• Former University of Dayton men’s basketball standout Edwin Young was one of three referees who worked Thursday’s WSU men’s basketball game at Oakland (Mich.). Young was a reliable point guard for the Flyers from 1996-2000 and was recruited by Oliver Purnell.
• Wilmington High School grad Jaevin Cumberland is the only Ohioan on Oakland’s roster. A 6-foot-2 sophomore guard, he’s averaging 3.3 points as a reserve and tallied a career-high 16 points against Goshen (Ind.) in Game 3.
Jaevin’s cousin Jarron Cumberland, is a 6-5 true freshman at Cincinnati who’s emerging as a top Bearcats sub. He’s appeared in every game and averages 5.5 points. They both were all-Ohioans during the 2014-15 season at Wilmington. Jarron was a finalist for Ohio’s Mr. Basketball last season.
• Oakland’s O’rena Athletics Center is a smaller version of Fairmont’s Trent Arena and holds a quaint capacity of about 3,500. The university is located about 20 miles north of downtown Detroit off Interstate 75.
• Dunbar High School grad Ryan Bass played three seasons as a guard at Oakland before transferring to Dayton for his senior year of eligibility. He was immediately eligible as a graduate student transfer. However, his brief Flyers’ career was derailed after he was concussed in a game against Ole Miss during the 2014-15 season and didn’t play again.
• The WSU/Oakland series dates back to the 1970s when both teams were emerging NCAA D-II powers.
• WSU will be looking to return to Detroit for the Little Caesars Horizon League championships March 3-7 at historic Joe Louis Arena.
• Valparaiso has won four of the past five Horizon League regular-season titles and is favored to repeat. If that happens it’ll likely be because of the play of All-American Alec Peters. He was just one point shy of 2,000 career points going into Thursday’s game against visiting Chicago State and should soon crack the top 10 all-time league scorers.
• Oakland was playing its third game in four days and was coming off an impressive 86-79 defeat of visiting Georgia. Not counting Kentucky and Florida, Southeastern Conference men’s basketball doesn’t command the same notoriety as its other renowned sport, college football.
• Former Dayton assistant coach and Wittenberg head coach Dan Hipsher is Oakland’s associate head coach. He was a Flyers’ assistant under Don Donoher from 1981-89. His first head coaching position was at Witt from 1989-93.
Oakland assistant Drew Valentine is the older brother of former Michigan State All-American Denzel Valentine, now a rookie with the Chicago Bulls. Drew set several Oakland career records, finishing in the 2012-13 season.
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