Courtesy of NavySports.com
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy will host the third annual Veterans Classic presented by Northwestern Mutual on Veterans Day to open the 2016-17 college basketball season. Vanderbilt will face Marquette in the opening game of the doubleheader at 6:30 PM and Navy will host Ohio State in the nightcap at 9:00 PM.
Both games will be televised on CBS Sports Network with Tom McCarthy (pxp), Steve Lappas (analyst) and Jon Rothstein (sideline) serving as the talent. There will also be the Inside College Basketball pregame show on CBS Sports Network at 6:00 PM prior to the first contest, which will include footage of the All-Access tours that the three visiting teams will receive on Thursday as they experience a day in the life of a midshipman. The pregame show will be hosted on-site by Dana Jacobson and Gary Parrish.
The Navy basketball radio network will have both games on WNAV 1430 AM / 99.9 FM in Annapolis with Pete Medhurst (pxp) and Michael Heary (analyst) returning for another season of action. The doubleheader will also air on Westwood One Radio with John Sadak (pxp) and John Thompson (analyst) calling the game. Fans can go to westwoodonesports.com to find their local radio affiliates. The game will also be on Sirius 81 and XM 81.
Marquette’s third-year head coach Steve Wojciechowski will bring his Marquette Golden Eagles to play in the opening game of the 2016 Veterans Classic. Wojciechowski grew up in nearby Severna Park and played high school basketball at Cardinal Gibbons in Baltimore. The Veterans Classic will mark Wojciechowski’s first game as a head coach in his home state of Maryland.
Bryce Drew enters his first season at Vanderbilt after spending the past five years as the head coach of Valparaiso. While at Valparaiso, Drew amassed a 124-49 coaching record and a .717 winning percentage. Drew takes over a Vanderbilt program that was 19-14 last season and 11-7 in the SEC. Vanderbilt lost to Wichita State in the NCAA First Four last March.
Midshipmen Storylines
• Head coach Ed DeChellis increased Navy’s overall win total for the fourth straight year in 2015-16 with an overall record of 19-14.
• DeChellis enters his sixth year at Navy and the 2016-17 season will be his 21st as a head coach.
• The 19 wins was Navy’s highest win total in seven years and the Mids also set a program record for most road wins in a season with 11.
• Navy finished in a four-way tie for fourth place in the Patriot League at 9-9.
• Navy graduated two All-Patriot League performers last spring in center Will Kelly and point guard Tilman Dunbar. Kelly was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year and was also selected to the all-league second team and the all-defensive team. Dunbar was named to the All-Patriot League Third Team.
• Navy returns two starters in juniors Shawn Anderson and Tom Lacey. Anderson led the team in scoring with 13.2 points per game last season.
• Anderson scored 435 points this season and became the first Mid to score 400 points in a season since Jordan Sugars in 2011.
• Anderson ranked 12th in the Patriot League in scoring (13.2), seventh in field goal percentage (.498), 10th in assists (2.6).
• Anderson scored over 20 points in five games last year and scored in double figures 24 times.
• Anderson has started 36 straight games for Navy.
• Lacey averaged 4.5 points and 4.2 rebounds while starting 30 games last season.
• Lacey grabbed 14 rebounds in Navy’s win over Lafayette in the Patriot League Tournament First Round, setting a Navy record for most rebounds in a Patriot League Tournament game.
• Senior center Edward Alade has seen action in 88 career games.
• Alade started 22 games for Navy as a sophomore in 2014-15.
• Navy returns two 3-point specialists in seniors Zach Fong and Tim Abruzzo.
• Fong, the team captain, ranks 14th in program history in career 3-pointers made with 110.
• Abruzzo averaged 6.6 points last season and led Navy in 3-pointers made (40) and steals (35). • Abruzzo ranked eighth in the Patriot League in steals per game (1.2).
• Junior Nourse Fox and sophomore Hasan Abdullah will join forces to replace Dunbar, a four-year starter, at the point guard position.
• Fox played in 32 games as Dunbar’s backup last season, while Abdullah had his freshman campaign cut short due to an injury.
• Junior guard Bryce Dulin is a returning letterwinner who has averaged 10.6 minutes in each of the last two seasons.
• Navy will also look to get contributions from a pair of freshmen big men in James Butler and Evan Wieck, as well as senior James Hemphill.
• Navy’s defensive efforts were a key to the team’s success last season, as the Mids led the Patriot League in scoring defense (64.7) and field goal percentage defense (.413).
• Navy will aim to win the Army-Navy Star Game for the fourth straight year in 2016-17.
• This year’s Army-Navy Star Game will be contested in Annapolis on Feb. 18.
• Navy was selected eighth in the 2016-17 Patriot League Preseason Poll.
• Navy is 78-31 (.716) all-time in season openers, but has lost its last three. Navy is 2-3 in season openers under DeChellis.
• Navy is opening its 109th season of varsity basketball in 2016-17. Navy has an all-time record of 1,347-1,018 (.570).
Ohio State Storylines
• After a trip to the NIT broke a run of seven-straight NCAA Tournament appearances last spring, 13th-year head coach Thad Matta is expecting a bounce-back season for the Buckeyes in 2016-17.
• Ohio State returns all five starters and its six top scorers from a team that was 21-14 overall and 11-7 in the Big Ten last year.
• Senior forward Marc Loving leads four returners who averaged double-digits with a team-best 14.0 points per game and junior forward Keita Bates-Diop was second on the team with 11.8 points per game and 6.4 rebounds.
• Junior forward Jae’Sean Tate averaged 11.7 points and 6.4 rebounds, while sophomore guard JaQuan Lyle averaged 11.2 points and 4.2 assists.
• Junior guard Kam Williams scored 8.3 points per game while shooting 44 percent on 3-pointers and junior center Trevor Thompson averaged 6.5 points and 5.1 rebounds.
• Tate has been named to the 2017 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award preseason watch list.
• Ohio State is the 15th team listed in the `also receiving votes’ category in the preseason USA Today Coaches Poll.
Series History vs. Ohio State
• Navy leads the all-time series against Ohio State, 1-0. The Mids defeated the Buckeyes, 35-32, in the lone meeting on February 6, 1932 in Annapolis.
• Elliot Loughlin, a first-team All-American in 1933, led Navy with 14 points.
• Loughlin would go on to attain the rank of rear admiral and earned two Navy Crosses, two Legions of Merit and one Silver Star during World War II.
• Loughlin would later serve as the Naval Academy’s Director of Athletics from 1954-57.
• Head coach Ed DeChellis is 1-16 all-time against Ohio State. DeChellis led Penn State to a 64-47 win over Ohio State on Jan. 10, 2004.
• Navy is 80-76 all-time against teams that are currently in the Big Ten.
• Navy’s last game against a Big Ten opponent was a narrow 64-59 loss to #18 Michigan State in the inaugural Veterans Classic in 2015.
• Navy’s last win against a Big Ten opponent was its 91-90 win over Michigan State on November 29, 1986.
• The game was played during David Robinson‘s senior season, the year following Navy’s appearance in the 1986 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.
• Robinson led Navy with 43 points, 16 rebounds, four blocked shots and three assists.
• Current Ohio State assistant coach Greg Paulus got his basketball coaching start at Navy during the 2010-11 season.
• Former Navy head coach Don DeVoe played at Ohio State from 1962-64. DeVoe took Navy to three NCAA Tournaments (1994, 1997 and 1998).
Looking Ahead
• Navy will next host Division III Washington College (Md.) on Sunday at 2:00 PM in Alumni Hall. Washington College is the lone non-Division I opponent for Navy this season. The Shoremen are coached by former Navy assistant coach Aaron Goodman. Washington College was 3-22 last season. Washington College is located in Chestertown, Md., just 46 miles from the Naval Academy.
About the Veterans Classic
• Prior to the 2014-15 college basketball season, CBS Sports Network and the Naval Academy partnered to create a new college basketball event, the Veterans Classic, an annual showcase bringing together top teams from across the country in celebration of Veterans Day. The Veterans Classic enters its third edition in 2016-17.
• The inaugural event was Friday, Nov. 14 with No. 15 VCU playing Tennessee and Navy hosting No. 18 Michigan State. CBS Sports televised the doubleheader and had on-site pre-game, halftime and post-game studio coverage, live from Alumni Hall in Annapolis. The second edition of the Veterans Class featured No. 1 North Carolina playing Temple in the opening game and Navy facing Florida in the nightcap. The third annual Veterans Classic will feature Marquette vs. Vanderbilt in the opener and Navy vs. Ohio State in the second game this year.
• Each season, the three visiting schools receive a glimpse of what life is like as a midshipman at the Naval Academy. The teams tour the `Yard,’ watch noon meal formation and eat lunch with the Brigade at King Hall. The teams board a yard patrol ship, go into a ship simulator, tour a MH-60S helicopter and a Marine Corps humvee.
• The teams are immersed in the culture and tradition of the Naval Academy as the event includes a number of other unique experiences, including military demonstrations, receptions. and guest speakers.
• CBS Sports Network produced a 30-minute `Hoops Confidential’ documentary on each of the first two events and will do so again in 2016.
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