[Men's Basketball] MBB Gameday Preview: Falcons welcome Saint Mary to the Garvey tomorrow night

The Lowdown: University of Saint Mary at Friends University

Location: Garvey Center

When: Wednesday, Dec. 7 @ 8 pm

Broadcast: https://kcacnetwork.com/friends/   

Live Stats: https://bit.ly/3VECEk0

Flying with the Falcons: The Friends University Falcons are now 1-10 overall and 0-5 in the KCAC following a heartbreaking setback to Ottawa University on a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer by Deondre Buggage. Ian Konek (SR/Long Beach, Calif.) had tied the score at 75-75 with 2:07 left and eclipsed the 1,000-career point milestone in the process.  

Konek leads the Falcons and is fifth in the KCAC with 17.2 points per game, while Tim Barbieri (JR/Abilene,Kan. ) is tops on the team and third in the league with 8.8 rebounds. Barbieri (63.2 percent) is also second in the league in field-goal percentage, while Darryon Frierson (SO/Wichita, Kan. ) is tied for sixth in the KCAC with a team-leading 3.1 assists per game for the Falcons.

Scouting the Spires: The University of Saint Mary Spires are 4-7 overall and, like the Falcons, are searching for their first conference win at 0-5 in the league.

Deshaud St. Martin leads the Spires in both scoring (14.5 ppg) and rebounding (6.5 ppg), with Joe Burgos also netting double-figure points with 13.0 ppg. Braylen Duncan has recorded a team-high 2.8 assists this season for Saint Mary.       

The Series: The Falcons are 14-6 vs. the Spires in the past 20 matchups after splitting the season series last year.  Each team won on the road and it was Saint Mary's first win in Wichita since the 2012-13 season.  

Quoting Head Coach Austin McBeth:  

"We only have three more games before we go on Christmas break, and we know we're close to getting over the hump. Even though our record doesn't reflect it, I still believe our team has the ability to turn this season around. I'm looking forward to another chance to compete against an athletic team in St. Mary."

Welcome to the Club: Senior guard Ian Konek scored 24 points to become the 10th member of the modern-era 1,000-point club in Friends University Men's Basketball history.  Konek now has 1,001 career points and ranks fifth in the KCAC with a team-leading 17.2 ppg this season.   

Sharpshooters: The matchup between the Falcons and Spires will feature two of the top five leaders in field-goal percentage in the KCAC this season. The Falcons' Tim Barbieri is second in the league in shooting (63.2 percent), with the Spires' Joey Schultz in fifth at 56.6 percent.

Sponsor Alerts: Friends University Athletics is excited to have Home2 Suites by Hilton back as an official athletic sponsor this season! For more on what they can offer, click HERE to visit their official webpage.

Tickets: Fans are able to purchase tickets for all home basketball games by clicking HERE.

Falcons by the Numbers:

Overall record: 1-10

KCAC: 0-5

Home: 1-4

Road: 0-5

Neutral: 0-1

When scoring:                                             

Under 50 points: 0-0

50-59 points: 0-2

60-69 points: 0-1

70-79 points: 0-5

80-89 points: 0-2

90+ points: 1-0

When allowing:

Under 50 points:

50-59 points: 0-0

60-69 points: 1-0

70-79 points: 0-6

80-89 points: 0-3

90+ points: 0-1

When leading at halftime: 1-5

When trailing at halftime: 0-5

When tied at halftime: 0-0

When committing more turnovers: 0-9

When committing fewer turnovers: 1-1

When turnovers are tied: 0-0

When leading in field-goal percentage: 1-7

When trailing in field-goal percentage: 0-3

When leading in three-point percentage: 0-5

When trailing in three-point percentage: 1-5

When three-point percentage is tied: 0-0

When leading in rebounding: 1-3

When trailing in rebounding: 0-6

When rebounding is tied: 0-1

When leading in assists: 1-3

When trailing in assists: 0-6

When assists are tied: 0-1

In OT: 0-1

The Coaches:

Austin McBeth is in his second season as head coach of the Friends University men's basketball program. 

In his debut season, McBeth coached two All-KCAC performers and a pair of all-freshman members.

McBeth arrived at Friends following a highly successful stint as the head assistant coach at NCAA D-II Truman State University of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC).

Serving as the recruiting coordinator for Truman State, McBeth was at the heart of a team that won the GLVC regular season championship and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA D-II National Tournament.

At Truman, McBeth also served in roles as the director of strength and conditioning, academic advisor for "at risk" players, summer camp director, and director of community service while being heavily involved in fundraising and skill development for guards and post players.

McBeth's coaching experience includes head assistant coaching stops at the University of Illinois-Springfield, also of the GLVC and NAIA program Montreat College in Black Mountain, NC.

He was also a part of his alma mater team, the Iowa State University men's basketball program under head coach Fred Hoiberg, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology.

McBeth was a Volunteer GA Assistant Coach at ISU in 2013 and served as a camp instructor for the Cyclones in the summer of 2012.

Off the court, McBeth is a perfect fit for the Friends University Christian mission, having served as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) President at Iowa State while also filling the role of an FCA Co-Sponsor at Iowa State, Montreat and Illinois-Springfield. In addition, he has authored two books on coaching philosophies and the important role that coaches play in the lives of athletes.

Troy Brown is in his ninth season as head coach of the University of Saint Mary Spires. Brown was named the interim head coach in the 2014-15 season and guided the program to a 22-9 record and a 13-5 KCAC mark.  Brown was then named the permanent head coach in March of 2015 and promptly led the Spires to three consecutive top-four conference finishes, including a pair of third-place showings.  Prior to that, Brown was an assistant coach at USM for three seasons.

Brown also played collegiately at Saint Mary from 1999-01 and was named MVP of the 2001 KCAC championship team before averaging 23 points per game during the Spires' NAIA National Tournament appearance.

Up Next: The Falcons will be at Sterling College Saturday night (Dec. 10) for a 7 pm tip-off at Sterling College.