LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (10-6, 7-4) vs.
ST. EDWARD'S (17-1, 11-1)
Saturday, January 25 – 3 p.m.
Rip Griffin Center – Lubbock, Texas
lonestarconferencenetwork.com
Oldies 97.7
 
ALL SAINTS WEEKEND
Lubbock Christian will wrap up their weekend battling the saint schools on Saturday by welcoming No. 5-ranked St. Edward's to the Rip Griffin Center for a Lone Star Conference, non-divisional matchup. LCU got back into the win column on Thursday, taking down St. Mary's 87-82. The win was their 10^th of the season, making them 10-6 and moving them to 7-4 in league play. SEU also won their Thursday night matchup, surviving a close road battle at Angelo State 78-77. The Hilltoppers have lost just once this season (at Texas A&M-Commerce 86-78) and are 17-1 overall with an 11-1 LSC record.
 
TOP RANKED
St. Edward's is the highest ranked opponent to visit the Rip Griffin Center this season and the second-highest ranked foe Lubbock Christian has faced in the 2019-20 season. The Hilltoppers are currently ranked No. 5 in the Division II Sports Information Directors Association (D2SIDA) Poll and No. 6 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Poll. West Texas A&M is was ranked No. 4 by the NABC when LCU played them in Canyon last weekend. LCU has faced three ranked opponents in total this season, going 0-3 overall. Their last win over a ranked opponent, and one ranked in the top five for that matter, was against St. Edward's on March 2, 2019 in the Rip Griffin Center. On what was LCU's senior day, the Chaps pulled off a 68-60 upset over the then-No. 4 Hilltoppers.
 
NO PLACE LIKE…
Saturday's matchup with St. Edward's will be the 1oth of 14 scheduled games at home for LCU during the 2019-20 season. They have a 7-2 record on their home court so far this season, with their last home loss coming against Angelo State. LCU is averaging 82.6 points per game and holding opponents to 67.9 points per game at home this year. The Rip Griffin Center, where LCU plays its home games, was named after B.R. "Rip" Griffin, a former secretary of the LCU Board of Trustees, whose generous donation of $500,000, made possible the $4,200,000, 51,500 square foot facility. Officially dedicated on October 9, 2000, the arena seats 1,950 people for sporting events. The Chaps went 13-1 on their home court last season, and they have not posted a losing record at home since the 2006-07 season.
 
FRESH OUT OF THE OVEN
The Chaps have been one of the best teams in the conference and in the country at both forcing turnovers and limiting turnovers of their own, leading them to a No. 16 national ranking in turnover margin. LCU forces an average of 17.2, which is the fourth-best mark in their own conference but is still No. 15 nationally. LCU also leads the Lone Star Conference in fewest turnovers with just 212 this season (13.3 per game), giving them a turnover margin of about four. The Chaps have committed 15 or fewer turnovers in 11 games so far this season, going 8-3 in that time. Conversely, they are 2-3 when they turn the ball over more than 15 times, like they did in last Saturday's loss to West Texas A&M.
 
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, 56.7 percent (42.5 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 and is shooting .534, which is the sixth-best mark in the LSC. Freshman Ty Caswell is also averaging double figures at 10.4 points per game, while Texas Tech transfer Parker Hicks is scoring 11.1 per game and leading the team with 6.4 rebounds per game. Aamer Muhammad and Joshua Davey have also contributed off the bench, with both reaching new career-highs last weekend against West Texas A&M.
 
CHARITY WORK
LCU is 181-238 (76.1 percent) from the free throw line this season, which is the best mark in the Lone Star Conference and ranks No. 27 among the 303 Division II men's basketball teams. On the road, they have shot slightly better with a .783 mark (36-46) on foul shots. No Chap player has taken enough attempts to factor into the national rankings for free throw percentage (minimum 2.5 per game), but Zach Stepp (2-2, 1.000), Silas Crisler (16-19, .842), Caswell (18-22 .818) and Muhammad (12-14, .857) are all shooting better than 80 percent from the charity stripe this year.
 
BEYOND THE ARC
Freshman Ty Caswell would lead the Lone Star Conference and rank seventh among all Division II players with a three-point field-goal percentage of exactly 50 percent, but he is just under the requirement of 2.5 made per game (at 2.27). The Wichita Falls native has attempted 72 three-pointers so far this season, making 36 of them, including two in the last game against St. Mary's. As a team, LCU leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks 27th nationally, making 38.5 percent of their attempts. They have attempted the seventh-fewest three-pointers in the LSC (371), but still average 9.0 made three-pointers per game.
 
SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS

• St. Edward's was the Heartland Conference Regular Season and Tournament Champions last season, making it all the way to the South Central Regional Championship game before losing to West Texas A&M
• The Hilltoppers are second in the conference in both offense and defense. They average 88.9 points per game, which is behind only West Texas A&M. They also hold opponents to 67.7 points per game, behind only Oklahoma Christian
• Ashton Spears leads the team in scoring with 19.5 points per game, which is the fifth-best mark in the Lone Star Conference. He also averages 2.8 steals per game, which is the most in the league
• Head coach Andre Cook has been the coach of the Hilltoppers since 2009, compiling an all-time record of 182-129
• Guard August Haas leads the Lone Star Conference with 7.9 assists per game. It is two more than the next closest player

 
THE SERIES WITH SEU
Lubbock Christian leads the all-time series with St. Edward's 16-10, although the Hilltoppers have won three of the last four meetings. The series began in 1985 with an LCU win. The two teams met often in the early 90s but took a 17-year break before LCU joined the Heartland Conference and 2014 and they began facing off regularly again. The last meeting between the two teams was in the South Central Regional Semifinal, which SEU hosted and won, 93-80, despite LCU shooting a season-best 56.1 percent from the field.