LUBBOCK CHRSTIAN (17-9, 14-7, 4-5) at
WESTERN NEW MEXICO (8-19, 7-14, 3-6)
Saturday, February 29 – 5 p.m. CT
Drag's Court – Silver City, New Mexico
 
LAST DAY DRAMA
The Lubbock Christian men's basketball team will finish out the 2019-20 regular season on Saturday with a matchup at Western New Mexico. The Chaps are coming off of a loss at UT Permian Basin on Thursday, which dropped them back into a tie for fourth place in the Lone Star Conference overall standings. For LCU to secure a spot in the top four and a first round bye in the LSC tournament, which begins on Tuesday, they need a win against the Mustangs and either UTPB to beat Angelo State or Tarleton to beat Texas A&M-Kingsville, making for an interesting final day of February.
 
REGIONALLY RECOGNIZED
If the season were to end today, the Chaps would be one of the eight teams from the South Central Region to advance to the NCAA Tournament. The Chaps moved up a spot from week one to week two after sitting in ninth in the first rankings. Conference rival West Texas A&M has been the No. 1 seed in the rankings both weeks and would host the tournament currently. Three other Lone Star Conference teams would also make the regional as of right now, including St. Edward's (No. 2), Dallas Baptist (No. 4) and Angelo State (No. 5).
 
ROAD JOURNAL
Friday's matchup with UT Permian Basin will be LCU's 12th true road game of the season and their 13th away from home overall. LCU is 6-6 in true road games so far this year and 6-7 in games away from the Rip Griffin Center. The Chaps have scored just 70.9 points per game across those seven contests while allowing 74.4 points from their opponents. Lubbock Christian does have a pair of impressive second-half comebacks on the road this season. 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 (16.3), Ty Caswell (10.5) and Parker Hicks (12.0) are all averaging double-figures on the road.
 
BEYOND THE ARC
Of their 575 attempted three-pointers this season, the Chaps have made exactly 40.3 percent (232), which is the best percentage in the Lone Star Conference and ranks No. 18 nationally. LCU has averaged 8.92 three-pointers per game this season, led by Parker Hicks, who averages 2.52 per game and leads the conference at 43.7 percent. On Thursday, LCU made 11 three-pointers, six of which came from Cameron Copley. It marked the fourth time this season a Chap shooter has hit from behind the arc six times in one game. Copley had previously done it, as well as Silas Crisler and Hicks.
 
 
CHARITY STRIPE
Although they have attempted the second-fewest free throws in the Lone Star Conference, Lubbock Christian leads the league and ranks 10th nationally in free throw percentage at 78.9 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 84.9 free throw percentage (90-106), but another four Chaps have attempted at least 15 free throws and are shooting better than 75 percent on the year.
 
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, 62.5 percent (47.4 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 15.9 points per game and is shooting .559, which is the third-best mark in the LSC. Hicks is second on the team with 13.1 points per game and set a new career-high with 26 Thursday against UT Permian Basin. Caswell averages 10.5 points per game. Aamer Muhammad has scored in double-figures five times this year, and Joshua Davey has also contributed off the bench.
 
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. 35 national ranking in turnover margin. LCU forces an average of 14.80 turnovers per game. They also leads the Lone Star Conference in fewest turnovers with just 297 this season (11.9 per game), giving them a turnover margin of 2.9. The Chaps have committed 15 or fewer turnovers in 20 games so far this season, going 15-5 in that time. Conversely, they are 2-3 when they turn the ball over more than 15 times.
 
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS

• WNMU has just eight wins on the season, but plays much better at home, where they are 5-5 and have won their last two games against UT Permian Basin (81-75) and Angelo State (83-78)
• The Mustangs are close to league average offensively, scoring 75.8 points per game, which is exactly the same as the Chaps' scoring average and ties them for seventh-best in the league
• Where Western New Mexico struggles in on defense, which they rank second-to-last in the LSC in, giving up an average of 83.7 points per game. Only UT Permian Basin allows more at 83.8 points per game
• Elijah Holifield leads the WNMU offense, averaging exactly 15.0 points per game, which is the 14^th-highest mark in the LSC. He scored a season-high 33 points earlier this month in a loss at St. Mary's
• Western New Mexico's eight wins this year are already their most in a single season since 2012-13, when they went 10-16

THE SERIES WITH WNMU
Saturday is actually a chance for Lubbock Christian to tie the all-time series with Western New Mexico, which began all the way back in 1973 with a Mustang win, 78-65. LCU got its first win in the series in 1991, 86-79. The Mustangs have won eight times overall in the 15 total matchups, although the Chaps have been winners in the last four meetings. The teams took a long break from 1997 all the way until January of this year, when they renewed the rivalry with a 90-58 LCU win in the Rip Griffin Center.