{"id":84352,"date":"2025-01-23T09:47:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T15:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=84352"},"modified":"2025-01-23T09:47:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T15:47:06","slug":"mens-basketball-goes-on-the-road-attempting-to-retain-second-place-in-miaa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=84352","title":{"rendered":"Men’s basketball goes on the road attempting to retain second place in MIAA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By MAYAN PAZ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tiger Media Network<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fort Hays University men\u2019s basketball team is on a roll, having won eight of its last nine games, including the last three at home. Now, the Tigers are going to face a challenging couple of weeks, playing four consecutive games on the road. This weekend will start that stretch, as they will play at Rogers State tonight and Central Oklahoma University on Saturday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tigers (12-4, 5-2) are in second place in the MIAA standings and just outside the top 25 in the national polls. FHSU Head Coach Mark Johnson was glad the team is entering this road trip with two important wins at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe needed to take care of business at home before we began this four-game road swing, and we did what we needed to do,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought Kaleb (Hammeke) obviously had a great week. He was MIAA Player of the Week. Kyle (Grill) really had two good games. In the first game, he had 18 points and played well. In the second game, he only had 10, but most of that was foul trouble. Still, he had a good week. And then obviously, Shaun on Saturday, with a double-double, was really good.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hammeke won the MIAA basketball Player of the Week award after scoring 19 points in the win against Missouri Western State and 16 points against Northwest Missouri State. He was also happy with the team\u2019s performance at home and is focused on this weekend\u2019s games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe got two wins. We needed to get to kind of set ourselves up for this weekend. And as we hit the road, we know we know we\u2019ve got to get these wins, and we can steal wins on the road so that we can move up in the rankings and set ourselves up for success later in the year,\u201d Hammeke said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The task at hand is a difficult one. Rogers State (14-6, 5-3) is a couple of spots behind the Tigers in the MIAA standings, but more importantly, the Tigers have never won against Rogers State on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis week and next week, we have very challenging road games. Rogers State has been one of the best home teams in the nation. You look at their records over the year, their home record compared to their road record, and we’ve never won at Rogers,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s the only gym we’ve never won, so it is an extremely difficult place to play. Central Oklahoma is usually one of the top teams in the league [as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hammeke also addressed the tough environment FHSU will face at Rogers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s a tough place to play. They’re well-coached, and they play physically. Their coach has them play kind of a similar style that we do, so we know we’re gonna be ready to play physical, play our game, play hard, get back on defense, and just knock out some shots,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort Hays has the best defense in the MIAA, allowing only 58.4 points per game, but they will face two high-paced teams that have a high points average. Central Oklahoma scores 81 points per game, and Rogers State averages 78.1. That might force the Tigers to increase their play-style speed to keep up with their opponents offensively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think this week the two teams were playing against, it’s going to be a quicker, more athletic game, more of an offensive game, so we’re going to have to try to slow them down and probably need to score a few more points than we have been if we want to win,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI don’t think it’s going to be a 50-60 points kind of game. You’re going to have to score a little bit more because they’re going to have a quicker tempo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FHSU and Rogers State tip-off tonight at 7:30 p.m. The Tigers will then play UCO at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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