Toledo to Close Out 2012 with New Year's Matinee vs. Chicago Sta - WICU12/WSEE Erie, PA News, Sports, Weather and Events

Toledo to Close Out 2012 with New Year's Matinee vs. Chicago State

TOLEDO - Toledo (4-6) closes out its non-conference slate and looks to build momentum for league play with a 1:00 p.m. New Year's matinee vs. Great West foe Chicago State (3-12). The Rockets will be playing their first game on Dec. 31 since a 90-53 home win over Mississippi Valley State in 1989.

UT possesses an all-time ledger of 7-1 in games played on New Year's Eve.

Toledo has won eight of its last nine home games dating back to last year and Saturday's 74-55 win over UIC gave UT back-to-back wins for the first time this year.

UT has played the fewest home contests (two) of any Mid-American Conference school with all the other schools enjoying four or more home dates.

Toledo features the MAC's top scorer with junior G Rian Pearson leading the league at 19.7 ppg. Sophomore G Julius Brown also appears in the Top 10 and is in eighth place with his 14.2 scoring mark.

Pearson has been named the MAC West Division Player of the Week twice this season and needs just nine points to reach the 1,000-point mark for his collegiate career. He scored 205 (6.4 ppg) as a freshman at Green Bay in 2009-10, 589 (16.4 ppg) last year and has 197 this season.

Toledo has picked up right where it left off as one of the MAC's top free-throw shooting squads. UT tops the conference at 74.4 percent after leading the league last year with a 72.6 mark.

Four of Toledo's six losses have been by six points or less – 84-81 (OT) at Northern Iowa, 78-73 at Cleveland State, 79-73 at Detroit and 72-66 at Florida Gulf Coast.

Chicago State is winless in 10 road contests following Saturday's 87-44 loss at Ohio State.

Senior F Jeremy Robinson leads CSU with 9.7 ppg but was held scoreless and played just nine minutes vs. the Buckeyes. Junior G Quinton Pippen ranks second on the team in scoring with 9.3 ppg and tallied a team-high 12 points vs. OSU.