Army West Point Athletics
Army-Air Force Meet in NYC Showdown
December 16, 2017 | Men's Basketball
WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point men's basketball team is ready for a New York City showdown with service-academy rival Air Force on Sunday afternoon.
    The contest is slated to tip at 1:30 p.m. and will be played at "The World's Most Famous Arena", Madison Square Garden.Â
    The Black Knights are coming off a 76-64 road victory over St. Francis Brooklyn on Tuesday in which rookie Alex King posted a career and game-high 24 points. The Columbus, Ind., native added a career-best nine rebounds to his already impressive night. Two others found twin-figure scoring in Tucker Blackwell and Jordan Fox with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Tommy Funk dished out a game-high nine assists, while compiling two steals.
    Sunday's matchup marks Army's second to last game in its grueling eight-game road swing. So far during that stretch the Black Knights are 3-3 and were crowned the 2017 Papa John's Bulldog Bash champions. Three players are averaging double-figure scoring in Fox (16.6 ppg), Matt Wilson (13.0 ppg) and King (10.8 ppg). Funk is chipping in 6.8 helpers per contest, while Wilson is notching 6.2 rebounds per outing.
    Air Force has dropped three of its last five, including two straight at the hands of Abilene Christian and UC Riverside. The Falcons sit at .500 for the season with a mark of 5-5. Junior Ryan Manning and sophomore Lavelle Scottie are leading the team with 12.2 and 11.2 points per game, respectively. Senior Trevor Lyons is tops on the team with 5.2 boards and 2.6 assists per contest.
HOW TO FOLLOW
ONLINE • Patriot League Network
RADIO • Army West Point Sports Network
        WBNR (1260 AM, Beacon, N.Y.)
               WLNA (1420 AM, Peekskill, N.Y.)
AUDIO • Knight Vision
LIVE STATISTICS • www.GoArmyWestPoint.com
TICKETS • www.GoArmyWestPoint.com
TWITTER • @ArmyWP_MBB
GAME NOTES • Army | Air Force
20-20 VISION
Junior guard Jordan Fox was the only cadet-athlete to eclipse the 20-point plateau during the 2017-18 season prior to Tuesday's game at St. Francis Brooklyn when rookie Alex King posted a career-high 24 points in the victory. Fox has accomplished the feat in four games for Army this season, most recently with 21 at Wake Forest on Dec. 8. The Jackson County, Ky., native scored a career-high 33 points in the team's 94-73 road victory over Marist on Nov. 18 before tying his previous best of 26 against Columbia three days later at Christl Arena. He followed that up with 21 points at Niagara in the following contest on Nov. 27. For his career, Fox has documented 10 20+ scoring efforts, having done so six times last season.Â
CHASING HISTORY
Several current Cadets have etched their names into the program's record book throughout the early portion of the 2017-18 season. Fox passed Matt Bell's career mark of 250 assists to crack the program's top-10 with five helpers at Binghamton on Dec. 6. He now sits 17 away from the No. 9 spot, held by Marcus Nelson who totaled 280 assists in his career. The Jackson County, Ky., native also sits third in Army history with a career 3-point field goal percentage of .406 (103-of-254), trailing only Kevin Houston (.477) and Andy Smith (.424).Â
    Joining Fox is senior forward Luke Morrison, whose 125 3-point field goals made places him eight away from tying Matt Bell's mark of 133 treys for 10th all-time. The Charlotte, N.C., native has attempted 342 treys in his career, ranking 10th. Morrison is 58 away from becoming the 10th player in school history to attempt at least 400 3-pointers and 81 away from tying Josh Herbeck's total of 423 for ninth.Â
    While he is early in his sophomore season, forward Matt Wilson's scoring efficiency is at a historic rate. The Alexandria, Ky., native's .625 field goal percentage (180-of-288) is the second-highest in program history behind only Kevin Ferguson's mark of .627.Â
LIVIN' LA VIDA LONG RANGE
Army has made at least one 3-point bucket in each of its last 234 games, dating back to Dec. 19, 2009. The last time the Black Knights did not hit a trey was when they went 0-of-7 from behind-the-arc in a 59-46 win at Dartmouth.Â
SWEEPING THE NATION
The Black Knights are among the nation's best in several statistical categories, both as a team and individually. Army currently sits 11th in assists per game (19.0), led by sophomore guard Tommy Funk's pace of 6.8 helpers per contest, which puts him 13th nationally. Funk's 68 total assists are also the 14th-most in the country, pacing the squad which currently ranks tied for 20th with 190 assists on the season. Â
    Funk is sharing the rock with one of the top shooting teams in the nations. The Cadets are tied for the 12th-highest 3-point field-goal percentage at .423 (105-of-248) and 21st in 3-pointers per game, draining 10.5 treys per contest. Army has made the 28th-most shots from long range on the season with 105. The catalyst of that group is junior guard Jordan Fox, whose 48.5 success rate from behind-the-arc is tied for 29th nationally. Fox's 32 treys on the season puts him tied for 37th in the nation, while his 3.2 per game is tied for 38th.Â
    Sophomore Matt Wilson is among the most efficient scorers in the nation, converting on 59.6 percent of the shots he takes with the 47th-best field goal percentage. Â
ABOUT THE FALCONSÂ
Air Force enters Sunday's service-academy matchup on a two-game losing skid, having dropped five of its last seven contests after starting the season at 3-0. Its most recent losses came against Abilene Christian (62-58) and UC Riverside (67-48). While the Falcons are 4-2 at Clune Arena, but are just 1-3 away from Colorado Springs.
    Ryan Manning (12.2 ppg) and Lavelle Scottie (11.2 ppg) pace the Air Force offense, both shooting over .420 from the floor, .320 from behind-the-arc, and .800 from the charity stripe. Trevor Lyons is the team's leading rebounder, averaging 5.2 through the first 10 games. Much of his work comes defending his own basket with 46 defensive boards. He has also dished out a team-high 26 assists.Â
A WIN OVER AIR FORCE WOULD…
Improve the Black Knights to 7-4 in their non-league slate this season, marking the seventh time in the last nine years with at least seven wins outside of Patriot League play. It would also give Army its fourth-straight win over Air Force and second at a neutral site. The Cadets last topped the Falcons away from both academies on Nov. 28, 1987, by the score of 79-70 at UC-Irvine's Freedom Bowl Classic.Â
STARTING FIVE
Of Army's starting five, three are sporting a field goal percentage of at least .479 with the quintet accounting for 64.8 percent of the team's offensive production. Two are averaging double-digit points with Jordan Fox at 16.6 and Matt Wilson going for 13.0 points per game. Wilson's .596 field goal percentage ranks third in the Patriot League.
    Four have averaged 4.1 or more rebounds per contest, with three of the four who have attempted a 3-pointer shooting over .375. Jordan Fox is shooting 32-of-66 from long range, with an average of 3.2 per game that is tied for tops in the league. Luke Morrison has added 18-of-46 treys.
EFFICIENCY IS KEY
The Black Knights are one of just four teams in the nation to lead their conference in field goal percentage on both ends of the court. Army is scoring on 47.4 percent of its shots while holding opponents to a .421 success rate. The other three teams are FGCU (Atlantic Sun), Jacksonville State (Ohio Valley) and Western Illinois (Summit League).
CONTROLLING THE GLASS
One of Army's greatest strengths this season has been rebounding, collecting a Patriot League-high 39.1 boards per game. Crashing the glass has been a key to victory for the Black Knights this season, winning all six games in which they outrebound their opposition. However, the Cadets are winless when being outrebounded.Â
SHOT OUT OF A CANNON
The Black Knights have started fast all season, scoring at least 40 points in the opening period in eight of their 10 games. Army averages 42.5 points heading into the break and hold an advantage of 5.9 points at halftime. This lead is crucial for the Cadets who are 5-1 when leading at the break.
    The second half is a different story, however, as the Black Knights are being held to just 37.9 points in the final 20 minutes. Thankfully, the defense remains generally the same throughout the game, allowing a difference of .5 points to the opposition in the first and second halves.Â
OH HAPPY DAY!
Army has played on five of the seven days of the week so far, this season, apart from Sunday and Thursday. The Black Knights have enjoyed Tuesday games as the team is a perfect 3-0 on the second day of the work week. Additionally, they are 2-0 in Saturday matchups. On the other days of the week, Army is 1-2 on Fridays and 0-1 on Mondays and Wednesdays.Â
NEXT UP
The Black Knights conclude their grueling eight-game road trip at Boston U. on Dec. 29. Army's first Patriot League game of the 2017-18 season is slated to tip at 7 p.m. The Terriers host Elon on Sunday at 1 p.m., before closing out their non-league slate at Harvard on Thursday with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m.
