Men's Basketball | 03.06.2025

No. 21 LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (23-7, 18-4)
vs. EASTERN NEW MEXICO (18-10, 13-9)
Friday, March 7, 2025 – 2:30 p.m.
Comerica Center (Frisco, Texas)
 
TIPOFF
Lubbock Christian will open postseason play on Friday, playing as the No. 2 seed in the 2025 Lone Star Conference Championship against the No. 7 seed Eastern New Mexico. The Chaps ended the regular season on a strong note, winning 11 of their final 12 games, including their final game, which earned them the Lone Star Conference West Division title. LCU enters the win or go home portion of the season with a 23-7 record, including an 18-4 showing in LSC play. ENMU finished the regular season 18-10 overall, but nine of those losses came in league play against 13 wins.
 
TOURNEY TIME
This is LCU's sixth straight season in the LSC Championship, which encompasses every year they have been in the league, and this is their highest seed since the 2022, when they were conference champions and the No. 1 seed. Last year, the Chaps were the No. 3 seed, but advanced all the way to the championship game, where they fell in a heartbreaker to the No. 4-seeded Greyhounds. The Chaps are 6-5 all time in LSC tournament play. If the Chaps win on Friday, they will turn around and face the winner of Midwestern State and West Texas A&M at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday night. The last time LCU won a conference postseason tournament was 2001, when they won the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament, which was hosted that year inside the Rip Griffin Center. An 82-70 win against the University of Science and Arts clinched the title. 
 
LONE STAR ALL STARS
The 2024-25 Lone Star Conference men's basketball awards were announced on Wednesday night, 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
A 1-1 weekend against Midwestern State did a little damage to the Chaps' national reputation, but not enough to drop them out of the rankings. They actually stood pat at No. 21 in the D2SCSC poll, which has been their slot for three straight weeks since they entered the top-25. In the NABC poll, they did drop, falling to No. 22. Their only opponent last week, MSU, entered the NABC poll and holds the No. 25 spot.
 
REGIONALLY RECOGNIZED
The third NCAA regional rankings were released on Wednesday, with LCU holding their spot for a second-straight week. The Chaps came in at No. 3 this week with a 22-7 overall D-II record, including 20-7 in South Central Region play. The two teams above LCU are No. 1 Colorado School of Mines and No. 2 DBU, both teams the Chaps have beat this season. Other LSC teams under consideration include Midwestern State, St. Mary's, St. Edward's, Eastern New Mexico, Angelo State and West Texas A&M. Regis is the only other RMAC team in the rankings at No. 10.  
 
THE DEFENSE DOESN'T REST
In last Saturday's regular season finale, Lubbock Christian held Midwestern State to just 57 points, which was their lowest single-game total this year. The Chaps have one of the top defenses in the nation (No. 14), and lead the LSC, allowing just 65.3 points per game. LCU opponents shoot 42.8 percent, including just 32.9 percent from behind the arc. Also in the game against MSU, LCU recorded a season-high seven blocks, three of which came from Amondo Miller Jr. The Chaps have held opponents under 60 points 10 times this season and are undefeated in those contests.
 
BEYOND THE ARC
On the other end of the floor, LCU gets a large portion of its offense from 22 feet, 1.75 inches or further away from the basket. They shot exactly 50 percent from behind the arc in their most recent game, and their .383 percent for the season ranks No. 17 nationally. Ty Caswell and Jaylen Thompson are both shooting better than 42 percent from deep, but not with enough attempts to qualify for the national or league leaderboards. Duncan does though, and his 42.5 percent shooting is 25 in D-II. He made five threes in the regular season finale, giving him 82 on the season. His 193 made leave him four away from entering the top five all-time in LCU history. Caswell's career 42.9 three-point percentage currently ranks fifth in program history.
 
FAIR OR FOUL
LCU averages just 14.7 fouls per game this season, which is the second-best mark in the LSC. Their opponents have attempted just 499 free throws and are shooting 70.7 percent from the line. LCU does not attempt many free throws themselves, with their 458 attempts second-to-last in the league (ahead of only MSU), but they make their attempts count. The Chaps shoot 80.5 percent from the line, which is the third best mark in the nation. Caswell and Duncan are both shooting better than 90 percent from the charity stripe, but do not have enough attempts to qualify for the national/conference leaderboards. Muhammad does though, and his .859 percentage ranks second in the LSC.  
 
THE SERIES WITH THE GREYHOUNDS
It was the most recent matchup between Lubbock Christian and Eastern New Mexico that the former took the lead in the all-time series. In 73 meetings, LCU has won 37 times against 36 wins for ENMU. The series started all the way back in December of 1971, which was just the second Chap season as a four-year institution. The Greyhounds won all three matchups last season, and LCU is trying to return the favor this season, having won both on the road and at hoe during the regular season.
 
SCOUTING THE GREYHOUNDS

• ENMU leads the LSC in both scoring (88.9 ppg) and field goal percentage (51.5)
• Six Greyhounds were recognized with All-Conference awards, including Second Team selections Jose Murillo and Mario Whitley
• Eastern New Mexico does allow an average of 75.5 points per game, which ranks 12^th among the 16 teams in the conference
• Murillo ranks No. 7 nationally and leads the Lone Star Conference with a 67.3 field goal percentage
• Head coach Daven Vo is in his first year back at ENMU after serving as the associate head coach for UC-Colorado Springs last season