LUBBOCK, Texas - Lubbock Christian closes out the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 25 against no. 25 West Texas A&M at the Rip Griffin Center.

No. 25 West Texas A&M (21-6, 19-2 LSC) at Lubbock Christian (18-9, 14-7 LSC)
Saturday, Feb. 25 - 3:00 PM
Lubbock, Texas - Rip Griffin Center

NEED TO KNOW
- LCU is coming off a 68-55 loss to no. 25 West Texas A&M on Thursday, Feb. 23. The Chaps shot just six percent from three (1-for-16) in the game.
- Rowan Mackenzie and Najeeb Muhammad led the team with 12 points each. Mackenzie hauled in six rebounds, while Muhammad had five boards.
- The Chaps are locked into the 4/5 game of the Lone Star Conference Tournament. A win on Saturday means LCU will face St. Edward's as the four seed. A West Texas A&M win clinches the regular season championship outright for the Buffs and locks LCU into the five seed for the tournament. Lubbock Christian is locked into a matchup with St. Edward's as Texas A&M-Kingsville swept the Hilltoppers this season and have won the East Division.

SENIOR DAY
LCU will hold senior day festivities before the game, honoring senior guard Russell Harrison and manager Miro Szabados. 

SMARTY PANTS
Aaron Gonzales, Karhan Jones, Mackenzie, and Alec Zambie all earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Honors on Tuesday, Feb. 21. Jones earned the honor with a 3.54 GPA while majoring in Biochemistry, while Mackenzie holds a 3.80 GPA whilst majoring in Social Work. Both Gonzales and Zambie have perfect 4.0 GPAs while majoring in Mathematics. The quartet are eligible for the CSC Academic All-American Award, which will be announced in early March. 

FINISH STRONG
LCU has won two-straight Lone Star Conference regular season championships, and have compiled a 56-16 record in the LSC since joining the conference in 2019. The Chaps are 29-10 in Lone Star Conference road games, including a 10-0 road mark during the 2020-21 season. At the Rip Griffin Center, the Chaps are 27-7 in conference matchups. LCU is also 3-2 in overtime conference games since joining the LSC in 2019 after knocking off Oklahoma Christian 70-68 and Cameron 77-74 in OT this season. The Chaps have finished the regular season strong the past three seasons in the LSC, going 23-9 in the month of February.

ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT
This season, Rowan Mackenzie is leading the Chaps in scoring, averaging 19.6 points per game, second in the LSC. That clip would Mackenzie is third in the LSC in field goal percentage, shooting 55.6 percent from the field so far this season.
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. 
He earned his second LSC Offensive Player of the Week honors on Dec. 20, 2022, after scoring 20 points, hauling in seven rebounds and dishing out five assists against Le Moyne. Mackenzie also had 16 points and four rebounds against no. 4/5 West Liberty.
Mackenzie has gotten it done on the defensive end as well, earning LSC Defensive Player of the Week honors on Jan. 3. Against Cameron, Mackenzie had four steals and had a career-high two blocks against the Aggies, holding CU to just 26.7 percent from three as the Chaps scored 22 points off turnovers. His 1.5 steals per game are fifth in the LSC.
 
FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY, STING LIKE A BEE
Najeeb Muhammad has been dishing out assists like hot cakes all season long. Muhammad finished with a career-high eight assists on Dec. 10 against Texas A&M International, just two days after handing out six assists against Texas A&M-Kingsville.  He then tied his season-high with eight assists against Le Moyne. Muhammad set a new season-best in assists with nine against Cameron.
Muhammad scored a season- high 21 points in LCU's 91-83 win over no. 4/5 West Liberty, going 10-for-10 from the free throw line. That mark ties Kenny Hewitt for the single-game free throw percentage record. Hewitt went 14-for-14 against Mid-America Nazarene on Feb. 7, 2009. Muhammad also dished out six assists and had three steals against the Hilltoppers. This season, the Arizona Western College transfer is averaging 9.7 points per game, while his 114 total assists are fourth in the Lone Star Conference. His 2.1 assist-to-turnover ratio is tied for the the fourth-best mark in the LSC.

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. 
On Saturday, Feb. 4, Harrison flirted with a double-double, scoring 27 points and hauling down nine rebounds against UTPB. The Lubbock native shot 5-for-7 from three in the win over the Falcons. 
Harrison is averaging 16.0 points per game, and 5.2 rebounds per game. For his overall career, Harrison has scored 2,081 points, with 395 points in a season at NAIA Wayland Baptist, and 550 points in one season at JUCO Clarendon. Harrison has scored 432 points this season for the Chaps.

MAKE THEM EARN IT
Opponents have struggled to score against the Chaps this season, averaging 6676 points per game against Lubbock Christian. That mark is fifth in the conference and 40th in all of Division-II basketball. 
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. Against West Liberty, the Hilltoppers scored just 83 points, the first time they have been held to under 90 points all season
St. Edward's entered last week's game with the highest free throw percentage in the conference at 81.2 percent. While the Hilltoppers shot 75 percent from the line in the game, they only attempted four free throws for the entire contest (3-for-4)

BUCKETS
LCU is shooting 48.0 percent from the field, the best mark in the Lone Star Conference. The Chaps shot a blistering 58.3 percent from the field earlier this season against Eastern New Mexico, scoring 50 points against the Greyhounds in the second half of the game alone. Against DBU, Lubbock Christian shot 48.1 percent from the floor, including 47.1 percent from the three-point line. The Chaps are shooting 36.3 percent from deep this season, the second-best mark in the Lone Star Conference. Rowan Mackenzie is now shooting 43.1 percent from three for his career, the fourth best mark in program history.

SCOUTING THE BUFFS
 - West Texas A&M enters the contest having won seven straight games and 13 of their last 15. The Buffs are first place in the LSC West Division and in the Lone Star Conference overall rankings.
-  WT has the best scoring offense in the LSC, averaging 841  points per game. That mark is the 14th best in Division-II. The Buffs also lead the conference in three-point percentage, averaging 38.1 percent from deep.
- Julius Brown ranks fifth in the conference in scoring, averaging 16.7 points per game. His 47.4 field goal percentage is sixth in the conference, while his 88 total assists are also seventh in the LSC. Brown has also been a stalwart on defense for the Buffs, as his 1.5 steals per game are tied for fifth in the conference.
- Ryland Holt is averaging 1.0 blocks per game for WT, the seventh-best mark in the conference.
- Tom Brown was hired as the 17th head coach in program history on April 16, 2014. In the past five seasons, Coach Brown and his staff are 146-19 (.885) and average over 29 wins a season with appearances in the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, and National Title game. During his time in Canyon, Brown is 210-50 (.808) overall and 102-30 (.773) in league action.

THE SERIES WITH THE BUFFS
West Texas A&M leads the all-time series with the Chaps 12-8, knocking off the Chaps 68-55 on Thursday. Lubbock Christian swept last year's series, including an 85-76 win in Canyon. WT won four straight meetings to start the series from 1978-2006. The two have split the series in Lubbock, with LCU going 4-4 at home against the Buffs.

LAST TIME OUT
Feb. 23, 2023 - at no. 25 West Texas A&M -  Lubbock Christian shot just six percent from three and turned the ball over 17 times, falling to no. 25 West Texas A&M 68-55 on Thursday, Feb. 23.
Harrison drained a shot from deep, the first make from three for the Chaps, with 4:07 remaining in the game.
LCU went just 1-for-16 from three, keeping their 238 consecutive game streak with a made three-pointer alive. The last time the Chaps did not make a three-pointer was on Jan. 24, 2015 when the Chaps went 0-for-4 from three against St. Edward's. The Chaparrals shot six percent from three, the lowest in a game since shooting six percent (1-for-16) from three on Dec. 17, 2015 against Texas A&M International.
Mackenzie and Muhammad both led the Chaps with 12 points. Mackenzie pulled down six rebounds, while Muhammad had five. Harrison sniffed a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds. Dow scored ten points off the bench, shooting 4-for-4 from the free throw line. 
Toussaint led the Buffs with 15 points off the bench, shooting 4-for-8 from three. Thornton flirted with a double-double himself with 14 points and nine rebounds. 

UP NEXT
The Chaps travel to Frisco, Texas to face St. Edward's in the first round of the Lone Star Conference Tournament. Tip-off from the Comerica Center is set for 8:30 PM on Friday, Mar. 3