LIBERTY, Mo. - The William Jewell men's basketball team opens the 2021-2022 season this weekend as they make the short trip downtown to Rockhurst for year four of the GLVC-GLIAC Crossover. Jewell and the host Hawks will take on Purdue Northwest and Davenport on back-to-back days.
GAME INFORMATION
📍 Kansas City, Mo. (Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse)
⌚️ 5 pm (Purdue Northwest)
⌚️ 1 pm (Davenport)
ADMISSION 🎟
🟢 Spectators are permitted.
BROADCAST 🎥
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GLVCSN
LIVE STATS 📊
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vs. Purdue Northwest
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vs. Davenport
CARDINAL NOTES
- The Cardinals enter their 123rd season of collegiate basketball winning 1,668 games during that span.
- Jewell returns eight letterwinners who appeared in at least 14 games a year ago, led by senior guard Mason Alexander. The southpaw from Kansas put in a career best 12.6 points per game last winter, second on the team, while shooting nearly 42% from the field and better than 82% from the free throw line.
- Also back is sophomore forward Grant Stubbs who put in 10.6 points and 6.7 rebounds on his way to earning GLVC All-Freshman Team honors. He posted three double-doubles in his debut campaign.
- Two players, Jordan Jermain and Trey Shannon, were extremely strong down the stretch of last season and are now expected to be key parts of the Cardinal cog in their second and third years respectively. The former averaged 12.6 points over the final 10 games of the year and 9.9 overall on the season while shooting 40% from three. Similarly, Shannon was superb from behind the arc (35%) averaging 6.4 points, including a streak of five straight career highs.
- While the Cardinals lost two-time All-GLVC performer Eysan Wiley to graduation, Jewell got a boost in the offseason from the addition of Heri Tshiyoyo, a 6'9 junior transfer from Tarleton State. He will join Jevaughn Ferguson, Matthew Chapman and Mawutor Nogoson as the big men down low. Ferguson showed immense improvement in his second year, averaging 4.4 points and 2.6 rebounds, including a career-best performance with 17 points against Southwest Baptist and 10 rebounds at Maryville.
- The Cardinals lived by the three-point shot last winter, ranking fourth in the GLVC and 20th in Division II with nearly 550 attempts and were fifth in the conference with 8.8 makes per game.
- Chris McCabe is now in his third season at the helm of the Cardinal program. The 14th coach in program history will look to get Jewell back to the GLVC Tournament for the first time since 2018.
ABOUT PURDUE NORTHWEST
- Purdue Northwest enters 2021-2022 after going 8-9 last winter. The GLIAC did not begin play until January.
- The Pride boasted four players who averaged 12 points last season, three of which are back this winter, led by Jyrus Freels and Mikell Cooper at 12.5 points per outing. Anthony Barnard added 12.2 while Gregory Boyle chipped in 10.5 to give PNW five in double-figures.
- PNW led the GLIAC with an average of 76.6 points per game last season while allowing 78.8, 12th in the conference.
- The Pride were one of the best free throw shooting teams in Division last year at 74.9%, second in GLIAC and top-50 among all Division II teams.
- Boomer Roberts enters his fourth season with the Pride after leading the program to an NCAA era best 10 wins in 2019-20.
ABOUT DAVENPORT
- Davenport enters the weekend after going 5-11 in an abbreviated season last winter.
- Chris Rollins leads the offense as one of the top players in the GLIAC and a returning two-time All-Conference First Team performer. The sixth-year senior averaged 18.4 points, 4.0 assists and 2.8 steals last season.
- The Panthers were tops in the GLIAC last year with 7.3 steals per game.
- Davenport used the three pointer to power their high profile offense, averaging 7.5 triples per game which was fifth in the GLIAC.
- Burt Paddock enters his 14th season at the top of the Davenport program and has led the Panthers through their transition to Division II after nine years in the NAIA.
