LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (10-4, 5-1)
at SUL ROSS STATE (1-11, 0-7)
Thursday, Jan. 9 – 7:30 p.m.
Rip Griffin Center (Lubbock, Texas)
 
TIPOFF
After a pair of big road wins in their return to action after the holiday break, Lubbock Christian returns home this week for a matchup with Sul Ross State. The Lobos, based in Alpine, Texas, are not exactly a new foe for the Chaps, but this will be the first time the two teams have met as members of the Lone Star Conference. SRSU joined the LSC officially on July 1, 2024. They were formerly members from 1950-76 when the LSC was affiliated with the NAIA. Sul Ross is currently in its first year of the transition process from NCAA Division III.
 
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
It's been 40 days since the last time the Chaparrals played a game inside the Rip Griffin Center, beating Arlington Baptist 95-57. LCU is 3-1 at home this season with other wins against St. Edward's and UT Dallas. They are averaging 89.8 points per game on their home floor on 52.2 percent shooting. Opponents in the Rip are averaging just 69.0 points on 47.5 percent shooting. Five different LCU players are averaging double-figures in home games, led by Amondo Miller Jr. with 15.3 points.
 
AND THE WINNER IS…
Lubbock Christian senior forward Sean Murphy was named the Lone Star Conference Defensive Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday. The New Zealand native pulled down 7.0 rebounds and added in 11.5 points per game on 61.1 percent shootingin LCU's two wins. This is the third time this season an LCU player has been recognized with a conference weekly award. Ty Caswell was named Defensive Player of the Week on Dec. 2 and Ethan Duncan earned Offensive Player of the Week honors on Dec. 9.
 
BEYOND THE ARC
The Chaparrals enter the weekend ranked No. 1 in the nation in three-point field goal percentage. They are shooting 42.8 percent as a team, four spots higher than the next-highest LSC team (Midwestern State). Thompson and Ty Caswell are shooting better than 50 percent from behind the arc but do not meet the minimum 2.5 made threes per game to be on the conference or national leaderboards. Duncan does though, and his 48.9 percent shooting ranks ninth nationally and No. 2 in the league. Duncan is also sixth in the country in total three-pointers made with 50.
 
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. 15 in the nation in that stat with a mark of 57.7 percent. LCU shot exactly 50 percent in the win against West Texas A&M. It was the seventh time this season the Chaps have shot at least 50 percent, with wins in all seven games. Sean Murphy leads the team in field-goal percentage, shooting 63.0 percent, which would rank No. 20 nationally and second in the LSC if he met the minimum of five made field goals per game.
 
IN THEIR DEFENSE
Lubbock Christian put together its best defensive weekend of the season in the wins against ENMU and WT. The Chaps limited the Greyhounds to just 71 points, which is their second-lowest total of the season. ENMU came into the game averaging 96.0 points per game. On the road in Canyon, LCU held the Buffs to just 48 points, which was its lowest single-game total since Feb. 15, 2014. WT shot just 28.3 percent, including only 11.1 percent from beyond the arc. It is the lowest an LCU opponent has shot on three-pointers since Nov. 27, 2021, when they held Chaminade to just 4.2 percent (1-24) shooting from behind the arc.
 
PROTECT THE ROCK
A big part of LCU's success this season has been their ability to take care of the ball and not turn it over. They average just 10.2 turnovers per game, which is the 12^th-fewest in Division II and leads the Lone Star Conference. Trey Thompson and Aaron Gonzales are both averaging at least nine minutes of playing time a game with fewer than five turnovers. Najeeb Muhammad has turned it over just 16 times while racking up 53 assists, leading the conference with an assist to turnover ratio of 3.3.
 
LOOKING AT THE LONE STAR
After a big weekend on the road, Lubbock Christian sits tied atop the LSC West Division with UT Permian Basin, although the Falcons have played one more in-division game than the Chaps and are 3-0. LCU and UTPB will meet for the first time a week from now in Odessa. DBU, St. Mary's and St. Edward's are all undefeated in the East Division. Each division winner along with the next six teams with the highest win percentages against all LSC teams will make the league tournament at the end of the regular season.
 
THE SERIES WITH THE LOBOS
Sul Ross is a familiar foe for Lubbock Christian overall, with two teams having faced off 74 times as four-year institutions and one more time while the Chaps were still a junior college. LCU leads the all-time series 54-21 and has won 24 of the last 25 matchups, although only eight of those meetings have come in the 21^st century. The last game between the Chaps and Lobos was Nov. 21, 2017, which LCU won 79-65 behind 23 points from Isaac Asrat.
 
SCOUTING THE LOBOS

• SRSU is led by Ethan Yancy, a D-I transfer from SIU-Edwardsville, who averages 15.5 points per game
• The Lobos allow an average of 78.2 points per game, which is the second-most in the LSC
• Xavier Webb is in his fifth season as the head coach at Sul Ross, which is also his alma mater
• Two other SRSU players are averaging double-figures, including Cam Clardy (13.8) and Clay Baldwin (10/7)
• The Lobos are shooting 39.6 from the field on the season, which is the lowest field goal percentage among LSC teams