PREVIEW: Cleveland State at Akron Saturday Night As The Season Tips Off!

GAME #1
Cleveland State (0-0) at Akron (0-0)
Northeast Ohio Coaches vs. Cancer Classic
Saturday, November 11, 2017 | 7:00 pm ET
Akron, Ohio | James A. Rhodes Arena

Watch: ESPN3
Listen: AM 1420 | AM 1220
PDF GAME NOTES

GAME PREVIEW:
• Cleveland State opens the 2017-18 season on Saturday (Nov. 11) with a 7:00 pm game at Akron.
• It will be the opener of the NE Ohio Coaches vs. Cancer Classic with Kent State and Youngstown State playing the nightcap.
• Saturday’s game will be broadcast live on AM 1220, AM 1420 and AM 1440 with Al Pawlowski providing the play-by-play.
• The game will also be shown live on ESPN3.
• CSU returns three starters and eight letterwinners from last year’s team that went 9-22. The Vikings add seven newcomers – a graduate transfer, a junior college transfer, a Division I transfer and four freshmen.
• Saturday’s game will be the regular season debut for first-year head coach Dennis Felton who was named the 15th head coach in CSU history on March 24.

THE AKRON SERIES:
• Saturday will be the 69th all-time meeting between the two teams with Akron leading the all-time series with CSU, 36-32.
• The Zips have won three straight in the series, including a 65-53 win in the 2015-16 season opener.
• Akron is 21-12 all-time against CSU at home.

THE EXHIBITION GAME:
• The Vikings defeated Cedarville, 78-60, in the lone exhibition game of the preseason on Nov. 2.
• Kenny Carpenter led CSU with 16 points, adding three rebounds.
• Tyree Appleby scored 15 points off the bench, hitting 3-of-4 from three-point. He added four rebounds and five assists.
FOR OPENERS:
• The Vikings are 32-54 in season openers, including a 25-27 record as Cleveland State.
• CSU has won five of its last nine season openers, but has dropped three straight.
• In last year’s season opener, the Vikings rallied from a 21 point deficit to force overtime, but fell to Kent State, 79-74, in the NE Ohio Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in Youngstown.

FELTON TO MAKE CSU DEBUT:
• Dennis Felton will make his CSU regular season debut as head coach on Saturday night at Akron.
• Felton was named the 15th head coach in program history on March 24, 2017.
• Felton is a coaching veteran with more than 30 years of experience, including 10 full seasons as a head coach.
• During his time on the sidelines Felton has amassed 184 victories, won seven conference championships and led six of his teams to the postseason, including four NCAA berths.

WORD UP:
• Senior Bobby Word is the top returning scorer from last season. He averaged 11.1 points per game.
• Word also ranked seventh in the Horizon League with 2.1 three-pointers per game.
• He made at least four three’s in nine games last season.

KASH IS MONEY:
• Kasheem Thomas started all 31 games last year as a freshman, the most starts for a first year player in program history.
• He averged 7.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists (9th in HL).
• Thomas ranked third in the Horizon League in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1) with 102 assists and 49 turnovers.
• He had seven games with at least six assists.

FOR THREE:
• CSU begins the 2017-18 season with a school record streak of 597 straight games with a three-pointer.
• The Vikings have hit at least three three’s in 146 straight games.
• The last time CSU failed to make a three-pointer was Feb. 21, 1998, when the Vikings were 0-for-8 in a 60-57 win over Detroit.

RASHAD WILLIAMS SIGNS WITH CSU:
• Rashad Williams, a native of Detroit, Mich., signed an NLI to attend CSU beginning in the fall of 2018.
• The 6-foot-3 point guard averaged 24.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 6.7 assists at Wayne Memorial HS last year.
• First player from Wayne Memorial to earn Associated Press first team all-state honors in 20 years, leading team to the district finals.
• Led team to its first KLAA championship, knocking down 78 three-pointers last year, leading the team to a 19-4 record.

UP NEXT:
• The Vikings play their first game in the Showcase on the Banks on Tuesday (Nov. 14) at Rutgers. Tipoff is at 7:00 pm.
• CSU hosts Coppin State in the home opener on Nov. 17 at 7:00 pm in the Wolstein Center.