KINGSVILLE, Texas - For the first time ever, Lubbock Christian travels to The SPEC to face Texas A&M-Kingsville in a rematch of the 2022 Lone Star Conference Men's Basketball Championship Semifinals.

Lubbock Christian (4-3, 2-1 LSC) at Texas A&M-Kingsville (5-4, 1-2 LSC)
Saturday, Dec. 10 - 3 PM
Kingsville, Texas - The SPEC

NEED TO KNOW
- LCU is coming off a 75-64 loss to Texas A&M International. The Dust Devils shot 56.8 percent from the field, the highest opponent FG percentage since 2016 when DBU shot 63.5 percent against LCU
- Fletcher MacDonald set career-highs in points and rebounds, scoring 10 points and pulling down eight boards
- Rowan Mackenzie continues to stuff the stat sheet, scoring 18 points and tying his season-high with eight rebounds.
- Najeeb Muhammad scored a season-high 14 points while also dishing out a season-best five assists in the contest
- Texas A&M-Kingsville is coming off a 71-65 loss to no. 24 West Texas A&M. The Javelinas missed seven free throws down the stretch to allow the Buffs to pull away

ROAD WARRIORS
Lubbock Christian will head on the road for their first two away conference games of the season. LCU has won two-straight Lone Star Conference regular season championships, and have compiled a 44-11 record in the LSC since joining the conference in 2019. The Chaps are 23-6 in Lone Star Conference road games, including a 10-0 road mark during the 2020-21 season. With a 75-64 loss to Texas A&M International, LCU is below .500 on the road in conference play in a single season for the first time since the beginning of the 2019-20 season when the Chaps dropped their first road conference contest of the season to Angelo State. LCU is 1-2 on the road overall this season.

ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT
This season, Rowan Mackenzie is leading the Chaps in scoring, averaging 18.7 points per game, third in the LSC. The junior scored a career-high 35 points against Colorado School of Mines on Nov. 12, draining seven three-pointers, just three shy of tying the school record of most threes made in a single game. For his impressive play against the Orediggers, Mackenzie earned his first career LSC Offensive Player of the Week Honors on Nov. 14, 2022. 
Mackenzie has also been a force defensively, setting a career-high in steals in back-to-back games, picking up four steals against Colorado Mines and five steals against Southern Nazarene. 
Mackenzie scored 30 points for the second time this season against Oklahoma Christian, going 9-for-9 from the free throw line and 3-for-5 from three-point land. The junior also hauled in four rebounds and handed out four assists.
Mackenzie ranks third in the conference in steals per game with 2.14, while also ranking third in the LSC in field goal percentage, shooting 54.0 percent from the field so far this season.

NOBODY BEATS AARON
Moving into the starting lineup this season, 2021-22 LSC All-Freshman Team member Aaron Gonzales has been a sharpshooter for the Chaps, shooting 46.2 percent from three. After averaging 3.5 points per game last season, Gonzales has averaged 9.4 points per game, starting in all seven contests for Lubbock Christian.
Gonzales scored a career-high 17 points against Arlington Baptist on Nov. 21, draining five shots from beyond the arc. The sophomore flirted with his first career double-double on Dec. 3 against Arkansas Fort Smith, scoring 13 points and pulling down a career-best nine rebounds to lead LCU.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
A total of nine new players will make their debut for the Chaps this season. Of those nine, three are transfers, led by Louisiana-Monroe transfer Russell Harrison. The Monterrey High product averaged 13.1 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game with the Warhawks last season, including a game on 1/6/2022 when Harrison scored 28 points and pulled down 13 boards against Arkansas State. 
Two junior college transfers join the Chaps, with Najeeb Muhammad coming over from Arizona Western College, while Kurt Wegscheider comes over from Utah State East College.
Muhammad played in 28 games for Arizona Western College, averaging 11.1 points, 5.0 assists and 3.1 rebounds a night. He shot 37.6% from the floor, including 35.7% from beyond the arc. Muhammad recorded a season-high 21 points on Nov. 10 against the College of Southern Nevada. He recorded double-digit assists twice this season, dishing out 10 assists against Gateway C.C. on Feb. 9 and recording a double-double with 11 points and 11 assists on Nov. 20 against Eastern Arizona College. Muhammad's 139 total assists ranked third in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference.

WOKE UP FEELING DANGER RUSS
Russell Harrison tied his career-high in points from his lone season at Claredon College (2019-2020) with 33 points on Dec. 3 against Arkansas Fort Smith. Harrison was automatic from beyond the mark, making six three-pointers in the game, including four in a row in the second half. The grad transfer finished the night shooting 52.1 percent from the field. Harrison stuffed the stat sheet in that game, pulling in eight rebounds, had two assists, and blocked one shot while coming away with one steal. 
Harrison is averaging 13.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, after scoring 15 points against Texas A&M International.

SLOW STARTS, BIG FINISHES
Lubbock Christian has made a habit of starting slow but finishing the second half of games strong. Against UAFS, the Chaps shot 40.7 percent in the first half from the field and 18.8 from three. In the second stanza, LCU opened the final 20 minutes of the game making six straight threes on an 18-2 run. The Chaps shot 51.2 percent in the second half against the Lions and 44.4 percent from three.
Against Oklahoma Christian, LCU opened a game shooting less than 15 percent from the floor, shooting just 1-for-9 (11 percent) in the first 8:03 of the game and going down 19-6 against the Eagles. Lubbock Christian finished the second half of that game on a 17-6 run, shooting 45 percent from the floor and 41.6 percent from beyond the arc in the both the second half and overtime period of the game.

MAKE THEM EARN IT
Opponents have struggled to score against the Chaps this season, averaging just 62.3 points per game against Lubbock Christian. So far this season, five opponents that LCU has faced have scored their lowest point total in a game this season, with Regis scoring 59 points, Colorado School of Mines scoring 69 points, Southern Nazarene scoring 66 points, and Arlington Baptist scoring just 43 points. Oklahoma Christian entered the game against Lubbock Christian with the best scoring offense in the LSC at 81.8 points per game, but the Chap defense held the Eagles to a season-low 68 points. Against Arkansas Fort Smith, the Chaps held the conference's leading scorer Payton Brown (22.1 PPG) to 14 points and just 2-for-9 from three. The mark is the second-best scoring defense in the Lone Star Conference and 19th best in Division-II.

SCOUTING THE JAVELINAS
- Texas A&M-Kingsville enters the game 5-4 overall and 1-2 in the Lone Star Conference. The Javelinas fell to no. 24 West Texas A&M 71-65 on Thursday, after the Buffs shot 66.7 percent from three in the second half. Texas A&M-Kingsville also missed seven free throws in the second half. 
- The Javelinas have done well in obtaining second chances, leading the conference and 21st in Division-II in offensive rebounds with 13.56 per game. They have turned those chances into points, averaging 76.8 points per game, the fourth highest scoring offense in the conference.
- TAMUK does not turn the ball over much, with just 11.0 turnovers per game, the best in the Lone Star Conference and 21st in Division-II. Meanwhile, the Javelinas force 19.0 turnovers per game, the third most in the LSC and 16th in Division-II.
- CJ Smith leads the Javelinas with 13.4 points per game. Smith is not shy about shooting the ball from beyond the arc, his 47 three-point attempts this season ranking third in the LSC
- The first LSC Defensive Player of the Week selection this season, Creighton Avery is averaging 1.0 steal per game and 3.2 rebounds per game. Avery is also contributing on the offensive end, scoring 12.0 points per game.
- Former men's basketball player and graduate assistant Johnny Estelle returned to his old stomping grounds as Texas A&M University-Kingsville's 16th head coach in program history in 2014-15. The team's 15-3 record in the 2020-21 season gave them an .833 win percentage, the best single-season mark in program history.

THE SERIES WITH THE JAVELINAS
This is just the third overall meeting between the two teams and the first in Kingsville. The Javelinas won the last meeting  on Mar. 5, 2022, upsetting the Chaps 72-69 in the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference Tournament in Frisco. LCU won the lone regular season meeting on Feb. 22, 2020 in Lubbock 75-60 

LAST TIME OUT
Dec, 8, 2022 - at Texas A&M International - An 11-4 run with 5:56 remaining allowed Texas A&M International to pull away from Lubbock Christian in a 75-64 victory for the Dust Devils on Thursday, Dec. 8.

The Dust Devils shot 56.8 percent from the floor for the game, including 65 percent in the second half. That overall field goal percentage mark is the highest an LCU opponent has shot in a game since Dallas Baptist shot a whopping 63.5 percent from the field in the Patriots' 93-67 win over the Chaps on Jan. 4, 2016. Texas A&M International also shot 44.4 percent from three, shooting a scorching 80 percent from deep in the second half.

Despite the loss, a pair of LCU newcomers set career-highs in points. MacDonald scored 10 points and flirted with a double-double, pulling down a career-best eight rebounds. MacDonald shot 80 percent (4-for-5) from the field. Muhammad scored a season-high 14 points and a season-best five assists. The JUCO transfer went 4-for-6 from the field and 5-for-5 from the free throw line.

A WIN WOULD
- Be the Chaps' first-ever win in Kingsville
- Be the 45th win in Lone Star Conference play for LCU since joining the conference in 2019 (44-11 all-time)

UP NEXT
LCU steps out of conference play for the final time this season, heading to Las Vegas, Nev. to face no. 4/5 West Liberty in the opening round of the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic. Tip-off from Sin City is set for 7:45 PM on Dec. 17.