LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (14-7, 11-5) at
ARKANSAS-FORT SMITH (10-12, 6-10)
Thursday, February 13 – 7:30 p.m.
Stubblefield Center – Fort Smith, Arkansas
 
FINISHING STRONG
Lubbock Christian's men's basketball team will head back out on the road this weekend with just six games left on the regular season schedule. It is the second-to-last road trip of the year for the Chaparrals, and there are only two games left on the schedule inside the Rip Griffin Center. LCU is currently in a tie for fourth in the Lone Star Conference standings, but truly sits in sixth, with Angelo State and Dallas Baptist holding the tie-breaker over the Chaps. The top four spots in the league at the end of the season will receive first round byes for the conference tournament, with the five through eight seeds hosting first round games against the nine through 12 seeds.
 
ROAD JOURNAL
Thursday's matchup with Arkansas-Fort Smith will be LCU's ninth true road game of the season and their 10th away from home overall. LCU is 5-3 in true road games so far this year and 5-4 in games away from the Rip Griffin Center. The Chaps have scored just 68.5 points per game across those seven contests while allowing 72.0 points from their opponents. Each of the last two Chap road games have featured second-half comebacks. They outscored Texas A&M-Commerce 28-9 over the final nine minutes for a win and scored 13 points in the final two minutes of the win against UT Tyler. Lloyd Daniels, Rashaan Proctor and Ty Caswell are all averaging double-figures in road games.
 
CHARITY WORK
Although they have attempted the fewest free throws in the Lone Star Conference (348), Lubbock Christian leads the league and ranks 10th nationally in free throw percentage at 79.6 percent. The Chaps set a new Lone Star Conference record earlier this season when they went 27-27 from the free throw line in the win against No. 4 St. Edward's. Daniels leads the team and ranks No. 2 in the league with an 83.9 free throw percentage (62-75), while another four Chaps have attempted at least 15 free throws and are shooting better than 80 percent on the year.
 
THE TOUGHNESS FACTOR
When it comes to strength of schedule, there are not many schools that have had it worse than Lubbock Christian this season. The Chaps rank No. 34 nationally out of 311 teams in strength of schedule, and they are No. 2 among both Lone Star Conference and South Central Region schools, only behind Eastern New Mexico, who they have beaten twice. Combined, the teams LCU has played against so far have a win percentage of .564. The road should get slightly easier as they move through the back half of the schedule though, as the future opponents have a win percentage of just .427 so far this year. Placing high in strength of schedule is important though, as it is one of the factors looked at when picking teams for the South Central Regional Tournament.
 
DANIELS DOMINANCE
Lubbock Christian junior guard Lloyd Daniels has been on a tear in recent weeks, averaging 23.5 points per game during the last six games. He has scored at least 20 points in four of the last five games, leading the team in scoring in each of those five games. He dropped a career-high 34 points on January 30 at Texas A&M-Commerce. For the season, the New Jersey native is shooting 55.5 percent, which is the second-highest mark in the LSC and ranks No. 49 nationally, while averaging 16.1 points per game. He has scored in double-figures 16 times this season and led the Chaps in points in 11 different games.
 
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, 60.8 percent (46.1 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 16.1 points per game and is shooting .555, which is the second-best mark in the LSC. Hicks is second on the team with 11.2 points per game, while Caswell is also averaging double-figures with 10.9 points per game and leads the team in rebounding with 6.3 boards per game. Muhammad has scored in double-figures four times this season, and Joshua Davey has contributed as a reserve as well.
 
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. 27 national ranking in turnover margin. LCU forces an average of 15.6 turnovers per game. LCU also leads the Lone Star Conference in fewest turnovers with just 261 this season (13.3 per game), giving them a turnover margin of 3.1­. The Chaps have committed 15 or fewer turnovers in 16 games so far this season, going 12-4 in that time. Conversely, they are 2-3 when they turn the ball over more than 15 times.
 
SCOUTING THE LIONS

• UAFS ranks No. 4 in the Lone Star Conference in field-goal percentage defense, holding opponents to an average of 43.2 percent shooting on the year. They also have the fourth-best scoring defense, limiting teams to just 69.1 points per game
• Head coach Jim Boone is in his first year leading the Lion men's basketball program. He has 33 years of experience at NCAA Division I and II levels and was most recently at Division II Delta State
• Division I transfer (Ole Miss) Brian Halums leads the LSC in scoring and ranks fifth nationally with 26.6 points per game. He is also No. 4 in the league with 9.2 rebounds per game and No. 6 in the conference in field goal percentage at .522
•  Lion guard Matthew Wilson is second in the conference in three-point attempts with 185 this season. He has made 36.2 percent of them, ranking hi fifth in the LSC in three-point percentage
• UAFS has one of the slower offenses in the league, with the fourth-lowest scoring average per game despite the eighth-best team field goal percentage. They average 68.7 points per game on 45.6 percent shooting

 
THE SERIES WITH UAFS
Lubbock Christian and Arkansas-Fort Smith did not play their first game against one another until the Chaps joined the Heartland Conference in the 2013-14 season. LCU won the first two meetings, before UAFS won a game in February of 2015. The Chaps took the lead in the all-time series last season with wins in both of the last two meetings. Oddly enough, each of the last two meetings have ended with a score of 82-69.