November 24 Emerald Coast Classic Notebook

***Raider Arena on the campus of Northwest Florida State is the site for the seventh Emerald Coast Classic***

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Friday, Nov. 25 Games

Emerald Coast Classic-Niceville, Fla.

Loyola Maryland vs. Southern, 11 a.m., Flo Hoops

Omaha vs. ULM, 1:30 p.m., Flo Hoops

Clemson vs. Iowa, 6 p.m., CBS Sports Network

Cal vs. TCU, 8:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network

Saturday, Nov. 26 Games

Emerald Coast Classic-Niceville, Fla.

Seventh-Place Game 10 a.m., Flo Hoops

Fifth-Place Game 12:30 p.m., Flo Hoops

Third-Place Game 3 p.m., Flo Hoops

Championship 6 p.m., CBS Sports Network

Monday Nov. 28 Games

Champion Christian at Southern 7:30 p.m

ULM at Tulane, 6 p.m.

Omaha at Mississippi State, 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday Nov. 29 Games

Georgia Tech at Iowa, 8 p.m.

Penn State at Clemson, 8 p.m

Wednesday Nov. 30 Games

Binghamton at Loyola Maryland, 7 p.m.

Providence at TCU, 7 p.m.

Southern Cal at Cal, 9 p.m.

IOWA, TCU DRAWING ATTENTION: Both Iowa and TCU, which are making their second appearances in Emerald Coast Classic, are drawing attention from national media.

Iowa (4-0) has made its first appearance in the 2022-23 Associated Press men’s basketball Top 25, being ranked No. 25 after its 83-67 victory at Seton Hall Nov 16.

TCU (3-1) got the 26th-most votes in the AP poll with the Horned Frogs playing Cal Friday at 8:30 p.m. The Hawkeyes play Clemson (3-1) Friday at 6 p.m., then face either TCU or California Saturday.

THE MURRAY SHOW: Sequels often are watered-down versions of the originals.

That certainly is not the case with “The Murray Show,” which again is playing to rave reviews with Iowa men’s basketball observers.

Last season, of course, Keegan Murray was an All-America forward who averaged 23.5 points for a Hawkeyes team that went 26-10. He had averaged 7.2 points the season before.

Keegan left for the Sacramento Kings last spring. Kris Murray stayed. He has grabbed the torch from his twin brother, and is torching opponents so far this season.

Murray had a career-high 30 points Monday night in No. 25 Iowa’s 100-64 win over the Omaha Mavericks. That puts his scoring average at 23.8, after he averaged 9.7 last season. He has 59 points in his last two games for the 4-0 Hawkeyes.

Murray had his first shot of the game blocked.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS: On the Monday before Thanksgiving, Littlejohn Coliseum had a great turnout to support Clemson in its game against the Loyola Greyhounds.

Coming off a win against Bellarmine last Friday, the Tigers were looking to continue their streak of being undefeated at home this season and did just that with a 72-41 victory over Loyola.

Clemson (4-1) started out fast and had a substantial lead within the first 10 minutes of the half. Loyola had six turnovers in the first nine minutes of the game, which doubled by the end of the half (12). The Tigers’ defense was able to keep the Greyhounds to under 20 points in the first half (14), and had a comfortable 29-point lead going into the locker room.

Graduate student Hunter Tyson led the way with 14 points in the first half alone and finished with that team-high total for the game. Not far behind him was senior guard Alex Hemenway, who was a pefect 5-for-5 from the floor, including 3-for-3 from 3-point range, and finished with 13 points. The Tigers’ 43 points by halftime was the most they’ve scored in a half so far this season.

“We’ve been working hard in practice, defensively, offensively,” Hemenway said after the game. “The offense has been pretty good the last few games, but just cleaning up a lot of things on the defensive end.”

Chase Hunter was 4-of-6 from the floor and racked up 10 total points, including six after halftime.

The Tigers started slower in the second half and gave up 14 points in the first seven minutes, and only forced six turnovers in the second half. On the offensive side, the Tigers turned the ball over 15 times in the game.

BACK ON TRACK: No. 15 TCU men’s basketball Frogs (3-1) found its groove, defeating the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks 95-60 in a bounce-back effort last Thursday at Schollmaier Arena.

Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year guard Mike Miles Jr. missed his second straight game as he continues to nurse an ankle injury suffered in a Nov. 11 matchup against Lamar. Despite sporting a walking boot, Miles Jr. was on the bench engaged and supporting his teammates.

Head coach Jamie Dixon continued to experiment with his guard rotation as he awaits senior guard Damion Baugh’s return from a six-game suspension and Miles Jr.’s recovery from injury. For Thursday’s matchup, senior guard Shahada Wells and junior guard Rondel Walker occupied the starting backcourt, replacing junior guard Micah Peavy.

The Frogs looked like a completely different team than the one that had played the first three games.

Notorious for their slow starts, TCU sprinted out to a 12-2 lead behind a pair of early three-pointers from Wells.

The hot hand was contagious as sophomore forward JaKobe Coles, redshirt senior forward Chuck O’Bannon Jr., and Walker all chipped in with threes made.

REDEMPTION GAME: Good teams with talent rarely drop back-to-back losses, and TCU is no different. TCU (3-1) kept ULM’s (2-2) offense silent in every meaningful way as the Horned Frogs eyed the 100-mark in the 95-60 win over the Warhawks.

TCU already dropped an uncharacteristic loss to another small Louisiana school—Northwestern State—earlier in the week, so ULM entered last Thursday’s matchup with the expectation that its opponent wouldn’t be out of rhythm twice in the same week.

But even with those expectations and mental preparations, TCU blasted ULM out of the gate with a 12-2 run.

ULM coach Keith Richard said one of the biggest factors in his team’s loss was TCU’s ability to hit 3-pointers. TCU hit 50% of their shots from beyond the arc after a miserable 2-for-21 effort in the previous game. “We saw the real 15th-ranked team in the country in the first half,” Richard said. “We told the team that they would come out really locked in because of the loss the other night.”

HEADLINES

November 24 Emerald Coast Classic Notebook

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

HEADLINES

CAL

CLEMSON

IOWA

TCU

LOYOLA MARYLAND

ULM

OMAHA

SOUTHERN