Men’s Basketball Welcomes Canisius In Saturday's Home Opener

Saturday, November 9

4:30 pm

Brown University

Canisius College

Photo by: David Silverman Photography

Men’s Basketball Welcomes Canisius In Saturday's Home Opener

11/7/2019 2:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

MBB Notes: vs. Canisius 11-9-19

Providence, R.I. - Fresh off a season-opening win at Bryant, coach Mike Martin's Brown men's basketball team will play at home for the first time, hosting Canisius on Saturday, November 9 at the Pizzitola Sports Center. Tip-off is 4:30 pm on ESPN+ and WPRV AM 790 radio.

The Bears: Brown (1-0) opened its 114^th season of intercollegiate basketball on Tuesday against Bryant and came away with a 73-71 win over the Bulldogs behind Brandon Anderson's 23 points and Tamenang Choh's 20 points and 13 rebounds. Anderson connected on the game-winner with a fade-away jumper in the lane with 12 seconds remaining.

The Golden Griffins: Canisius will be opening its season against the Bears on Saturday after posting a 15-17 overall record last year, including a 11-7 record in the MAAC Conference.

Bear Facts:Senior G Brandon Anderson, who scored 23 points in Brown's season opening win over Bryant,  looks to become Brown's 31^st1,000 point scorer.  Anderson now has 985 career points… Brown head coach Mike Martin was the 2019 Ivy League Coach of the Year…Junior F Tamenang Choh was a Second Team All-Ivy selection last year after leading the league in rebounding (8.6 rpg). He grabbed a game high 13 rebounds in Brown's season opener vs. Bryant.

The Brown-Canisius Series Record – 8^thMeeting:  Brown and Canisius have met seven times, dating back to 1959-60, with the Golden Griffiths holding a 5-2 series advantage. Last year, Brown came away with a 97-90 overtime decision over Canisius with Tamenang Choh sending the game into overtime with a layup with two seconds remaining. Canisius had won the previous four meetings, including a 59-55 decision in 2005-06.

Tamenang Choh – Ivy League's Top Rebounder:The Bears are built around Second Team All-Ivy junior forward Tamenang Choh (Lowell, MA), who led the conference in rebounding with 8.6 per game, including 9.5 rebounds per game in league games as a sophomore. He opened the season in classic Choh fashion against Bryant, scoring 20 points, pulling down 13 rebounds and handing out four assists. Choh, who started all 32 games,  ranked 12^th in the Ivy League in scoring (12.5 ppg.), fourth in assists (3.4 apg), sixth in steals (1.3 per game), 10^th in blocked shots (0.8 per game) and 10^th in free throw percentage (.656). He posted 11 double-doubles and just missed a triple-double against UAB in the first round of the CBI with 10 points, 11 rebounds and a career high eight assists.

Brandon Anderson – Approaches 1,000 Career Points:  Senior guard Brandon Anderson (Mahwah, NJ) opened the season with a splash against Bryant, scoring a game high 23 points, including the game-winning basket with 12 seconds remaining, and making four steals against the Bulldogs. With 985 career points, he looks to become the 31^stplayer in Brown history to score 1,000 or more career points. Anderson ranked sixth in the Ivy League in free throw percentage (.758) and eighth in the league with 1.3 steals per game last year. He tossed in a season high 21 points and made three steals in Brown's win at Princeton.
Anderson's Career Points:   985
Anderson's Career Assists:   222

Brown Basketball: 1,000 Point Career Scorers
1.     2,041     Earl Hunt (1999-03)
2.     1,668     Arnie Berman (1969-72)
3.    1,618     Sean McGonagill (2010-14)
4.     1,597     Jason Forte (2001-05)
5.     1,367     Steven Spieth (2013-17)
6. 1,361   Peter Sullivan (2007-11)
7.     1,344     Alai Nuualiitia (1999-03)
8.     1,331     Mike Cingiser (1959-62)
9.     1,328     Marcus Thompson (1985-89)
10.   1,319     Joe Tebo (1955-58)
11. 1,306     Damon Huffman (2004-08)
12. 1,294     Rick Lloyd (1988-92)
13.   1,288     Brian Saunders (1974-77)
14. 1,241     Phil Brown (1972-75)
        1,241     Peter Moss (1977-80)
16. 1,190     Chuck Savage (1988-92)
17.  1,181     Cedric Kuakumensah (2012-16)
18.  1,166     Tavon Blackmon (2013-17)
19. 1,165     Mike Waitkus (1982-86)
20.   1,147     Lou Murgo (1951-55)
21.   1,134     Matt Mullery (2006-10)
22.   1,133     Russ Tyler (1968-1971)
23. 1,100     Mark McAndrew (2004-08)
24. 1,079     Ira James (1979-1982)
25. 1,046     Gerry Alaimo (1955-58)
26.  1,067     Obi Okolie (2015-19)
27.  1,033     Matt Sullivan (2009-13)
28.  1,031     Eric Blackiston (1992-96)
29.  1,011     Brian Lloyd (1992-96)
30.  1,009     Woody Grimshaw (1944-47)
---       985     Brandon Anderson(2016-present)

Joshua Howard Inside:  Senior forward Joshua Howard (Charlotte, NC) is Brown's third leading returning scorer with 8.0 points per game, despite missing several games due to injury. He scored in double figures 11 times, including a season high 16 points vs. Cornell, and tossed in 15 points against UAB in the first round of the CBI, hitting 5-of-9 field goals, including 3-of-5 treys.

Hunsaker In The Backcourt:Senior guard Zach Hunsaker (North Salt Lake City, UT), a Second Team CoSIDA Academic All-American selection, was one of only four players to compete in all 32 games in 2018-19. He opened the season with six points vs. Bryant. Hunsaker is the fourth player in Brown history to be selected a three-year team captain. He averaged 6.0 points as a junior after averaging 9.7 ppg his sophomore season. A savvy player with a great feel for the game, Hunsaker will be counted on for additional scoring this season.

Mitchell for the Defense:Sophomore David Mitchell (Roxbury, MA) opened the season by scoring a career high 11 points, while matching his career high with eight rebounds. A defensive force for the Bears, Mitchhell saw more playing time than any freshman on the Brown team last season, averaging 13.0 minutes per game.  Last year, Mitchell tossed in a season high eight points vs. UMass Lowell, and had a career high eight rebounds vs. Canisius and Penn.

Newcomers:Martin has brought in a talented recruiting class with six newcomers arriving on College Hill. Brown's incoming class includes: 6-4 freshman guard Perry Cowan (Chicago, IL), 6-4 freshman guard Dan Friday (Detroit, MI),  6-6 freshman forward Carsten Kogelnik (Bethesda, MD) and 6-4 freshman guard/forward Josh Watts (Bethesda, MD), along with 6-5 junior transfer guard Noah Merren (Providence, RI), who will be eligible in the 2020-21 season.

DeWolf Inside:  Junior forward Matt DeWolf (Barrington, RI) got off to a strong start to the 2019-20 season with 10 points against Bryant on 5-of-7 shooting from the field.  He started 24-of-27 games played for the Bears last season before being sidelined due to a late season injury. A solid pivot man, DeWolf scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds in Brown's win over Harvard. He pulled down a career high 13 rebounds against Dartmouth as a freshman. He posted back-to-back eight rebound performances against Providence and UMass Lowell.

Up and Coming Players:  The Brown coaching staff also looks for continued improvement from sophomore forward Jaylan Gainey (Greensboro, NC), who scored five points and blocked a career high three shots against Loyola Marymount in the second round of the College Basketball Invitational. Junior guard George Mawanda-Kalema (Burke, VA) had a break-out season after being injured the previous season. He scored a career high 19 points in Brown's win over Princeton, connecting on 8-of-13 field goals.  Junior Jake Shaper (Houston, TX) and sophomore Davis Franks (New York, NY) will also look to contribute.

Hunsaker and Choh Named Brown Basketball Captains:   Brown men's basketball head coach Mike Martin has named senior Zach Hunsaker and junior Tamenang Choh co-captains of the 2019-20 Brown basketball team.  Hunsaker is the fourth player in Brown history to be selected a three-year team captain.

Head Coach Mike Martin:Former Brown basketball standout Mike Martin '04, the 31st head men's basketball coach in the program's 114-year history, has the building blocks in place to develop an Ivy Championship team. Last summer, Martin was a member of the United States' coaching staff with Providence coach Ed Cooley for the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, coaching a group of BIG EAST All-Stars to the bronze medal. He was named the Ivy League Coach of the Year in 2018-19 after posting a school record 20 wins (20-12) and guiding the Bears to their first postseason win ever, an 83-78 win over Alabama-Birmingham. His squad ranked 20th out of 353 Division I teams in 3-point defense and featured Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year Obi Okolie. Martin took over the reins of the program in 2012-13 and was named a finalist for the Joe B. Hall Award as the nation's outstanding first-year head coach after leading the Bears to a turnaround season with a 13-15 overall record, including a fourth-place finish in the Ivy standings with a 7-7 mark after winning four of its last five games. Martin's 2013-14 team posted a 15-14 overall record and hosted Brown's first-ever postseason game, playing Holy Cross in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament at the Pizzitola Sports Center. In addition, he guided two-time Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year Cedric Kuakumensah, the Ivy League's all-time leader in blocked shots. A four-year starter at Brown, Martin was part of the winningest class in Bears' basketball history, posting a 63-45 four-year record from 2000-04. He also helped the Class of 2004 to a school-record 39-17 Ivy League mark during that period -- the best by an Ivy League team, other than Penn and Princeton, since 1970. An Agawam, Mass., native, Martin launched his coaching career at Brown as an assistant coach in 2005-06, and was an assistant coach at Penn from 2006-12.

Bears Travel To Spain:Last summer, Brown basketball enjoyed a 10-day training and educational trip to Spain with games against various professional teams throughout the trip, including one game in Madrid and Valencia and two games in Barcelona. The Bears posted a 3-1 record with games against Zentro Basket Madrid, Valencia Basket, Mataro Parc Boet (Barcelona) and FC Barcelona, and toured each of the cities throughout the trip, visiting historical landmarks, including the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona.

THE IVY LEAGUE ON ESPN:  Video of all home contests and all Ivy League games, home and away, will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Fans can subscribe and view games by purchasing a monthly package for $4.99 or a yearly package for $49.99. ABC6 Sports anchor Nick Coitwill call the play for all Brown home games with Adam Giardinoproviding the analysis.

Bears On The Air:  Brown's entire schedule, home and away, is being broadcast on WPRV-AM 790 with Scott Cordischi, the voice of Brown basketball and football, calling all the action. Former Brown basketball star Russ Tyler '71 (1,133 career points) provides the color analysis. Brown fans can also listen to the broadcast on http://www.790business.com.

Ivy League Tournament:  The 2020 Ivy League Men's Basketball Tournament will be held on the campus of Harvard University at the Lavietes Pavilion March 14 and 15. The League's unique tournament format has enhanced the importance of the regular season as seven of the eight squads had an opportunity to earn a berth into the four-team tournament heading into the final week of the regular season.

Next Game:  Brown stays home to host Quinnipiac on Wednesday, November 13 at the Pizzitoila Sports Center.  Tip-off is 7:00 pm on ESPN+ and WPRV AM 790 radio.