2001–02 Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball team

2001–02 Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball
2001–02 Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball
MAC tournament champions; MAC Regular Season Champions; MAC East Division Champions
NCAA tournament, Elite Eight
Conference	Mid-American Conference
	South
Ranking
Coaches	No. 12
Record	30–6 (17–1 MAC)
Head coach	Stan Heath (1st season);
Assistant coach	Jim Christian
Home arena	Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center
	Seasons ← 2000–01 2002–03 →

The 2001–02 Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball team represented Kent State University in the 2001–02 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by head coach Stan Heath, the Flashes finished their best season in program history, posting a 30–6 record and advancing to the Elite Eight of the 2002 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament after defeating seventh-seeded Oklahoma State, upsetting second-seeded Alabama and third-seeded Pittsburgh, before falling to eventual national runners-up Indiana. The team set program and Mid-American Conference (MAC) records for overall number of wins in a season with 30 and conference wins at 17, while the team's 21-game winning streak set the MAC and team records for both overall winning streak and single-season winning streak.^[1]

2001–02 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
East
Kent State†	17	–	1	.944	30	–	6	.833
Bowling Green	12	–	6	.667	24	–	9	.727
Ohio	11	–	7	.611	17	–	11	.607
Miami (OH)	9	–	9	.500	13	–	18	.419
Marshall	8	–	10	.444	15	–	15	.500
Buffalo	7	–	11	.389	12	–	18	.400
Akron	5	–	13	.278	10	–	21	.323
West
Ball State	12	–	6	.667	23	–	12	.657
Toledo	11	–	7	.611	16	–	14	.533
Western Michigan	10	–	8	.556	17	–	13	.567
Northern Illinois	8	–	10	.444	12	–	16	.429
Central Michigan	5	–	13	.278	9	–	19	.321
Eastern Michigan	2	–	16	.111	6	–	24	.200

† 2002 MAC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Roster

2001–02 Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
C	2	Nate Gerwig	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	260 lb (118 kg)	Fr	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
G	10	Demetric Shaw	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Sr	Fort Worth, Texas
G	12	Andrew Mitchell	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	Sr	Detroit, Michigan
G	13	Bryan Pellegrino	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Fr	Solon, Ohio
F	15	Jonathan Merritt	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Fr	West Bloomfield, Michigan
G	22	Eric Haut	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	So	Lansing, Michigan
G	24	Trevor Huffman	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Petoskey, Michigan
G	32	Brian Howard	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	So	Troy, Michigan
G	32	Anthony Wilkins	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Jr	Cleveland, Ohio
F	34	Bryan Bedford	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	So	Racine, Wisconsin
F	40	Eric Thomas	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Sr	Springfield, Ohio
F	44	Antonio Gates	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	Jr	Detroit, Michigan
C	54	John Edwards	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	275 lb (125 kg)	So	Hudson, Ohio

Head coach

Stan Heath

Assistant coach(es)

Jim Christian

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference Games
11/19/01*		Mercyhurst	W 90–68	1–0	MAC Center (4,216) Kent, OH
11/23/01*		vs. Hofstra	L 64–67	1–1	Charles L. Sewall Center (1,824) Pittsburgh, PA
11/24/01		vs. Robert Morris	W 83–55	2–1	Charles L. Sewall Center (1,416) Pittsburgh, PA
11/25/01*		vs. UC Irvine	W 75–64	3–1	Charles L. Sewall Center (1,214) Pittsburgh, PA
11/28/01*		vs. No. 13 Kentucky	L 68–82	3–2	Firstar Center (10,352) Cincinnati, OH
12/1/01*		Chattanooga	W 75–56	4–2	MAC Center (4,155) Kent, OH
12/15/01*		at Youngstown State	L 70–75	4–3	Beeghly Center (3,168) Youngstown, OH
12/20/01*		at Xavier	L 56–62	4–4	Cintas Center (10,250) Cincinnati, OH
12/22/01*		at Illinois State	W 61–48	5–4	Redbird Arena (4,802) Normal, IL
12/29*		vs. Cleveland State	W 66–62	6–4	Gund Arena (10,276) Cleveland, OH
12/31/01*		St. Bonaventure	W 93–82 ^OT	7–4	MAC Center (4,318) Kent, OH
Conference Games
1/2/02		Ball State	W 81–54	8–4 (1–0)	MAC Center (5,073) Kent, OH
1/5/02		at Marshall	W 73–70	9–4 (2–0)	Cam Henderson Center (5,753) Huntington, WV
1/9/02		at Buffalo	L 65–66	9–5 (2–1)	Alumni Arena (1,584) Buffalo, NY
1/12/02		Ohio	W 71–56	10–5 (3–1)	MAC Center (5,418) Kent, OH
1/16/02		at Akron	W 78–54	11–5 (4–1)	James A. Rhodes Arena (3,838) Akron, OH
1/19/02		Western Michigan	W 75–72	12–5 (5–1)	MAC Center (4,213) Kent, OH
1/22/02		Buffalo	W 91–53	13–5 (6–1)	MAC Center (4,177) Kent, OH
1/26/02		at Bowling Green	W 70–67	14–5 (7–1)	Anderson Arena (4,735) Bowling Green, OH
1/29/02		at Eastern Michigan	W 82–62	15–5 (8–1)	Convocation Center (1,581) Ypsilanti, MI
2/2/02		Toledo	W 79–52	16–5 (9–1)	MAC Center (5,117) Kent, OH
2/4/02		Bowling Green	W 76–64	17–5 (10–1)	MAC Center (5,350) Kent, OH
2/9/02		at Central Michigan	W 96–66	18–5 (11–1)	Rose Arena (4,927) Mount Pleasant, MI
2/13/02		at Northern Illinois	W 73–61	19–5 (12–1)	Chick Evans Field House DeKalb, IL
2/16/02		Miami (OH)	W 73–57	20–5 (13–1)	MAC Center (5,782) Kent, OH
2/19/02		Marshall	W 116–76	21–5 (14–1)	MAC Center (5,102) Kent, OH
2/23/02		at Ohio	W 70–67	22–5 (15–1)	Convocation Center Athens, OH
2/25/02		Akron	W 67–57	23–5 (16–1)	MAC Center (6,209) Kent, OH
3/2/02		at Miami (OH)	W 70–67	24–5 (17–1)	Millett Hall (5,012) Oxford, OH
MAC Tournament
3/7/02	(1)	vs. (8) Marshall MAC Tournament Quarterfinal	W 82–70	25–5	Gund Arena Cleveland, OH
3/8/02	(1)	vs. (4) Toledo MAC Tournament Semifinal	W 86–61	26–5	Gund Arena Cleveland, OH
3/9/02	(1)	vs. (3) Bowling Green MAC tournament championship	W 70–59	27–5	Gund Arena (14,106) Cleveland, OH
NCAA Tournament
3/14/02*	(10 S)	vs. (7 S) No. 20 Oklahoma State First Round	W 69–61	28–5	BI-LO Center Greenville, SC
3/16/02*	(10 S)	vs. (2 S) No. 9 Alabama Second Round	W 71–58^[2]^[3]	29–5	BI-LO Center (13,962) Greenville, SC
3/21/02*	(10 S)	vs. (3 S) No. 8 Pittsburgh Sweet Sixteen	W 78–73 ^{OT^[4]}	30–5	Rupp Arena (22,338) Lexington, KY
3/23/02*	(10 S)	vs. (5 S) Indiana Elite Eight	L 69–81^[5]	30–6	Rupp Arena (22,435) Lexington, KY
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. S=South. All times are in Eastern.

^[6]

Rankings

^[7]

References

^ 2015–16 Men's Basketball Record Book (PDF). Mid-American Conference. December 2, 2015. p. 32.
^ "The Guard That No One Wanted". The Washington Post. March 16, 2002. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
^ "COLLEGE BASKETBALL; Overlooked Kent State Overwhelms Alabama". The New York Times. March 17, 2002. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
^ "For Kent State, 'Validation'". The Washington Post. March 22, 2002. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
^ "Hot-shooting Indiana cools off Kent State with 81-69 victory". The Baltimore Sun. March 24, 2002. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
^ "2001-02 Kent State Golden Flashes Schedule and Results".
^ ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 1108–1109. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[1] 2015–16 Men's Basketball Record Book (PDF). Mid-American Conference. December 2, 2015. p. 32.

[2] "The Guard That No One Wanted". The Washington Post. March 16, 2002. Retrieved January 26, 2020.

[3] "COLLEGE BASKETBALL; Overlooked Kent State Overwhelms Alabama". The New York Times. March 17, 2002. Retrieved January 26, 2020.

[4] "For Kent State, 'Validation'". The Washington Post. March 22, 2002. Retrieved January 26, 2020.

[5] "Hot-shooting Indiana cools off Kent State with 81-69 victory". The Baltimore Sun. March 24, 2002. Retrieved January 26, 2020.

[6] "2001-02 Kent State Golden Flashes Schedule and Results".

[7] ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 1108–1109. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

2001–02 Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball

MAC tournament champions MAC Regular Season Champions MAC East Division Champions
NCAA tournament, Elite Eight
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Division	South
Ranking
Coaches	No. 12
Record	30–6 (17–1 MAC)
Head coach	Stan Heath (1st season)
Assistant coach	Jim Christian
Home arena	Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center
Seasons ← 2000–01 2002–03 →