Men’s Hoops Continues Road Trip at App State

James Madison Dukes (9-7, 2-2 SBC) at App State Mountaineers (8-7, 2-2 SBC)

Jan. 11, 2025 – 1 p.m. ET

Boone, N.C. – Holmes Convocation Center

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MEN’S HOOPS CONTINUES ROAD TRIP AT APP STATE

• Following an 80-78 setback against Marshall on Thursday, James Madison men’s basketball will play App State on Saturday, January 11 at 1 p.m. (ET) to close its two-game road trip. 
• The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with David Jackson (PxP) and John Reisterer (color) and on WSVA 92.1 FM | 550 AM and the Varsity Network App with Dave Riggert, who will go on the air at 12:30 p.m. (ET). 
• App State enters this contest with an 8-7 record following a dominant 74-51 win over Coastal Carolina on Wednesday, January 8. 
• The Dukes remain winless on the road (0-5), while App State is 6-2 at home this season. The Mountaineers will close a four-game homestand against JMU on Saturday. 

INSIDE THE MATCHUP

• James Madison and App State have met 10 times, with the Mountaineers holding a 7-3 advantage in the series.
• Last season, App State handed JMU two of its three conference losses en route to a Sun Belt regular season championship. The Mountaineers handed the Dukes their only home loss in the 2023-24 season (59-55) on Jan. 13, 2024, and triumphed over JMU two weeks later (82-76) on Jan. 27. 
• Since the Dukes joined the Sun Belt ahead of the 2022-23, season, they are 1-3 against the Mountaineers and 1-1 in Boone. 
• JMU is just 1-4 in road games against App State all-time, its lone win coming on Feb. 4, 2023 (63-57).

 JMU-App State: Last Five Meetings

January 27, 2024 (Boone, N.C.), L, 76-82

January 13, 2024 (Harrisonburg, Va.), L, 55-59

February 4, 2023 (Boone, N.C.), W, 63-57

January 7, 2023 (Harrisonburg, Va.), L, 62-71

November 22, 2017 (Harrisonburg, Va.), W, 105-99 (2OT)

 

LAST TIME OUT

• Redshirt senior Mark Freeman scored 31 points to lead all scorers, but James Madison men’s basketball dropped a hard-fought, back-and-forth contest to Marshall, 80-78, on Thursday night at the Cam Henderson Center.
• After trailing for a majority of the game, JMU (9-7, 2-2 SBC) tied the game on multiple occasions late and grabbed a 77-76 lead with 20 seconds remaining, but Marshall (9-8, 2-2 SBC) scored on its final two possessions to come away with the victory.
• The Thundering Herd tied a season-high 13 threes – seven coming from Jalen Speer, who finished with 27 points and a perfect 7-of-7 showing from behind the arc.
• Freeman’s 31 points was the redshirt senior’s fifth career 30-point game and second in the past three games.
• Xavier Brown scored 12 points and tallied a season-high seven rebounds, while Elijah Hutchins-Everett finished with 11 points and six rebounds while eclipsing 1,000 career points.

ABOUT APP STATE

• App State stands at 8-7 (2-2 SBC), coming off a 74-51 rout of Coastal Carolina at home on Wednesday. Last week, the Mountaineers fell to Troy, 69-61, and topped Texas State 72-61 to snap a four-game skid before their win over the Chanticleers. They also dropped a game at Louisiana on Dec. 21. 
• App State was picked sixth in the Preseason Sun Belt Coaches Poll, while graduate forward CJ Huntley (second) and Senior guard Myles Tate (third) were named Preseason All-Sun Belt. As of Jan. 10, Tate leads all Mountaineers in scoring (15.1 ppg) while Huntley is second (14.3 ppg). Huntley is coming off a 21-point performance against Coastal last Wednesday. 
• In Sun Belt games, the Mountaineers are 12th in the league in scoring offense (67.3 ppg) but tied for second in scoring defense (62.3 ppg). 
• App State  has struggled at the free-throw line, ranking last in the Sun Belt in free-throw percentage (64.4). However, the Mountaineers rank third in the Sun Belt in field goal percentage (45.3), three-point field goal percentage (35.9), and opponent field goal percentage (38.8), while holding opponents to a league-leading 28.5 percent from three. 
• App State’s longest win streak this season has been four games, which they sustained from Nov. 19-29 with wins over Queens, William and Mary, Sam Houston, and Colgate. The Mountaineers have only faced one power four opponent, Wisconsin, who they fell to 87-56 on Nov. 10.
•  Following its contest with JMU, App State will hit the road for a four-game Sun Belt swing and face Old Dominion, JMU, Arkansas State, and ULM before returning home to play Old Dominion in Boone on Jan. 29.

SWAGG POURING IN THE POINTS

• Redshirt senior guard Mark Freeman scored a season-high 31 points at Marshall on Thursday, his second 30-point game in seven days and the fifth 30-point game in his career. In Sun Belt games, Freeman is tied with Taryn Todd (Arkansas State) in scoring, averaging 18.5 points per game in league games. 
• Freeman’s 31-point effort last night against Marshall puts his career total at 1,491 – nine away from 1,500. As of Jan. 10, there are only four active NCAA Division I players with 1,500 points and 500 assists: Marcus Williams (San Francisco), Steven Ashworth (Creighton), Dayvion McKnight (Xavier), and Ace Baldwin Jr. (Penn State). 
• Freeman’s 30-point performance against Southern Miss, which came on only 16 shots,  was the third-most by a JMU player since the Atlantic Union Bank Center opened prior to the 2020-21 season behind Vado Morse (32) and Julien Wooden (31).
• Through 16 games in 2024-25, Freeman leads JMU in points per game (13.2), assists (56) and assists per game (3.6). Against Arkansas State on Jan. 4, he picked up the 500th assist of his career and is one of 19 active Division I players with 500 or more assists. 

RETURNING TO FORM 

• Senior center Elijah Hutchins-Everett has been a steady scorer for JMU this season, averaging 11.6 points per game while scoring in double figures in all but three games. 
• The native of Orange, N.J., spent the first two seasons of his career at Austin Peay, where he won the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Player of the Year Award. After only averaging 3.5 points per game last season at Seton Hall, he has returned to form for the Dukes in 2024-25, averaging 11.6 points per game.
• Hutchins-Everett notched the 1,000th point of his career Thursday at Marshall and finished the game with 11 points and six rebounds, going 3-of-6 from the floor. 
• Along with his scoring prowess, Hutchins-Everett also leads JMU in free-throw percentage (80.4).