LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (11-6, 8-4, 3-3) at
TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE (13-6, 9-4, 5-0)
Thursday, January 30 – 7:30 p.m.
The Field House – Commerce, Texas
 
LOOKING TO THE EAST
After two straight wins at home last weekend over St. Mary's and No. 5 St. Edward's, the Lubbock Christian men's basketball team will now take a road trip to east Texas, where they will face Texas A&M-Commerce on Thursday and UT Tyler on Saturday. The Chaps have rarely met either school on the hardwood and lost all three matchups in program history against Texas A&M-Commerce. LCU currently sits in a tie for fifth place in the Lone Star Conference with an overall league record of 8-4, while TAMUC is in fourth at 9-4 in LSC play. The Lions also lead their division with a perfect 5-0 record.
 
AWARD CENTRAL
Lubbock Christian junior guard Lloyd Daniels was named the Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week, the conference announced on Monday, becoming the first Chap honored with a conference weekly award this season. The New Jersey native shot an incredibly efficient 65.2 percent from the field during LCU's two home wins last weekend, averaging 21.5 points per game. Daniels matched his career-high in the win over the No.5 Hilltoppers with 25 points. For the season, he is shooting 55 percent, which is the third-best mark in the LSC, and averaging a team-best 14.1 points per game.
 
CHARITY STRIPE
The Chaps set a new Lone Star Conference record last Saturday, going 27-27 from the free throw line in the upset of No. 5 St. Edward's. The perfect performance broke the previous record of 23-23, which was set by Texas A&I in 1990. It was also the most made free throws without a miss in a NCAA Division II game this season. For the season, LCU is shooting 78.5 percent from the foul line, which leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks No. 17 among all Division II teams. No Chap player has made enough foul shots to factor into the national rankings for free throw percentage (2.5 per game), but Zach Stepp (2-2, 1.000), Aamer Muhammad (19-21, .905), Ty Caswell (24-28, .857), Silas Crisler (16-19, .842), Cameron Copley (34-41, .829) and Parker Hicks (13-16, .813) are all shooting better than 80 percent.
 
ROAD JOURNAL
Thursday's matchup with Texas A&M-Commerce will be LCU's seventh true road game of the season and their eighth away from home overall. LCU is 3-3 in true road games so far this year and 3-4 in games away from the Rip Griffin Center. The Chaps have scored just 65.8 points per game across those four contests while allowing 73.0 points from their opponents. Lloyd Daniels and Rashaan Proctor are both averaging double-figures on the road with 13.3 and 9.2 points per game, respectively.
 
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. 22 national ranking in turnover margin. LCU forces an average of 16.76, which is the fifth-best mark in their own conference but is still No. 24 nationally. LCU also leads the Lone Star Conference in fewest turnovers with just 225 this season (13.2 per game), giving them a turnover margin of about four. The Chaps have committed 15 or fewer turnovers in 12 games so far this season, going 9-3 in that time. Conversely, they are 2-3 when they turn the ball over more than 15 times, like they did in their most recent loss to West Texas A&M.
 
BEYOND THE ARC
Although they have attempted the seventh-fewest three-pointers in the Lone Star Conference  this season (388), the Chaparrals lead the league and No. 27nationall in three-point field goal percentage at 39.4 percent. Caswell leads the team in that mark, hitting an insane 51.3 percent of his three-point attempts (39-76). That mark would lead the nation, but the freshman has only averaged 2.29 made three-pointers per game instead of the requisite 2.5 to factor into the national rankings. Both Daniels (48 percent) and Hicks (41.3 percent) would be in the top five in the LSC, but they do not average 2.5 made three-pointers per game either.
 
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, 58.3 percent (44.1) 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 14.1 points per game and is shooting .550, which is the third-best mark in the LSC. Hicks is second on the team with 11.2 points per game and a team-high 6.4 rebounds per game, while Caswell is also averaging double-figures with 10.4 points per game. Muhammad set a new career-high in the win over St. Edward's, scoring 16 points off the bench, and Joshua Davey has contributed as a reserve as well.
 
SCOUTING THE LIONS

• Texas A&M Commerce takes a lot of three-pointers and makes a lot as well. They rank No. 14 nationally in three-point field goal attempts and 24^th in all of Division II in three-point field goals made
• Lion forward Wayne Stewart is second in the Lone Star Conference and No. 11 nationally in field-goal percentage at .649. Stewart is a transfer from New Mexico State and averages 20.3 points per game
• Texas A&M-Commerce is the only other team (besides LCU) to have beaten St. Edward's this season. TAMUC's four losses in LSC play this season have come against St. Mary's. Tarleton, Texas A&M-Kingsville and UT Permian Basin
• Lion guard Deon Barrett leads the three-point barrage with 164 three-point attempts on the year – the 15^th most in all of Division II. He shoots 32.9 percent from behind the arc with an average of three made three-pointers per game
• Texas A&M-Commerce has been playing basketball since as far back as 1916, though the name of the school has changed throughout the years. Current head coach Jaret von Rosenberg is the 21^st coach in school history with a 60-24 record with the Lions
• The Lions rank fourth in the league with an average of 80.8 points per game but also allow 75.6 points per game, which is the sixth-highest total in in the LSC

 
THE SERIES WITH TAMUC
Lubbock Christian has never won against Texas A&M-Commerce, or East Texas State as they were known until 1996, in the three all-time meetings between the schools. The Chaps and Lions first met two days after Christmas in 1979, with East Texas State taking down Lubbock Christian College 72-69. The two teams did not meet again until 2014, by which time LCU had transitioned to NCAA Division II status. The Chaps lost that game 83-76 and lost again in 2017 68-62.