FHSU Athletics
#11/11 Central Oklahoma (8-1, 3-1 MIAA) at
Fort Hays State (7-2, 2-1 MIAA)
Friday, December 16 – 7:30 p.m.
Hays, Kan. – Gross Memorial Coliseum
Game Sponsor: Equity Bank
National Anthem: Lily Falk
Promotions: Kids K-12 get in FREE!
Radio: KJLS (103.3)
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Fort Hays State Men's Basketball will play its second-consecutive nationally ranked opponent on Friday when it hosts Central Oklahoma in another MIAA battle at 7:30 p.m. The game follows the women's contest at 5:30 p.m. Central Oklahoma enters at 8-1 overall and 3-1 in the MIAA, ranked No. 11 in both the NABC and D2SIDA Top 25 Polls, while Fort Hays State is 7-2 overall and 2-1 in the MIAA.
The Tigers are coming off their first conference loss of the season, falling 64-49 at No. 1/1 ranked Northwest Missouri State this past Sunday. The Tigers held a one-point lead four times in the second half before seeing the top-ranked Bearcats pull away late on their home floor. It snapped a seven-game win streak for the Tigers.
Central Oklahoma reached No. 6 in the NABC and No. 8 in the D2SIDA national polls on December 6 before taking its first loss of the season to Missouri Southern on December 9. The Bronchos slipped to No. 11 in both polls this week, released on December 13. UCO tied Northwest Missouri State for the MIAA regular season title last year (18-4), both finishing just one game better than Fort Hays State (17-5) in the standings. The Bronchos won both meetings with the Tigers last year, 77-60 in Hays and 75-68 in Edmond. Central Oklahoma and Northwest Missouri accounted for five of Fort Hays State's six losses last year.
Fort Hays State looks to continue defending its home floor, 6-0 so far this season at Gross Memorial Coliseum. FHSU opened MIAA play on December 1 with an overtime win over Northeastern State and then two days later defeated Rogers State which ran its home win streak to 12-straight games going back to last season. The last home loss for the Tigers was on January 12, 2022 to a No. 2 ranked Northwest Missouri State team. NWMSU and Central Oklahoma (unranked at the time) were the only two teams to defeat FHSU in Hays last year. Last year's win by UCO was its first inside Gross Memorial Coliseum. FHSU had won 11-straight meetings with at GMC going back to 1974-75 until last year's setback. FHSU is 14-2 against UCO all-time at home, which includes a 3-1 mark at Sheridan Coliseum before moving to Gross Memorial Coliseum in 1973-74. The only UCO win at Sheridan was a slim 57-56 decision on December 8, 1956.
Fort Hays State will be looking to snap a 12-game skid to NABC ranked teams. The last time the Tigers defeated an NABC Top 25 team was on February 28 of the 2018-19 season, knocking off a No. 25 ranked Missouri Southern squad 89-84 inside Gross Memorial Coliseum. Seven of the 12 losses in that string have been to Northwest Missouri State, which held a top-three ranking in the country in five of the seven meetings during the stretch. The Tigers will be looking to snap a 10-game skid to D2SIDA Top 25 ranked opponents, which also goes back to that win over Missouri Southern. The Lions were No. 23 in the D2SIDA Poll at that time. The only teams FHSU met in that stretch that had NABC Top 25 rankings, but were not in the D2SIDA rankings, included Rogers State in 2019-20 and Missouri Western in 2020-21.
This game pits two of the top defensive teams in the nation against each other. FHSU and UCO are the top two teams in the MIAA in both scoring defense and field goal percentage defense. FHSU holds the edge in scoring defense allowing 56.8 points per game compared to 57.4 by UCO. The Tigers rank second nationally in scoring defense, while the Bronchos are fifth. UCO holds the advantage in field goal percentage defense at 35.5 percent, compared to 37.2 by FHSU. The Bronchos rank second nationally in that category with the Tigers right behind in third.
Kaleb Hammeke continues to lead the Tigers in scoring at 18.9 points per game, and ranks second in the MIAA. He has reached double figures in scoring in all nine games so far this season. He has scored 20 or more in four contests this season, including a career-high 36 in the overtime win over Northeastern State in Hays back on December 1. Bjarni Jonsson is averaging double figures in scoring in MIAA games so far at 11.7 per game, even though his season average sits at 7.7 per game. Gabe Pieschl is the top rebounder for the Tigers at 5.8 per game.
Jaden Wells leads the UCO scoring attack at 18.9 points per game. He is one of four Bronchos averaging double figures in scoring for the season. Wells is tied with Hammek