Men's Basketball | 03.15.2025

No. 21 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (25-8, 19-4 LSC)
vs. ST. MARY'S (29-4, 19-3)
Saturday, March 15, 2025 – Noon
Burg Center (Dallas, Texas)
 
TIPOFF
The regular season and conference tournament are over, and Lubbock Christian has earned a spot in the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament, heading to Dallas to take on St. Mary's in the Burg Center. This will be LCU's seventh time in the NCAA Tournament overall in 10 seasons of eligibility and their fifth straight trip to the postseason. It will be a new destination for the Chaps, at least in terms of tournament play, as DBU will host for the first time in program history.
 
THIS IS MARCH
LCU's No. 3 seed in the South Central Regional is its highest since the 2021-22 season, when they were the No. 1 seed and hosted the tournament. They are joined at the regional by the host Patriots, Colorado School of Mines, Midwestern State, St. Edward's, St. Mary's, West Texas A&M and Regis. The Chaps have played every team in the tournament at least once this season, going a combined 7-4 against them. The last time Lubbock Christian won a game at the NCAA Tournament was 2022, when they beat Texas A&M-Commerce (in their final year of D-II competition) 80-63. The Chaps are 4-6 all time at the tournament.
 
MILESTONES
Two Chaparral players hit major milestones during the Lone Star Conference tournament, as both Ty Caswell and Ethan Duncan surpassed the 1000-point mark in their collegiate careers. Caswell ended the regular season with exactly 999 points, breaking the millennium mark with a three-pointer in the second half of the semifinal game against Eastern New Mexico. Duncan reached 1000 in spectacular fashion, needing 26 points entering the game against WT and scoring a career-high 37 against the Buffs. The pair joined Najeeb Muhammad, who reached 1000 during the regular season. Muhammad is also five assists shy of taking over the No. 5 spot in career assists in LCU history.
 
THE DEFENSE DOESN'T REST
Lubbock Christian enters the postseason with one of the top defenses in the country, allowing just 66.1 points per game. That mark is 18^th in Division II and second in the LSC. LCU opponents shoot 43.0 percent, including just 32.3 percent from behind the arc. The Chaps have held opponents under 60 points 10 times this season and are undefeated in those contests. They are also undefeated when out-shooting their opponent from the floor, which has happened 21 times this season.
 
CHARITY STRIPE
Lubbock Christian got to the free throw line 19 times in their LSC Championship loss against DBU, hitting 15 attempts. Duncan (6-6) and Muhammad (3-3) were both perfect. This season, the Chaps are shooting 80.2 percent from the charity stripe, which leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks No. 4 nationally. Duncan is shooting 92.2 percent from the line to lead the team, but does not have enough attempts to qualify for the league leaderboards. Muhammad does though, and his 86.4 percent shooting is the second-best mark in the LSC.
 
PROTECT THE ROCK
The 15 turnovers for LCU against DBU, while certainly not their best performance of the season, it was seven fewer than the 22 per game the Patriots have forced on average. Overall, the Chaparrals have been one of the best teams in the country at taking care of the basketball. They average just 9.7 turnovers per game, which leads the LSC and ranks No. 8 nationally. Fourteen times this season they have committed fewer than 10 turnovers, going 11-3 in those contests. Individually, Muhammad leads the conference and ranks 14^th nationally with an assist to turnover ratio of 2.98
 
LONE STAR ALL-STARS
The 2024-25 Lone Star Conference men's basketball awards were announced last week, with six Lubbock Christian players honored, including LSC Player of the Year Ethan Duncan. Duncan is the first LCU player to win the league's Player of the Year award since Parker Hicks won it in 2022, which was his second-straight year earning the accolade. He also earned a spot on the All-LSC First Team. Najeeb Muhammad was named to the All-LSC Second Team. Ty Caswell was an All-LSC Third Team selection and also earned a spot on the All-Academic Team, where he was joined by Aaron Gonzales. Amondo Miller Jr. and Sean Murphy were named to the All-LSC Honorable Mention Team.
 
NATIONALLY KNOWN
The 2-1 weekend as the LSC Tournament kept the Chaps didn't do a lot to help the Chaps nationally. They moved up two spots in the D2CSC poll to No. 19, which is their highest ranking of the season in that poll. In the NABC poll, the moved up one spot to No. 21. LCU's highest national ranking of the season was at No. 17, which they achieved three weeks ago in the NABC poll.
 
THE SERIES WITH THE RATTLERS
Lubbock Christian and St. Mary's only met twice prior to the 21^st century, but have met 16 times since the Chaps joined the Heartland Conference in 2013. LCU leads the all-time series 12-6, and had won eight straight meetings before the Rattlers won inside the Rip Griffin Center in November. StMU shot 51.9 percent in that context behind 21 points from Damani Claxton.
 
SCOUTING THE RATTLERS

• This is StMU's 10^th appearance in the NCAA Tournament in program history, but their first since 2015
• Rattlers Damani Claxton and Lachlan Bofinger were named to the All-LSC First Team. Claxton was also named the league's Newcomer of the Year
• Bofinger leads the LSC and ranks No. 20 nationally with an average of 9.7 rebounds per game
• Rattler head coach Bubba Meyer is in his second season at the helm of the program, which is also his alma mater. His father coached the Rattlers from 1978-2005, and Meyer was actually a member of the first St. Mary's team to make the NCAA Tournament in 2001
• St. Mary's did struggle to shoot three-pointers throughout the season, ranking last in the LSC with a field-goal percentage of 29.7 from beyond the arc