Men's Basketball | 11.20.2024

LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (2-2)
vs. ST. EDWARD'S (6-1)
Thursday, Nov. 21 – 7:30 p.m.
Rip Griffin Center (Lubbock, Texas)
 
TIPOFF
The 2024-25 season is already in its fourth week, but the Chaparral basketball team will finally play on its home court this weekend with Lone Star Conference games against St. Edward's and St. Mary's this weekend. LCU was off last weekend and split games in each of its first two weekends of play. They opened the year at the D2CCA Tipoff Classic in Canyon, Texas, before playing games on the road in Colorado as part of the South Central Region Crossover. The wins this season have been against Missouri Western and No. 8 Colorado School of Mines. The losses have been against St. Cloud State and Regis.
 
WHERE THE HEART IS
This will be the first time this season that the Chaps have played on their home court at the Rip Griffin Center. Officially dedicated on October 9, 2000, the Rip Griffin Center, seating capacity is 1,950 for sporting events. Lubbock Christian went 11-4 on its home floor a season ago, averaging 83.0 points on 53.1 percent shooting. Najeeb Muhammad, Ethan Duncan and Aaron Gonzales all averaged double-figures in home contests last year. In the Todd Duncan era, the Chaps have a 144-37 record (.795) on their home floor.
 
BEYOND THE ARC
Lubbock Christian enters the weekend ranked No. 19 in Division II in three-point field goal percentage, shooting 42.9 percent as a team. They are third in the LSC in that category, behind only Midwestern State (44.1 percent) and Angelo State (43.2 percent). Duncan is the team leader (minimum 2.5 made per game), having hit on exactly half of his 26 attempts). That is fourth-best in the LSC and tied for 49^th in the nation. In LCU's loss against Regis, Duncan matched his career-high with seven made three-pointers.
 
LONE STAR LOOK
The Lone Star Conference released the 2024 Men's Basketball Presason Poll on Oct. 20 with the Chaps slotted third and Muhammad as one of the league's Players to Watch. The Chaps were slated to finish third with four first-place votes. Only No.1 West Texas A&M and No.2 Dallas Baptist finished ahead of LCU. LCU received four first-place votes for the first time since they were slated to win the conference in 2021-22. In league play, the Chaps will play 22 games, taking on each member of the West Division twice and facing each East Division team once.
 
FRESH FACES
Through the first four games of the season, 53.2 percent of LCU's 316 total points have been scored by players new to the squad. Amondo Miller Jr. leads the newcomers with 16.3 points per game and Sean Murphy is also averaging double-figures at 10.0 points per game. Murphy also leads the team in rebounding with 5.3 per game and fellow newcomer Jaylen Thompson is close behind with 4.8 rebounds per game. Those three newcomers are all transfers from other Division II universities, and the Chaps have also gotten significant minutes from Alex Anamekwe, who transferred from the University of Texas.
 
SHOOTING STARS
Effective field goal percentage is a statistic that adjusts field goal percentage to account for the fact that three-point field goals count for three points, while all other field goals only count for two points. Lubbock Christian ranks second in the LSC and No. 34 nationally in that category at 57.7 percent. Their overall field-goal percentage at 49.2, which ranks third in the LSC. Murphy, Ty Caswell, Thompson, Najeeb Muhammad and Anamekwe are all shooting 50 percent or better on at least 15 attempts this year.
 
FAIR OR FOUL
Lubbock Christian has limited its four opponents so far this season at 71.8 points per game on 44.6 percent shooting. This has come while the Chaps commit just 14.0 fouls per game, which is the second-fewest in the conference and ranks 35^th in the nation. Among LCU players who have played at least 15 minutes per game, Aaron Gonzales has committed the fewest fouls with three.
 
PROTECT THE ROCK
The Chaps have the second-fewest turnovers per game in the LSC entering the weekend with just 9.8 per game. They are also fourth in the league with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.4 thanks to their 55 assists. Muhammad ranks third in the league individually with a ratio of 3.0. He has 15 total assists. LCU tallied 20 total assists in the game. Last season, they only had 20 or more assists twice, both against NAIA programs.
 
THE SERIES WITH THE HILLTOPPERS
LCU and SEU have faced off 35 times on the hardwood, with most of those meeting coming since 2014, when the Chaps moved into the NCAA and joined conference with the Hilltoppers. LCU leads the all-time series 23-12 and has won six of the last eight meetings. During the 2023-24 regular season, St. Edward's won 91-84 in Austin, but the Chaps were winners over the Hilltoppers in the LSC Tournament. SEU's last win inside the Rip Griffin Center (and their only one under head coach Andre Cook) came in the opening round of the of the LSC Tournament in 2021, when Jacob Krafka hit a game-winning three-pointer with two seconds left in the game.
 
SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS

• St. Edward's has played more games than any other team in the Lone Star Conference and is 7-1 on the year. The only loss came against Rogers State
• The Hilltoppers rank second in the LSC with 18.9 assists per game
• Head Coach Andre Cook is in his 16^th season leading the Hilltoppers. He is 269-175 all time and became the all-time winningest coach in SEU history during the 2022-23 season
• Four players are averaging double-figures threw the first seven games of the season, led by Gavino Ramos with 15.6 points per game
• St. Edward's ranks fourth in the conference in three-point field goal percentage at 41.1 percent, just behind  LCU's 42.9 percent mark