldhouse.

BLAINE SUCCESS: Colby Blaine became the first coach in program history to be named the Cascade Collegiate Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year on three occasions. He has led College of Idaho to 30 wins in the last five seasons with the exception of the CoVID season of 2020-21.

STATISTICAL RANKINGS in 2023-24 (as of 12/5):
70.4 - 3rd in the CCC - Points per game allowed
77.9 - 4th in the CCC - Points per game
43.4% - 5th in the CCC - Field goal percentage
43.9% - 7th in the CCC - Opponents' Field goal percentage
14.9 - 5th in the CCC - Assists per game

25-WIN SEASONS: The win over Bushnell last season on Feb. 11 secured the Coyotes their 14th 25-win season in program history. C of I has recorded 28 20-win season in program history and the eighth 20-win season in the last decade, while recording six 30-win seasons (1996, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023). 

JAM THE JAAC: College of Idaho led the NAIA with an average of a program best 1,494 fans at its home games in 2022-23. Since 2013-14, with the exception of the CoVID year of 2020-21, College of Idaho has averaged over 1,000 fans per home game.

DREW WYMAN: Junior guard Drew Wyman scored a career-best 25 points in the win over Montana Western, making 8 of 13 shots from the field and 6 of 7 free-throw attempts. Wyman is 64 points shy of the 1,000 mark in his career. Just 29 players in program history have reached the 1,000-point mark, the last was Richardo Time, who did it from 2019-22. 

UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS: All six College of Idaho fall sports teams (men's and women's cross country; men's and women's soccer; football and volleyball) secured spots in the postseason. The only other team in the NAIA with this similar feat is Indiana Wesleyan. Most recently, last month, the College of Idaho women's cross country team became the fourth team in school history to win a national title. The Yotes football team will play in the NAIA National Semifinals on Saturday against Keiser for the first time in program history.