Bears Ready for Battle at Kennesaw State Tuesday

Tuesday, December 22

Kennesaw, GA.

2:00 PM

Mercer University

Kennesaw State

Photo by: Alex Keller

Bears Ready for Battle at Kennesaw State Tuesday

12/21/2020 1:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

KSU Notes Mercer Notes

This is the 24th meeting between the two programs

By: Kraig Doremus

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer Bears are back on the road for another in-state test. This time, the Bears will travel up Interstate 75 to Kennesaw, Ga. to face the Kennesaw State Owls.

BEAR NECESSITIES
Date: Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020 | 2:00 p.m.
Matchup: Mercer (6-1) at Kennesaw State (3-4)
Location: Kennesaw, Ga. | Convocation Center
Live Stats: bit.ly/3h9br5v
Live Video: ESPN+
Live Radio: 100.9 The Creek and SportsMic with Rick Cameron on the call
Twitter Updates: @MercerMBB
Game Notes: Mercer | Kennesaw State

TODAY'S GAME/LAST TIME OUT
The Bears are coming off an 88-81 road loss at Georgia State last Wednesday night, their first defeat of the 2020-21 campaign. Five Bears scored in double figures with Neftali Alvarez's 17 points leading the way. Alvarez is currently averaging 6.3 assists per game, which leads the SoCon. Jeff Gary was Mercer's second highest scorer with 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting. Mercer was slated to play Georgia Southwestern on Saturday, but that game was canceled. Mercer is 1-0 against the Owls of KSU in the Greg Gary era.

ABOUT THE OWLS
Under the direction of second-year head coach Amir Abdur Rahim, Kennesaw State is 3-4 this season after a 1-28 showing in Abdur Rahim's first season. The Owls are coming off a loss to Samford at home on Saturday. Kennesaw State is led by Spencer Rodgers' 16.0 points per game. Chris Youngblood is the second and final Owl to average double figures. Youngblood contributes 14.9 points per contest.

SERIES HISTORY
Mercer leads, 17-6. The Bears picked up a 12-point win, 74-62, in Macon last season.

CUMMINGS CLIMBING THE SCORING RANKS
Ross Cummings is only 32 points away from joining the 1,000-point club. In time at Mercer, Cummings has racked up 968 points; 538 came his junior year. The last Bear to join the 1,000 point club was Ethan Stair. Stair joined the club last season on Jan. 28 at Samford. The all-time leading scorer is James Florence. Florence played for the Bears from 2006-10 and tallied 2,286 points in his career.

1,000 Point Scorers
Rk.       Name                          Pts.
T38.     Jim Hearn                    1,034
T38.     Reggie Elliott 1,034
40.       Rodney Kirtz               1,025
41.       Donnie Veal 1,023
42.       Dartez Talbott 1,014
            Ross Cummings 968

CUMMINGS NEARING THREE-POINT RECORD
The sharpshooting Cummings is nearing Mercer's all-time three-pointers made record, currently held by fan-favorite Langston Hall. Hall, who led the Bears to a stunning upset of No. 3 Duke in the NCAA Tournament in 2014, knocked down 256 treys. James Florence, the Bears' all-time leading scorer knocked down 242 shots from beyond the arc. Thanks to four against Ga. Southern (Dec. 13), Cummings has sole possession of third all-time on the list. Kusnyer set Mercer's single-season record of 107 in 2009-10. Cummings need just one more three-pointer for sole possession of third all-time.

Rk.       Name                          3's
1          Langston Hall 256
2.         James Florence 242
3.         Ross Cummings        196
4.         E.J. Kusnyer                190
5.         Bud Thomas               161

MERCER VS. IN-STATE OPPONENTS IN 2020-21
Mercer will face-off against in-state opponents seven times this season. The Bears all-time record against these in-state opponents is 144-143. Below is Mercer's record against this year's opponents from the state of Georgia. The Bears have battled North Georgia (Nov. 25) Georgia Tech (Nov. 27), Ga. State (Nov. 30, Dec. 16) and Georgia Southern (Dec. 13). Mercer has just one in-state games remaining - a 2 p.m. tilt with KSU tomorrow at 2 p.m.
Team                                       Record
North Georgia                          21-1
Georgia Tech                           17-28
Georgia State                          47-39
Georgia Southern                  42-69
Kennesaw State 17-6

CLIMBING THE MID-MAJOR RANKINGS
After a thrilling win at Georgia Southern, the Bears found themselves inside the top-10 of the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll, moving up to No. 7 on Monday night. Furman (No. 3) is the only Southern Conference school ahead of the Bears. Below are the Southern Conference teams in the poll.

Rk.       School            Points
3.         Furman 699
7.         Mercer 513
25        Chattanooga 93
RV.       WCU 54
RV. UNCG 19
RV. Samford           1

ALVAREZ PACING THE SOCON IN ASSISTS
Neftali Alvarez is currently leading the Southern Conference in assists at 6.3 assists per contest (as of publication date). Below are the top-five leaders in the Southern Conference.

Name               School Games Ast. APG
Neftali Alvarez MER 7 44        6.3
Mason Faulkner WCU   7            34   4.9
Storm Murph WOF   5            24 4.8
Greg Parham VMI      8            33         4.1
Malachi Smith   UTC 8            32      4.0
David Sloan ETSU 7            28      4.0

AYERS III CONTRIBUTING OFF THE BENCH
In each of Mercer's seven games, Leon Ayers III has come off the bench, and in five of those games, Ayers III has led the Bears in scoring. He has reached double figures in five games. Below is each game that he has been the highest scoring reserve

Date     Opponent Points
Nov. 25 North Georgia            15
Nov. 30 Georgia State             17
Dec. 5 CIU                                 16
Dec. 6 Southern Wesleyan   11
Dec. 13 at Georgia State         7

THREE-POINT STREAKS
Three SoCon student-athletes, two of whom wear the Orange & Black, have streaks of at least 10 consecutive games with a made three-pointer.

Player              School            20-21   19-20   18-19   Tot.
Fletcher Abee The Citadel 6 18        X          24
Ross Cummings Mercer          7          6          7          20
Jeff Gary          Mercer 7          8          X          15

DID YOU HEAR? TELEVISION NEWS
Both Mercer men's basketball and the Southern Conference announced exciting television news recently. The Bears will battle Wofford on Dec. 29 (7 p.m.) on national television. The game will be featured on ESPNU. Additionally, Mercer men's basketball will be featured twice on the Ingles SoCon Game of the Week which will air on select Nexstar affiliates throughout the region, as well as ESPN+ or ESPN3. Mercer will host Western Carolina (Jan. 16) and VMI (Jan. 23)

HOME SWEET HOME
Hawkins Arena has been kind to the Bears in recent years. Each of the past two seasons, Mercer has gone 9-6 on their home floor. In 2017-18, the Bears were 11-3 inside Hawkins Arena. Below is Mercer's record at home since the 2016-17 campaign. Mercer is 41-22 at home since that campaign.
Season        Record
2016-17            8-7
2017-18            11-3
2018-19            9-6
2019-20            9-6
2020-21            4-0
Total                41-22

HOW TO FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Basketball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerMBB (Twitter), /MercerBasketball (Facebook) and @Mercer_MBB (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.