'Ville men's basketball begins lengthy home stand Wednesday

Photo by: Kaya Wagner 2025

'Ville men's basketball begins lengthy home stand Wednesday

2/11/2025 9:50:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: Ethan Hulsey, Director of Athletic Communications

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ABOUT THE GAME

After playing seven of the last nine on the road, Millersville opens a stretch of four consecutive home games on Wednesday. The Marauders close the regular season with five of the last six at home, and the Marauders are undefeated in Pucillo Gymnasium against the PSAC East. This stretch is an opportunity for the Marauders to gain ground in the PSAC East standings as they enter the week a game out of third place and two out of second place. The next three games are all against teams with sub-.500 records. Wednesday’s opponent, Kutztown, has lost four in a row and is 1-6 on the road.

MBB: Chippin' away. pic.twitter.com/mD47ETUkeB
— Millersville Marauders (@VilleMarauders) February 8, 2025

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

Millersville is 8-2 in Pucillo Gymnasium, and those two losses were in back-to-back games in late November/early December by a grand total of five points, and both games went into overtime. Since then, Millersville has won its last five home games by 19.2 points per game, including a 91-55 win over first-place West Chester on Jan. 29.
Millersville has scored at least 90 points in five of its last six home games and averages 88.7 points on 51.6% shooting in 10 home games. Millersville out-rebounds opponents by 7.2 at home as well. Aiden Gair and Jahme Ested have performed significantly better at home. Gair shoots 46.4% from the field and 39% from three, averaging 14.5 points per game at home compared to a .336/.347/13.1 split on the road. Ested averages 13.9 points per game on a shooting split of .444/.355 at home but averages 9.0 points with .326/.222 shooting on the road.
Millersville is tied for fourth in the PSAC in scoring (82.2) and ranks second in team field goal percentage (.482). The Marauders are tough to beat when the offensive is clicking. Millersville is 8-2 when shooting over 50% from the field, and 10-2 overall and 7-1 against the PSAC when scoring at least 80 points. Millersville has scored at least 81 points in six consecutive wins and has lost the last four games which it failed to score 80. Another key for Millersville is limiting turnovers. The team is 9-3 when committing 14 or fewer. Similarly, the team is 12-3 when recording at least 15 assists.
Alec Topper recorded his first double-double as a Marauder at East Stroudsburg on Saturday, pulling down a season-high 12 rebounds and scoring 10 points. Topper has scored in double-figures in three of the last five games.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS

Former Marauder Jordan Nkoa Abessolo returns to Pucillo Gymnasium for the first time. He went 6 for 7 from the field and scored 16 points in the first match-up. Jalen Bryant scored 27 against the Marauders in the first game, and he enters the week ranked second in the PSAC in scoring at 21.0 points per game, trailing Clarion’s Cam Kearney by a half point. He leads the PSAC in free throws with 13 more makes than any other player. He went 8 for 8 against the Marauders earlier this season. Bryant is not a particularly efficient scorer, shooting 36.7% from the field. As a team, Kutztown ranks 16th in the PSAC in field goal percentage and 16th in field goal percentage defense. At 29.4%, Kutztown is one of only two teams shooting below 30% from three, and its 5.1 3-pointers per game is last in the conference.

SERIES HISTORY

Millersville won the first meeting of the season 93-78 behind 22 points from Montell Cooper and 20 from Drew Stover. It was a 43-39 game at the half, but Millersville out-scored Kutztown 51-39 in the final 20 minutes, shooting 60.6% from the field. Millersville has won the last four meetings and has scored at least 88 points in each of the last five. Kutztown has had some recent success at Pucillo Gymnasium, earning wins in 2023 (89-88) and 2019 (86-70). Overall, Millersville has won nine of the last 12. The last four wins have been by an average of 20 points per game. Stover has averaged 15.2 points per game in five career games against Kutztown.