LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (5-4, 2-2) at
MIDWESTERN STATE (1-8, 1-2)
Saturday, December 21 – 4 p.m.
D.L. Ligon Coliseum – Wichita Falls, Texas
 
BEFORE THE BREAK
Saturday's Lone Star Conference matchup with Midwestern State in Wichita Falls will be the last game they play before taking a break for the winter holidays. LCU will have nine days off between the contest with MSU and their next game, which will be at 7:30 p.m. January 2 against Western New Mexico in the Rip Griffin Center. After a rough start to the season with two straight losses, Lubbock Christian has righted the ship with wins in four of their last five games, and the only loss coming in triple overtime to then-No. 19 Dallas Baptist. They are above .500 for the first time all season after the win against Cameron on Thursday and looking to win their third straight game on Saturday at Midwestern State.
 
SEEING DOUBLE
Two different Chaparral players fell just one stat short of reaching double-doubles in Thursday's 82-66 win against Cameron in redshirt sophomore guard Cameron Copley and junior forward Parker Hicks. Hicks scored the requisite 15 points against the Aggies, but fell one rebound short, still pulling down a team-high nine. Copley finished in double-figures as well with 10 points and assisted another nine LCU baskets, coming up just one helper short of his first career double-double. Rashaan Proctor has the only Chap double-double so far this season, scoring 19 points and pulling down 10 rebounds in the December 12 win over Tarleton State.
 
2020 VISION
This weekend's game against Midwestern State will close out what has largely been a successful 2019 calendar year for the Lubbock Christian men's basketball team. The year started with LCU's win over Randall, which featured former Chap Brennan Fowler setting a new LCU record with 47 points. Lubbock Christian played 26 games overall in 2019, going 17-10 overall in that time. They averaged 74.3 points per game, while limiting opponents to just 69.2 points per game and will look to carry over that success into 2020 and beyond.
 
HOW CAN I HELP YOU?
Chap guard Cameron Copley currently ranks No. 2 in the Lone Star Conference this season with an average of 6.1 assists per game. The Canadian native set a new season high and was one assist away from matching his career high with nine in the win over Cameron on Thursday. He trails only SEU's August Haas, who is averaging 6.9 assists per game. If he holds up his current pace for the remainder of the season, it will be the highest assist average by an LCU player since Rashaad Sample averaged 6.3 assists per game in the 2011-12 season. The all-time LCU assist record is 7.0 per game (232 in a season) and was set by Tony Jones in the 1982-83 season.
NEW-LOOK CHAPS
After losing their two leading scorers from a season ago, Lubbock Christian brought in a number of new faces to help the offense reload. So far this season, 54.5 percent (40.9 points per game) of the Chaps' scoring is coming from players who were not on the team a season ago. Lloyd Daniels leads the group of newcomers with a team-high 13.4 points per game. Parker Hicks, a transfer from Texas Tech, is also averaging double figures with 10.6 points per game and is tied for the team lead with 22 three-pointers made. Freshman Ty Caswell has also made 22 shots from behind the arc after a 4-5 three-point performance on Thursday against Cameron.
 
ROAD JOURNAL
Saturday's matchup with Midwestern will be the Chaps' fourth true road game of the season and their fifth away from home overall. LCU is 1-2 in true road games so far this year and 1-3 in games away from the Rip Griffin Center overall. The Chaps have scored just 63.0 points per game across those four contests while allowing 69.5 points from their opponents. They got their first win away from home of the season on Thursday against Cameron. Lloyd Daniels has been the team's leading scorer in three away games, averaging exactly 12.0 points per game.
 
CHARITY STRIPE
Although LCU has taken the second-fewest free throw attempts in the conference this season, they have done well to take advantage of the charity opportunities they have been given, shooting a league-best 77.7 percent on free throws. That percentage is also good enough to rank No. 36 in all of Division II. Silas Crisler (7-7) and Zach Stepp (2-2) are still perfect from the free throw line this season, while freshman Ty Caswell has missed just one (11-12).
 
SCOUTING MIDWESTERN STATE

• The Mustangs started the season 0-8 and went 0-2 to begin Lone Star Conference play before finally getting their first win of the season on Thursday against Angelo State. Three MSU players finished in double-figures in the win, led by Evan McCarthy with 19 points in just 16 minutes on the floor
• Midwestern State averages 71.2 points per game and allows 75.6 points per game. Both of those marks ranks as the 13^th best in the Lone Star Conference
• Darius Thompson is the team leader in scoring, averaging 15.8 points per game. Thompson shoots 50.9 percent from the field (54-106) and 33.9 percent from behind the arc (19-56)
• The Mustangs do well both shooting and defending the three-pointer, ranking in the top five in the LSC in both categories. MSU shoots 37.9 percent from behind the arc themselves and limits opponents to just 28.9 percent
• Jalin Brown leads the team in rebounding with 7.2 boards per game. He has pulled down 47 defensive boards and 18 on the offensive glass

 
THE SERIES WITH THE MUSTANGS
Lubbock Christian and Midwestern State have faced off 34 times in the history of the two programs, but just once in the last 23 years. The series begin in 1972, with the Mustangs winning by a score of 85-64. LCU's first win over MSU came in 1973 by a score of 70-69, before MSU rattled off 13 straight wins. The Chaps have won the last two meetings, however, including in 2016, when the No. 6-seed LCU upset the host and No. 1-seed MSU in LCU's first-ever NCAA Tournament game.