Army West Point Athletics
Alumni Trophy at Stake Saturday vs. Navy
February 09, 2018 | Men's Basketball
WEST POINT, N.Y. -Â The Army West Point men's basketball team is locked in for a showdown with rival Navy on Saturday in the teams' second meeting of the year.
   The game will tip at 1:30 p.m. or immediately following the women's game, which is set for 11 a.m. It will also be carried live on CBS Sports Network with Bob Socci and Mo Cassara on the call. The contest will be shown on the American Forces Network on a tape delay as well. The game will air on the AFN sports channel at 2:30 p.m. (Afghanistan Time) on Sunday.Â
   Saturday's contest will be especially important as it marks the teams' annual Star game as part of the 2017-18 Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA. The Black Knights will look to defend their title after bringing the Alumni Trophy back to West Point last season following a three-year hiatus. Army posted a historic 71-68 victory during that game in which it overcame a 25-point second-half deficit to register the win.Â
   In the teams' first meeting of the year on Jan. 14, the Cadets jumped out to a big lead early and held a game-high 33-18 edge with 1:18 remaining in the opening half. The Midshipmen wouldn't go away though closing the gap over the second 20 minutes to pull within 64-62 with two seconds left. Fortunately, the Black Knights were able to hold on to secure the two-point victory.Â
   Junior Jordan Fox is ninth in the league with 14.0 points per game, while sophomores Matt Wilson and Tommy Funk are chipping in 12.9 and 10.3 points per outing, respectively. On the boards, Wilson finds himself eighth in the conference with 6.0 rebounds per contest. Funk is dishing out a league-best 5.9 helpers per game, which also places him tied for 23rd in the nation. Fox's 2.7 treys per outing has him second in the Patriot League, while his 42.7 percent shooting from long range is third.Â
   Navy is coming off a 69-34 victory at Holy Cross on Wednesday night. The Mids held their host to just 11 first-half points, and 34 for the game. That marked their second-best defensive outing in program history.
   Seniors Shawn Anderson and Bryce Dulin are leading Navy with 13.2 and 10.8 points per game, respectively. Fellow classmate Tom Lacey is tops on the team with 6.5 rebounds per outing, while Hasan Abdullah is handing out a team-best 3.6 helpers per contest.
   The Mids hold a slim 6-4 edge over the last 10 meetings. Eight of those 10 were decided by single digits with five of them being determined by five or less points. There have also been two overtime games during that stretch.
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV • CBS Sports 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 | Navy
IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT
Consistency has been the name of the game for second-year head coach Jimmy Allen, who has started every game this season with the same five players: Jordan Fox, Tommy Funk, Jacob Kessler, Matt Wilson and Luke Morrison.Â
    Army is one of only nine teams in the nation to start the same five players in every game, along with Central Michigan, Davidson, No. 9 Duke, Montana, Old Dominion, Pennsylvania, No. 3 Purdue and No. 2 Virginia.
STARTING FIVE
Of that pivotal group, four are sporting a field goal percentage of at least .430 with the quintet accounting for 65.9 percent of the team's offensive production. Three are averaging double-digit points with Jordan Fox at 14.0 points per game, Matt Wilson averaging 12.9 ppg and Tommy Funk going for 10.3 ppg.
    Wilson's .603 field goal percentage ranks second in the Patriot League. Three have averaged 3.8 or more rebounds per contest as well. Jordan Fox is shooting 64-of-150 from long range, with an average of 2.7 per game and a percentage of .437 that puts him second and third in the league, respectively. Luke Morrison has added 49-of-115 treys and Funk has contributed 25-of-67 makes from behind-the-arc.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 19th in 3-point field goal percentage, shooting at a clip of 40.3 percent, and is 24th in treys per game with 10. Additionally, the squad's 241 makes from behind-the-arc place them 25th in Division I. Leading that effort is junior Jordan Fox, who ranks tied for 40th nationally at 42.7 percent from long range.
    That success from deep comes from sharing the ball, evident by Army's rank of 17th in the nation in assists per game with 17.2 and tied for 17th in total helpers with 413. Sophomore Tommy Funk has paced the team in that category. The Warrington, Pa., native has dished out a total of 142 assists on the season at an average of 5.9 helpers per game, tying him for 19th and 23rd, respectively.Â
    Funk's classmate, Matt Wilson, is among the most efficient scorers in the nation, converting on 60.3 percent of the shots he takes as the Alexandria, Ky., native sports the 22nd-best field goal percentage nationwide.Â
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Army has led by double digits on 15 occasions this season, sporting an impressive 12-4 record during those games with five wire-to-wire victories. Adversely, the Black Knights have trailed by 10 or more in 11 contests this season with a 3-8 mark in those games. Additionally, the Cadets are 2-2 in games when they have both led and trailed by double digits.Â
ABOUT THE MIDSHIPMEN
Navy has won five of its last 10 games, including four-straight road outings. Most recently the Mids defeated Holy Cross, 69-34, behind a historic defensive performance. The 34 points allowed were the second-fewest given up in program history. Navy also held the Crusaders to just 11 points in the opening frame.Â
    Rookie Cam Davis led all scorers with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor, 3-of-4 shooting from downtown and a perfect 3-of-3 mark at the charity stripe. George Kiernan and Bruce Dulin added 14 and 12 points, respectively, to the Mids final total. Kiernan was tops on the team with seven rebounds, while Nourse Fox handed out a game-high seven assists.
    Senior Tom Lacey sits fourth in the league, averaging a team-best 6.5 rebounds per contest. Abdullah is second in the conference with 2.2 steals per game, while his 3.6 assists per outing has him sixth.Â
    Shawn Anderson is averaging a team-high 13.2 points per game to go along with Dulin's mark of 10.8.Â
A WIN OVER NAVY WOULD…
Keep the Alumni Trophy at West Point after last season's thrilling 71-68 victory at Navy in which the Black Knights erased an NCAA Division I-high 25-point deficit. It would be Army's first back-to-back Star game victories since 2011-12 and 2012-13, while also marking its first regular season sweep over the Mids since the 2011-12 campaign. Army has swept Navy twice since the two teams started playing multiple times a year in 1991-92: 1991-92 and 2011-12.Â
    Additionally, this would be the Black Knights' third-straight win over their service-academy rival, marking the first such streak since capturing three consecutive victories from 1976-78.Â
    Lastly, it would be Army's first home win over Navy since 2011-12, snapping a five-game losing skid to the Mids at Christl Arena.
DOUBLE-DIGIT SCORERS
    The Black Knights have been scoring in bunches this year, having four or more players tally double-digit points in 11 games and five cadet-athletes notch double digits in four contests. This has been especially true of late with five players in double-digits for two of the last three games.
    Army is 7-4 in those games, including a 5-2 mark when four players score 10 or more points. Sophomore Matt Wilson has been part of those groups on all 11 occasions, the only player to do so. Â
TEAM RECORDS
    The 2017-18 Black Knights are on pace for a historic season, rising through the program's rankings in multiple categories. The Black Knights' 3-point field goal percentage of 40.3 percent is currently a program record and is the only time an Army team has shot better than 40 percent from behind-the-arc. The current team has also made 241 treys this season, the fifth most in program history. The Cadets also tied a program-record 16 triples in the win over Air Force at Madison Square Garden.Â
    Army is scoring at a rate of 76.3 points per game, the third highest average in program history behind only the 1993-94 squad's 77.6 points per game and the 2016-17 average of 76.9. Additionally, the team's 413 assists rank seventh all-time at an average of 17.2 helpers per game. If the team continues at that pace through the rest of the year, it will come close to breaking the program record that was set by last year's squad who dished out 519 assists.Â
    Lastly, the Black Knights have blocked 66 shots this season, the 10th-highest total.Â
NEXT UP
The Black Knights remain home at Christl Arena as Holy Cross comes to post on Wednesday for their second-to-last home game of the regular season. The Valentine's Day matchup is slated to tip off at 7 p.m. The Crusaders face their inter-state rival Boston U. on the road Saturday before coming to the Hudson Valley. The contest against the Terriers is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Â
