Men's Basketball | 12.03.2024

LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (5-3, 1-1)
vs. UT TYLER (3-3, 0-0)
Wednesday, Dec. 4 – 7:30 p.m.
Louise Herrington Patriot Center (Tyler, Texas)
 
TIPOFF
After four straight games at home, the Lubbock Christian men's basketball team will head back out on the road and return to Lone Star Conference play against UT Tyler. The Chaps went 3-1 on their homestand with wins against St. Edward's, UT Dallas and Arlington Baptist and a loss against St. Mary's, making them 1-1 in Lone Star Conference play. Wednesday's matchup will be the first foray into conference play for the Patriots, who were picked to finish 14^th in the LSC Preseason Poll.
 
AWARD CENTRAL
Lubbock Christian senior forward Ty Caswell was named the Lone Star Conference Defensive Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday afternoon. It is the first league weekly award earned by a Chaparral this season. Caswell was a force on the glass in Lubbock Christian's pair of wins during Thanksgiving Break as they limited UT Dallas and Arlington Baptist to an average of 65.0 points per game on just 44.0 percent shooting. He led the team in rebounding in both games (8, 6) and added in a pair of blocks and three steals. The Wichita Falls native also contributed offensively with 17.5 points per game on 57.1 percent shooting.
 
HOW CAN I HELP YOU?
In last Tuesday's win against UT Dallas, the Chaps tallied 22 assists, which was their most in a single game since Dec. 31, 2023 against Oklahoma City when they also had 22. Then on Saturday, they surpassed that mark and notched 24 assists on 37 made field goals. It was their most in a single game since Feb. 24, 2022, when they had 27 against Western New Mexico. LCU averages 16.4 assists per game, which is the fifth-most in the LSC. Najeeb Muhammad leads the Chaps with 4.0 assists per game, which is the fifth-most in the league individually.
 
SHARP-SHOOTERS
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 leads the LSC and ranks No. 5 nationally in that category at 60.6 percent. On Tuesday, they shot 54.4 percent from the field and 43.3 percent overall – their second-highest single game mark in both of those categories this year. Their overall field-goal percentage is exactly 50.6 percent, which ranks second in the LSC. Sean Murphy, Caswell, Alex Anamekwe and Jaylen Thompson are all shooting better than 50 percent on the year.
 
PROTECT THE ROCK
Through seven games, Lubbock Christian is averaging just 9.5 turnovers per game, which is the second-fewest in the LSC behind Texas A&M-Kingsville's 8.9. Both Aaron Gonzales and Duncan are averaging at least 15 minutes of playing per game with fewer than five turnovers on the year. Muhammad has only turned the ball over eight times against a team-leading 32 assists. His 3.2 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks second in the LSC.
 
BLOCK PARTY
Lubbock Christian was active on the defensive end against both the Comets and the Patriots, blocking a season-high five shots in both games. The Chaps only tallied more than five blocks four times during the 2023-24 season. Amondo Miller Jr. has had a pair of blocks in each of the last two games, and Caswell also had a pair. LCU has 19 total blocks on the year for an average of 2.4 per game. That mark ranks 11^th in the conference.
 
BEYOND THE ARC
The Chaparrals went 13-30 on three-pointers in the win against Arlington Baptist, shooting 45.3 percent. They have shot better than 40 percent in all but one game this season on three-pointers and are shooting 45 percent overall. That number leads the LSC and ranks No. 2 in all of Division II. The best three-point percentage for the team in the last decade was the 2020-21 season, when they shot 43.8 percent. Caswell leads the team in in that category at 63.3 percent and would lead the LSC in that category, but he does not have the requisite 2.5 made per game to qualify for the leaderboards. Duncan does qualify and ranks fifth in the league at 48.1 percent.
 
CHARITY STRIPE
After struggling in their first two games of the season at the free throw line (.417, .462), Lubbock Christian has bounced back in a big way and now leads the conference with their 75.4 percentage at the line. They have shot better than 80 percent in five games this season, including a season-high 87.5 percent against Regis on Nov. 9. Duncan, Muhammad, Miller Jr. and Caswell are all shooting 80 percent or better from the line.
 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Lubbock Christian has only played two true road games so far this season, going 1-1 with a win at Colorado School of Mines and a loss at Regis. The Chaps have averaged 86.0 points per game on 50.8 shooting on the road while opponents have shot 51.7 percdent for 85.0 points per game. Ethan Duncan is the team's leading scorer on the raod with an average of 21.5 points per game on 58.3 percent shohoting. Miller Jr., Muhammad, Thompson and Muprhy are all also averaging double-figures in road games. LCU has also played to neutral site games in Canyon, Texas, where they also went 1-1.
 
THE SERIES WITH THE PATRIOTS
LCU has not yet lost a game in the series against UT Tyler, which began just four years ago when the latter moved up from the NCAA Division III level and joined the Lone Star Conference. The matchups have been filled with drama from the start though. In the very first meeting in 2020, the Chaps trailed by nine with 2:20 left to go, but used a 13-1 run to close out the game with a win. Since then, two more matchups have been decided by 10 or fewer points.
 
SCOUTING THE PATRIOTS

• UTT has a pair of common opponents with LCU in Colorado School of Mines and Regis, with opposite results. The Patriots lost in overtime to CSM but blew out RU in a games played in Tyler
• The Patriots have the second-best scoring defense in the LSC, limiting opponents to just 62 points per game so far this year. Opponents shoot just 36.6 percent against them
• Tim Moser is in his second season leading the UT Tyler men's basketball team, but he spent two seasons before that as the associate head coach for the Patriot women's team
• Dontrell Hewlett is the only Patriot player averaging double-figures at 14.0 points per game, but three others are averaging at least 9.0.
• The Patrtiots have struggled at the free throw line so far this season, hitting just 63.3 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe