NORFOLK, Va. (ODUSports.com) – The Old Dominion basketball team (3-1) will play host to JMU (2-2) on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 7:00 p.m. at Chartway Arena. Wednesday’s game will be televised on WGNT (Hampton Roads) and will also stream on ESPN3, with Scott Jackson handling play-by-play duties, while Stan Lewter will take care of color commentary.
Wednesday’s game will also air on the ODU Sports Radio Network, with Ted Alexander and Dave Twardzik’s live pregame show beginning at 6:30 p.m.
TURKEY TIP-OFF
ODU Athletics has partnered with the ODU Sports Management undergraduate program to create the promotions for your Wednesday game. The theme for Wednesday night’s game, as chosen by the class is the “ODU Turkey Tipoff.” As part of the promotion, smoked turkey legs will be offered for sale at several of the concessions stands in Chartway Arena. Along with Thanksgiving-themed in-game promotions and student contests at halftime, ODU has partnered with the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore to offer fans a $3 discount for each walk-up ticket purchased on Wednesday night, with a donation of a non-perishable food item. Fans can also purchase a “Turkey Tipoff Ticket Pack” at http://www.ynottix.com and receive four tickets for $48, which is a $20 savings.
ALL-TIME SERIES:
Wednesday night will mark the 85th all-time meeting between these two schools, as ODU leads the all-time series, 58-26. The Monarchs have won the last three meetings and 11 of the past 13. These two schools last met last season at JMU, in a game Old Dominion won 67-42. These two schools first met during the 1971-72 season, in a game ODU claimed a 99-68 victory.
LAST GAME:
Head coach Jeff Jones earned his 500th career victory, as he led the Old Dominion men’s basketball team (3-1) to a 76-69 win over Northeastern (2-2) at historic Matthews Arena last Saturday afternoon. Jones’s 500 wins rank 71st in NCAA Division I history and 25th amongst active coaches.
ODU head men’s basketball coach Jeff Jones
“I am extremely pleased with how we played,” said Coach Jones. “500 wins is great, but getting win number three for this season on the road against a good opponent is even better. Now our focus turns to trying to get number four on Wednesday. I’m sure there will be a day when I look back on the total career wins and certainly appreciate it and think about highlights and all of that kind of stuff, but right now we are all just grinding and fighting like crazy to become a good team, which is a lot more important right now than all the career numbers.”
For the game ODU held advantages for points in the paint (40-18), bench points (29-9), points off turnovers (30-12), fast break points (16-0) and rebounds (36-26). The Monarchs led for 36:26, while the Huskies held a lead for 37 seconds. Old Dominion shot 50.8% (30-59) from the floor for the contest.
NOTABLE CAREER HIGHS FROM LAST GAME:
Green: 24 points
Wade: 18 points
Curry: 3 steals
Ezikpe: 4 steals
SWISS ARMY KNIFE – OFF THE BENCH
Through four games, Jason Wade is averaging 12.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.8 steals and 2.0 assists per game.
CRASHING THE BOARDS:
ODU has outrebounded its opponents in all four games so far this season. Aaron Carver is averaging a team-high 11.5 rebounds per game.
MEET JMU
Head Louis Rowe (JMU ’95) is in the midst of his fourth season at James Madison and entering this season has compiled a 34-64 record (19-35 in the CAA). The Dukes return four starters from a team that went 14-19 (6-12 CAA) a season ago. JMU was picked to finish fourth in the 2019-20 CAA Preseason Poll, behind Hofstra, Charleston and Northeastern. Junior guard Matt Lewis was named to the First Team All-CAA Preseason, while teammate Darius Banks earned Second Team preseason honors.
The Dukes have picked up wins over Charlotte (79-74) and Shenandoah (96-48) and have lost to No. 11 UVA (65-34) and George Mason (83-70).
