Army-Navy Basketball Notes

Navy visits rival Army today at noon EST. The game will be televised on ESPNU. Inside are game notes.

NAVY (11-8,  1-3 PL) at ARMY (12-7,  2-2 PL)

January 21, 2007, 12:00 pm (EST)
Christl Arena (5,043); West Point, N.Y.

TELEVISION: ESPNU (Bob Socci and John Feinstein)
RADIO: WNAV (1430 AM), WFED (1050 AM) (Pete Medhurst)
INTERNET: www.wnav.com, www.federalnewsradio.com, www.yahoosports.com

Tipping It Off
The nation's top rivalry takes center stage yet again on Sunday at high
noon as Navy will travel to Army for the 105th meeting between the two
teams. Navy enters the contest with an 11-8 (1-3) record, while Army is
12-7 (2-2) overall. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU with
Bob Socci and John Feinstein calling all the action. Navy fans can
listen via the airwaves on WNAV (1430 AM, wnav.com) and WFED (1050 AM,
federalnewsradio.com) with Pete Medhurst calling the game. Due to
contractual obligations between the Patriot League and ESPNU, the game will not be streamed online.

On This Date in Navy History
January 21th - Navy is 12-7 all-time on January 21, including 1-0
against Army. The Mids defeated the Black Knights, 80-74, during the 1994-95 season. Navy has lost one in a row on the date, falling to Holy Cross,
79-56, in 2005. Corey Johnson scored 13 points in that contest.

Series History
Army and Navy renew what is argubly the greatest rivalry in all of
sports for the 105th time on Sunday in West Point. The rivalry has been
played every year since 1933 and at least twice since 1991-92. The
rivalry is the third-most frequently played rivalry among all Patriot
League schools.

 

The two teams have split the series as of late, alternating the
last six games between them. However, before the current six-game run,
Navy won 36-of-41 contests from 1981 to 2003. Included in the total is
four straight N-Star victories and 23-of-26 wins in the Star Game.
• This will mark the first meeting between the two teams when both
teams have had a winning record since the 1996-97 season. Navy was 7-6
and Army was 5-4 when the two teams met on Jan. 8, 1997, a 70-56
Midshipmen win.

About Army
Army is one of the nation's surprise teams after league voters picked
the Black Knights to finish eighth in the preseason. Army boasts a 12-7
overall record and is 2-2 in league play. The 12 wins already matches
the most since the 1984-85 team won 16 games and with a win can move
above .500 in league play at this point in the season for the first time
since the 2001-02 squad opened 3-2. Army has done this so far with an
efficient offense and a stifling defense.

The Black Knights are tops in the league in scoring defense (59.6),
scoring margin (+5.0), field goal percentage defense (.395) and
three-point percentage (.438) and are second in field goal percentage (.463).

Army is paced by a pair of guards in Jerell Brown and Matt Bell. The
duo is averaging a combined 32.4 ppg and is shooting .476 from the field,
including a sizzling 88-of-180 (.489) from three-point range. The pair
is accounting for just over half of Army's scoring this year and in
league play, the percentage bumps up to 55.2 percent (32.7 ppg of Army's
59.2 total ppg). On the interior, freshman Chris Walker, is averaging
7.4 ppg and 4.8 rpg and nine other players average at least 1.9 ppg. Ten
different players are averaging at least 10.0 mpg.