Dalton State Prepares For NAIA Tournament In 1st Year Of Eligibility

  • Thursday, March 12, 2015
  • Bob Beavers
Senior Preston Earle helps to cut down the nets after Dalton State earned the SSAC regular season championship in front of a sell out crowd at Mashburn Arena.
Senior Preston Earle helps to cut down the nets after Dalton State earned the SSAC regular season championship in front of a sell out crowd at Mashburn Arena.

The pairings for the first round of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics tournament at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City have been set and it looks like tough competition for the opening round. Dalton State opens the tournament Wednesday morning, March 18, at 9 CDT (10 a.m. EST) against Wiley College.

If only Wiley College had a Cayote as a mascot. It could have been the Roadrunners against the Wiley Coyotes. Oh well, one can dream and it is hard not to note the names.

The “historically black” Marshall, TX institution chose the Wildcat instead. After all, they were around long before the famous cartoon. While the navy and silver Roadrunners have “Rage”, the purple and white have “Wiley the Wildcat.”

Wiley College was founded in 1873 by the Methodist Episcopal Church. The private school also has a campus in Shreveport, LA for “students with prior academic credit who would like to finish a degree.” The combined enrollment is around 1,400 students.

Dalton State has an enrollment of approximately 5,000. Then Dalton Junior College opened its doors to around 500 students in the fall of 1967, but only recently expanded to a four-year institution. Athletics was added during the 2013-2014 academic year with Dalton State basketball starting out strong.

The basketball Roadrunners had a hard not to notice 26-4 record in their first season of existence, but were not able to play post season until this year. The women’s cross country team won the Southern States Athletic Conference championship this past fall. The men were a close second to William Carey.  

No. 6 Dalton State has 27 wins against just 4 losses through the Southern State Athletic Conference tournament.  The Roadrunners are the regular season SSAC Champions. They were defeated 66-62 by William Carey in the semi-final round of the conference tournament in Montgomery.

Ladaris Green has 11 double-doubles this season and is ranked tops in the country in Defensive Rebounds Per Game and second in Total Rebounds and in Total Rebounds Per Game. He is fourth in Total Blocks and in Blocks Per Game.

The Roadrunners are fifth in NAIA D-I in free throw percentage and Sean Tate is seventh in the country in free throw percentage.

Dalton State 2014-2015 Team Statistics 

Ranks Number1in Division I in Defensive Rebounds per Game (30.548)

Ranks Number2in Division I in Field Goal PCT Defense (0.376)

Ranks Number4in Division I in Total Rebounds per Game (42.774)

Ranks Number5in Division I in Free Throw PCT (0.745)

Ranks Number8in Division I in Total Rebound Offense (1326)

Ranks Number10in Division I in Total 3-Pt FG Made (262)

Ranks Number10in Division I in Scoring Defense per Game (65.097)

Ranks Number10in Division I in 3-Pt FG Made per Game (8.452)

Ranks Number12in Division I in Total Rebound Margin (5.194)

Ranks Number14in Division I in Scoring Margin (11.000)

Ranks Number14in Division I in Total Blocks (120)

Ranks Number16in Division I in Blocks per Game (3.871)

Ranks Number25in Division I in Offensive Rebounds per Game (12.226)

Ranks Number32in Division I in Total Steals (249)

Ranks Number36in Division I in Total Scoring Offense (2359)

Ranks Number38in Division I in Steals per Game (8.032)

Ranks Number43in Division I in Scoring Offense per Game (76.097)

Ranks Number45in Division I in 3-Pt FG PCT Defense (0.338)

Ranks Number48in Division I in Turnover Margin (0.419)

Dalton State 2014-2015 Individual Statistics

 

2014-15Individual Rankings 

Ladaris Green Ranks Number1in Division I in Defensive Rebounds per Game (9.065)

Ladaris Green Ranks Number2in Division I in Total Rebounds per Game (11.806)

Ladaris Green Ranks Number2in Division I in Total Rebounds (366)

Ladaris Green Ranks Number4in Division I in Total Blocks (72)

Ladaris Green Ranks Number4in Division I in Blocks per Game (2.323)

Sean Tate Ranks Number7in Division I in Free Throw PCT (0.865)

Jordan Bowling Ranks Number17in Division I in Offensive Rebounds per Game (3.032)

Preston Earle Ranks Number24in Division I in Total 3-Pt FG Made (76)

Ladaris Green Ranks Number30in Division I in Offensive Rebounds per Game (2.742)

Sean Tate Ranks Number33in Division I in Assist/Turnover Ratio (2.098)

Preston Earle Ranks Number37in Division I in 3-Pt FG Made per Game (2.452)

Jordan Bowling Ranks Number39in Division I in Total Rebounds (216)

Sean Tate Ranks Number41in Division I in Total Assists (107)

Preston Earle Ranks Number43in Division I in 3-Pt FG PCT (0.404)

Sean Tate Ranks Number50in Division I in Assists per Game (3.452)

Jordan Bowling Ranks Number50in Division I in Total Rebounds per Game (6.968)

 

The Wildcats (21-11) have broken the century mark four times this season and have also given up more than 100 points on four occasions, including their most recent game, a 103-97 loss to Our Lady of the Lake (TX). Wiley finished the regular season with the third best Red River Valley Conference record (15-5) behind No. 10 LSU Alexandria and No.17 Our Lady of the Lake.

The least the Wildcats have scored was in an 80-44 loss to No. 19 Xavier (LA).

Phillip Miller, a guard who wears jersey No. 1, is their star. As you can see below, Miller is tops in the nation in three categories (steals per game, total steals and total scoring). He is number two in points per game and fouling him is not necessarily a good idea. He is a 90.6% free throw shooter. He is also prolific at shooting from beyond the arch.

Who gets the ball to him? Corey Jones is 19th in Division one in total assists although Miller doesn’t mind sharing the ball. He is 48th in assists.   

Wiley College 2014-2015 Team Statistics

2014-15Team Rankings

 

Ranks Number6in Division I in Scoring Offense per Game (85.839)

Ranks Number7in Division I in Total Scoring Offense (2661)

Ranks Number17in Division I in Total Steals (269)

Ranks Number19in Division I in Free Throw CT (0.712)

Ranks Number22in Division I in Steals per Game (8.677)

Ranks Number25in Division I in Total Rebound Offense (1188)

Ranks Number26in Division I in 3-Pt FG PCT Defense (0.323)

Ranks Number27in Division I in Defensive Rebounds per Game (26.677)

Ranks Number28in Division I in 3-Pt FG PCT (0.364)

Ranks Number28in Division I in Field Goal PCT (0.462)

Ranks Number29in Division I in Turnover Margin (1.968)

Ranks Number29in Division I in Total Rebounds per Game (38.323)

Ranks Number32in Division I in Total Assists (440)

Ranks Number36in Division I in Offensive Rebounds per Game (11.645)

Ranks Number37in Division I in Assists per Game (14.194)

Ranks Number37in Division I in Scoring Margin (5.000)

Ranks Number39in Division I in Total 3-Pt FG Made (215)

Ranks Number45in Division I in 3-Pt FG Made per Game (6.935)

 

 

 

Wiley College 2014-2015 Individual Statistics

Phillip Miller Ranks Number1in Division I in Steals per Game (2.613)

Phillip Miller Ranks Number1in Division I in Total Steals (81)

Phillip Miller Ranks Number1in Division I in Total Scoring (792)

Phillip Miller Ranks Number2in Division I in Free Throw PCT (0.906)

Phillip Miller Ranks Number2in Division I in Points per Game (25.548)

Cory Jones Ranks Number19in Division I in Total Assists (123)

Phillip Miller Ranks Number19in Division I in Total 3-Pt FG Made (81)

Phillip Miller Ranks Number20in Division I in 3-Pt FG PCT (0.431)

Phillip Miller Ranks Number22in Division I in 3-Pt FG Made per Game (2.613)

DaJaun Cooper Ranks Number35in Division I in Blocks per Game (1.160)

Phillip Miller Ranks Number44in Division I in Field Goal PCT (0.480)

DaJaun Cooper Ranks Number48in Division I in Total Blocks (29)

Phillip Miller Ranks Number48in Division I in Total Assists (103)

The winner of the Wednesday game will face the winner of a Wednesday, 3:00 p.m. CDT contest between No. 11 seed Wayland Baptist from Texas

 (27-5) and Evangel (Mo) (20-12). That second round game will tip-off Friday, March 20th, at 9:00 a.m. CDT. The quarterfinals start Saturday morning at 10:30 CDT. Semifinals are set to begin Monday at 6:00 p.m. CDT and the championship game will tip-off Tuesday at 7:02 p.m. CDT.

 

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