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

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 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 →

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

Main article: 2001–02 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

^[7]

References

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.