Western will look to continue their upset streak on Saturday, December 10 when they travel to Hays, Kan. to take on the 10th ranked Fort Hays State Tigers at 4:00 pm from Gross Memorial Coliseum. Western is coming off an upset over the #1 team in the nation the Missouri Southern Lions defeating them 75-67 in the fieldhouse on Wednesday. Western split with the Tigers last season defeating them on December 11, 2010 in the fieldhouse by a score of 77-76 when the Tigers were ranked 6th in the country. The Tigers come into the contest with a 7-1 record and a 1-1 record in MIAA play. Fort Hays fell for the first time this season by a score of 61-45 against the Washburn Ichabods in Hays, Kan. on Wednesday night. The Tigers are 5-1 on their home court this season and their MIAA victory came against the Lincoln Blue Tigers by a score of 78-65 on November 30, 2011 in Hays, Kan. The Griffons fell last season in Hays by a score of 79-63 on February 3, 2011 when the Tigers were ranked #13 in the nation.
This will mark the 39th meeting between the two school with the Tigers holding a 25-13 advantage. The two teams split the season series last season each winning on their home floor. The Griffons have won four of the last seven with three coming on its home floor. They have won the last three games in St. Joseph. Western is 8-12 in St. Joseph and 1-0 on a neutral floor. Western is just 4-13 in games played in Hays. Western's last victory in Hays came on December 13, 2008 by a score of 72-57.
Head Coach
Tom Smith is 6-7 against the Tigers. Smith won his first ever game against Fort Hays State by a score of 76-63 in St. Joseph in the 1988-1989 season. The Griffons would fall to the Tigers later that year by a score of 72-71 in Hays. Western went 1-1 last season against the Tigers. Mark Johnson the coach of the Tigers is 6-5 all-time against the Griffons.
The Griffons have only lost 13 games all-time when holding an opponent to under 60 points. Under head coach
Tom Smith they have only lost two games holding an opponent under 60 points. Western's first loss under Smith was against Northwest Missouri State on January 5, 2005 by a score of 58-54 in Maryville. The last loss was last Saturday when they fell 59-57 at home against Emporia. This marks just the seventh home game they have lost when giving up under 60 points. The first ever loss was in 1975-76 when they fell 53-52 at Missouri Southern.
Since 2001-2002 the Griffons have defeated 13 teams that were ranked in the top-25 which includes their biggest upset yet on Wednesday in the fieldhouse when they defeated #1 ranked Missouri Southern 75-67. Below is a list of the teams they have defeated and when they beat them.
12/7/10 vs. #1 Missouri Southern - W, 75-67
12/11/10 vs. #6 Fort Hays State - W, 78-77
02/01/10 vs. #3 Fort Hays State - W, 75-69
02/24/09 vs. #2 Central Missouri - W, 55-49
12/18/09 vs. #12 Drury - W, 91-84 in High Desert Classic in Las Vegas
11/21/09 vs. #17 Central Oklahoma - W, 83-79 in HIllyard Tipoff Classic
2/19/05 @ #6 Central Missouri - W, 70-68
12/29/04 vs. #6 Washburn - W, 73-70
1/29/03 @ #18 Washburn - W, 68-67
1/23/02 vs. #13 Missouri Southern - W, 80-73
1/2/02 @ #4 Washburn - W, 95-92
1/30/02 vs. #11 Washburn - W, 73-71
2/4/02 @ #3 Northwest Missouri State - W, 64-59
If you can't make it to the game you can watch live stats at FHSU live stats link:
http://web.fhsu.edu/athletics/livestats/mbasketball/xlive.htm. You can listen to the game at http://www.gogriffons.com/webcast.asp and you can watch the game at www.b2livetv.com/partner_members.asp?id=289 for a minimal cost.
