Category | Sports

KSU v. Mercer: A budding rivalry

Published on February 2, 2010 by John Morbitzer

Thursday at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., the Owls basketball programs will host the Mercer University Bears.

Spencer Dixon (left) and Kurtis Woods (top right) help the Owls defeat FGCU.

Playing in the same state and conference, the Owls and Bears have faced each other annually since KSU joined Division I and the Atlantic Sun conference in the 2005-2006 athletic seasons.

“When we turned Division I five years ago, we just didn’t really have a rivalry to call our own. So it makes sense they’re less than 100 miles away from us. A lot of the athletic contests have been intense, a lot of these players have played against each other in high school,” Brian Leheup, assitant director of marketing at the KSU Athletic Department, said.

In collaboration with the Mercer University Athletic Department, the Owls and Bears have done their best to create an aura at the games with taking the cheer teams, dance teams and pep bands to each other’s home courts.

“We try to create an atmosphere where the game becomes important; our fans go down there, their fans come up here,” Leheup said. “Their AD [athletic director] has been very accepting of this, after Georgia State left the conference, they were left without a rival, and we’re definitely working together, and it comes down to the athletic teams being competitive.”

Between the men’s and women’s basketball programs, the Owls are 8-9 against the Bears. The men’s series has been closely battled with two games ending in overtime, and six of seven contests decided by seven points or less. The women have played well and have held their own, going 4-3 all-time against the in-state rival.

Both match ups will be tough, as the men’s team won on the road earlier this year on a lay-in by sophomore guard Spencer Dixon with five seconds left to put KSU on top 71-69, giving head Coach Tony Ingle his one-hundred sixty-sixth win at KSU, the most by a men’s head basketball coach. The Lady Owls struggled from the field in their contest against the Bears shooting only 18.8 percent, and less than 50 percent from the free-throw line, in a 38-60 road loss.

In a post-game interview Coach Ingle mentioned the crowd and energy during Saturday’s win against FGCU.

“I thought the crowd was good. It seemed like there was a lot of energy tonight in situations,” Ingle said.

Thursday night will also feature the third annual “Give a Shirt about KSU” campaign.

“We’re going to be doing a T-shirt swap. I brought this in three years ago, and basically KSU students are encouraged to bring a UGA, Georgia Tech or another school’s T-shirt and give it to us, and we’ll give them a KSU T-shirt. It shows that they’re switching allegiance, because a lot of kids didn’t grow up rooting for KSU,” Leheup said.

If parting ways with a non-KSU shirt will be hard for you, there is a charitable approach.

“All the shirts we collect will be going to Haiti,” Leheup said. “We’re working with the Haitian Student Alliance and we’ll be shipping those out Friday hopefully.”

Thursday night should prove to be an entertaining event for the supporters of KSU athletics, as many hope for Owl Nation to turn out in respect and full voice.