SILVER CITY, N.M. - Russell Harrison and Rowan Mackenzie both sit near career scoring milestones, as Lubbock Christian looks for their seventh straight win, heading west to take on Western New Mexico on Thursday, Feb. 9.

Lubbock Christian (16-6, 12-4 LSC) at Western New Mexico (13-9, 7-9 LSC) 
Thursday, Feb. 9 - 8:30 PM 
Silver City, N.M. - Drag's Court

NEED TO KNOW
- LCU is coming off a 69-55 win over UTPB on Saturday, Feb. 4. Russell Harrison scored 27 points in the win, and is now four points away from 2,000 in his career.
- Rowan Mackenzie scored 11 points and pulled down five rebounds against UTPB. Mackenzie is 11 points away from 1,000 points in his career.
- LCU held UTPB to 15.4 percent (2-for-13) from three. It's the lowest mark from deep for a team against the Chaps from deep since Midwestern State shot just 11.8 percent (2-for-17) from beyond the arc in a 66-52 win for the Chaps almost a year ago to the day on Feb. 3, 2023. 
- The Chaps' six-game winning streak is their longest of the season. LCU has won four of those games on the road during the current stretch of success. 

FINISH STRONG
LCU has won two-straight Lone Star Conference regular season championships, and have compiled a 54-14 record in the LSC since joining the conference in 2019. The Chaps are 29-7 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 25-7 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 21-6 in the month of February.

ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT
This season, Rowan Mackenzie is leading the Chaps in scoring, averaging 19.5 points per game, first in the LSC. That clip would tie Rick Russwurm (1972-73) for the fourth highest points per game mark in a season if the regular season ended today. Mackenzie is third in the LSC in field goal percentage, shooting 57.3 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 1.7 steals per game are tied for third in the LSC.
Mackenzie scored 24 points and hauled down 10 boards against DBU for his third career double-double. The junior also had two assists and a block, and shot 8-for-12 (66.7 percent) from the field. Against Midwestern State, Mackenzie had his second straight double-double, scoring 26 points and hauling down a career best 11 rebounds. The junior also had six assists and two blocks.
Mackenzie is closing in on 1,000 career points, having scored 989 points so far, just 11 points away.

GOTTA MAKE YOUR FREE THROWS
Lubbock Christian has been automatic from the free throw line this season, shooting 76.8 percent from the charity stripe. That mark is the third-best in the Lone Star Conference, and the 28th best in Division-II. If the Chaps were playing Division-I basketball, that mark would also rank 15th in D-I, above schools such as Miami, Duke, Purdue and Texas Tech.

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 has also found his stroke of late, scoring 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. While Muhammad had just four points for the Chaps against Cameron, three of those came in overtime to put LCU up by four with under a minute remaining. He also pulled down a season-high 10 rebounds. 
This season, the Arizona Western College transfer is averaging 10.1 points per game, while his 96 total assists are fourth in the Lone Star Conference. His 2.3 assist-to-turnover ratio is tied for the the third-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 15.8 points per game, and 5.0 rebounds per game. Harrison has now scored 1,048 career points at NCAA schools (ULM and LCU), and is just four points away from 2,000 career points.
For his overall career, Harrison has scored 1,996 points, with 395 points in a season at NAIA Wayland Baptist, and 550 points in one season at JUCO Clarendon. Harrison has scored 347 points this season for the Chaps.

MAKE THEM EARN IT
Opponents have struggled to score against the Chaps this season, averaging 65.8 points per game against Lubbock Christian. That mark is fourth in the conference and 33rd 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

BUCKETS
LCU is shooting 47.1 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. Just recently against DBU, Lubbock Christian shot 48.1 percent from the floor, including 47.1 percent from the three-point line. The Chaps are shooting 36.4 percent from deep this season, the second- best mark in the Lone Star Conference.

SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
 - WNMU enters the game 13-9 overall and 7-9 in conference play. The Mustangs have won two in a row and three of their last four, coming off a 79-64 win over Midwestern State on Saturday. 
-  The Mustangs have had eight games this season decided by eight points or less, including a 78-77 loss to no. 21 Angelo State where the Rams hit a shot at the buzzer for the win.
- Olamide Pedersen is averaging 5.6 rebounds per game for the Mustangs. In their last meeting against LCU earlier this season, Pedersen picked up his second double-double of the year with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
-  Tony Avalos leads WNMU with 9.4 points per game. Avalos scored 17 points in the meeting between the Mustangs and Chaps earlier this season. 
- Head Coach Zane Gibson is in his third season with the Mustangs. During his second year as Western New Mexico's leader, WNMU won double digit games for the first time in 10 seasons and for the first time ever while Western New Mexico has been in the Lone Star Conference. Tony Avalos and Jordan Doss were both selected to the LSC All-Conference team.

THE SERIES WITH THE MUSTANGS
LCU leads the overall series with WNMU 6-3, as WNMU snapped a 46-year long losing streak and earned their first win in Lubbock over the Chaps on Jan. 14 with a 76-67 win. The Mustangs won the first two meetings in 1973 in Apline, Texas and in 1977 in Alamosa, Colo. Last year's 108-54 win for LCU was a record-setting day for the Chaps, as the program drained 20 three-pointers in the game and also clinched their program-best 25th win of the year. LCU is 2-0 all-time in Silver City, scoring at least 95 points in both wins at Drag's Court.

LAST TIME OUT
Feb. 4, 2023 - vs UTPB  -Lubbock Christian shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half, as the Chaps pulled away from UTPB for their sixth straight victory, knocking off the Falcons 69-55 on Saturday, Feb. 4.
Harrison led the Chaps with 27 points, shooting 9-for-14 (64.3 percent) from the floor, and 5-for-7 (71.4 percent) from three. The Lubbock native now sits just four points away from 2,000 career points across four different schools (Wayland Baptist, Clarendon College, ULM, Lubbock Christian). He also flirted with a double-double, pulling down nine rebounds and dishing out three assists.
Muhammad scored 11 points, dishing out four assists. Mackenzie also scored 11 points, pulling down five rebounds.

A WIN WOULD
- Be the seventh win in a row for the Chaps
- Be the third straight win for LCU at Drag's Court (2-0)

UP NEXT
The Chaps close out their trip to New Mexico with a trek to Portales for a rematch with Eastern New Mexico. Tip-off is set for 4:30 PM on Saturday, Feb. 11.