Men's Basketball | 02.23.2022

NO. 4 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (24-2, 11-2)
vs. WESTERN NEW MEXICO (11-12, 4-9)
Thursday, Feb. 24 – 7:30 p.m. CT
Rip Griffin Center (Lubbock, Texas)
All-Time Series: LCU leads 11-8
 
NEED TO KNOW

• This is the second meeting this season between Lubbock Christian and Western New Mexico, with the Chaps winning 96-55 in December
• LCU will honor its three graduating senior players as well as a graduating athletic trainer prior to the start of the game
• Senior Chap guard Lloyd Daniels hit a career-high five three-pointers on Tuesday against Eastern New Mexico
• The Chaps are ranked in the top five of both Division II national polls
• Western New Mexico has lost five of its last six games, with the only win coming against Cameron (69-56) on February 19

 
FIN.
Thursday night's matchup against Western New Mexico inside the Rip Griffin Center will end the first chapter of the 2021-22 season for the Lubbock Christian men's basketball team. Next week is March, and the Chaps will face all of the madness that comes along with playing college basketball in that month. The regular season chapter has treated LCU well though, with 24 wins already accounted for against just two losses. The Chaps have been ranked in the top 25 nationally for the entirety of the season and have gained recognition for individual players both at a conference and national level. They will attempt to wrap up the regular season on the right foot with a win against the Mustangs.
 
SENIOR NIGHT
Three players will be honored prior to the start of the game on Thursday, including Parker Hicks, Zach Stepp and Lloyd Daniels, as the three play their last regular season game at the Rip Griffin Center. The three graduating players have had a huge impact on the recent run of success for the program. Stepp has been at LCU the longest, starting his LCU career in 2016. He has played in 74 career games with the Chaps, shooting 41.5 percent from behind the arc. Daniels and Hicks have both been with the Chaps for three seasons, transferring in from other schools. Both players have averaged more than 16 points per game in their Chaparral careers, and each has been named to the All-LSC first team the last two seasons.
 
BACK-TO-BACK
Tuesday night's win over Eastern New Mexico already clinched the Lone Star Conference regular season championship for the Chaps. This is the second-straight season for them to claim the title and the No. 1 seed in the LSC Tournament. Last season, it took a road win at West Texas A&M in the last game of the regular season to win the title. The Chaps are now locked in for their LSC tournament game next week. They will play at 6 p.m. on Thursday, taking on the winner of the matchup between the Nos. 8 and 9 seeds. Who those two teams are is yet to be decided though, as some teams have as many as two games left to play.
 
RECORD CHASIN'
A win on Thursday night could also set a new program record for the most victories in a single season. The current record, which LCU tied on Tuesday, is 24, set by the 1982-83 Chaparral squad. That team was led by Jeff Brush (18.3 ppg), Harold Jones (14.6 ppg) and Tony Jones (6.4 assists/gm), and it included a junior guard by the name of Tim Perrin. Hall of Honor member John Copeland was the coach. There is one other season of Lubbock Christian basketball that features more wins, but the 26-11 team led by Larry Hays in the 1969-70 season was competing at the junior college level.
 
THE DEFENSE DOESN'T REST
In Tuesday's matchup with ENMU, the Chaps held them to just 53 points, marking the 11^th time this season they have held an opponent under 60 points. The Chaps rank No. 5 nationally in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 39.1 percent shooting overall. They have held 12 opponents this season to lower than 40 percent shooting and out-shot their opponents in all but two games. LCU opponents are scoring just 62.6 points per game this season, which ranks No. 7 nationally. Aamer Muhammad leads the team in steals with 31 and Parker Hicks has blocked 23 shots to lead the Chaps.
 
SHOOTERS SHOOT
On the other end of the floor, the Chaparral offense has been one of the best at shooting the ball themselves. LCU is shooting 51.5 percent from the floor as a team, a mark that ranks sixth-best among Division II. From behind the arc, they shoot 39.9 percent, and that mark is 11th-best in the nation. Hicks and Lloyd Daniels rank first and second in the league individually, shooting 55.1 and 53.1 percent from the field, respectively. Muhammad is also in the league's top five with a 49.3 shooting percentage. The Chaps shoot well on the freebies too, ranking No. 2 in the nation at 80.4 percent from the charity stripe.
 
NATIONALLY KNOWN
The Chaps held firm in this week's two D-II Top-25 polls. LCU is No. 4 in the NABC poll, which is voted on by the coaches, with 335 points. In the D2SIDA poll, which is voted on by sports information directors, the Chaps drew 338 points and are ranked No. 5. LCU is not receiving first place votes in any polls at this time, but the Chaps were ranked No. 1 nationally for a two-month span earlier this season. The Chaps have beaten four opponents who were ranked at the time of playing this season.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
Tuesday's game is the 14^th and final home game of the season for Lubbock Christian. The Chaps are 12-1 on their own court so far this season with an average of 79.8 points per game on 51.9 percent shooting. Opponents entering the Rip have been held to just 60.2 points per game on 39.1 percent shooting. In the 10-plus seasons under head coach Todd Duncan, LCU is 121-28 at home (.809). Officially dedicated on October 9, 2000, the Rip Griffin Center has been the home of the Chaps for more than two decades and can seat 1,950 for sporting events.
 
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS

• Western New Mexico is on the outside looking in of the LSC Tournament picture with a 4-9 league record
• Jordan Doss leads the team in scoring with 15.8 points per game, and Tony Avalos is the only other Mustang averaging double-figures
• WNMU has a solid offense, averaging 74.3 points per game, but their defense allows 73.2 points per game, which ranks in the bottom half of the LSC
• The Mustangs do most of their scoring from inside the arc, having attempted just 473 three-pointers this season, which is the fourth fewest in the conference
• WNMU's Olamide Pedersen ranks fourth in the conference with an average of 1.5 blocks per game

 
THE SERIES WITH THE MUSTANGS
It's a matchup that dates all the way back to Dec. 1, 1973, but there have only been 19 games played between the two schools overall. WNMU was the winner in the first three meetings, two in the 1970s and one in 1991. The Chaps and Mustangs faced off several times throughout the '90s with wins on both sides. LCU on Feb. 26, 1994, 65-64, and the Chaps have won every meeting since then – eight straight wins.