LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | GAME NOTES

(LEBANON, Ill., Jan. 16)--The McKendree University men's basketball team will get to enjoy the friendly confines of the Harry M. Statham Sports Center quite a lot over the next nine days. 

The Bearcats will kick off a five-game home stand Thursday evening when Lewis University comes to Lebanon for a Great Lakes Valley Conference contest. McKendree will play its five games -- all against GLVC foes -- in a nine-day span. The Bearcats will also host the University of Wisconsin-Parkside Saturday afternoon before the University of Illinois Springfield makes the trip south for another GLVC tilt on Monday evening. McKendree will wrap up its home stand with games next Thursday (Jan. 23) against Saint Joseph's College and next Saturday (Jan. 25) versus the University of Indianapolis.

All five games of the home stand will be broadcast live on the Bearcat Sports Network at www.mckbearcats.com/watchlive. Each contest will have an abbreviated pre-game show, with Joe Zydlo provided the play-by-play and Kent Zimmerman handling the color commentary. There will also be live stats of each game at www.mckbearcats.com/livestats. 

McKendree brings a 6-5 overall record and 0-3 conference slate into Thursday's game with Lewis. The Bearcats dropped both games in a GLVC northern road trip last weekend at Quincy University and Truman State University. Junior guard/forward Logan Carson (DuQuoin, IL/DuQuoin) had the hot hand for McKendree during its road trip, averaging 11 points in the two games. Carson netted a season-high 12 points coming off the bench Thursday in a 103-72 loss at Quincy, then posted 10 points during his first start for McKendree in a 91-60 loss to Truman State. 

Senior guard Clinton Happe (Evansville, IN/F.J. Reitz) enters the weekend 47 points shy of the Bearcats' 1,000-point club. Happe leads McKendree in scoring at 16.8 points per game and has boosted his free throw percentage to .866 on the year. He is currently fifth in the GLVC in free throw percentage, and is just fractions off the overall lead, which is held by Brandon McCann of Rockhurst University at .875. 

ABOUT LEWIS: The Flyers are 11-1 overall and 3-1 in GLVC play. Lewis was ranked 23rd in the latest NABC/NCAA Division II poll released earlier in the week. Dating back to the end of the 2012-13 season, the Flyers have won 19 of 22 games. Head coach Scott Trost, who is in his eighth season with the program, has relied on junior guard Ryan Jackson to lead the way for Lewis. Jackson is averaging 18.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest. He is shooting better than 83 percent from the free throw line. Jackson averaged 18 points in two games against the Bearcats last season.

This is the second consecutive weekend that Lewis has made a visit to the greater St. Louis area. The Flyers split a pair of games against GLVC opponents last week, dropping their first game of the 2013-14 season last Thursday, 83-74, in double overtime at Maryville University before rebounding with an 82-80 win at the University of Missouri-St. Louis on Saturday.

Lewis has a 3-1 advantage in the all-time series with McKendree, which dates back to the 1975-76 season. The Flyers took both contests last year, winning 82-61 at the Statham Center on Jan. 17, 2013 before pulling away in the second half for a 76-56 triumph on Feb. 16, 2013 in Romeoville, Ill.

ABOUT WISCONSIN-PARKSIDE: The Rangers enter the weekend with a record nearly identical to Lewis. Wisconsin-Parkside is 11-2 overall, and they sit in a tie with Bellarmine University atop the GLVC East Division standings at 4-0. The Rangers have won four straight contests, including both games last weekend at UMSL (89-76 last Thursday) and Maryville (84-63 on Saturday). 

Luke Reigel, who was named the GLVC Coach of the Year in 2012-13 after leading the Rangers to the East Division title, is in his 11th season at UWP. Reigel has turned to junior forward Zygimantas Riauka to lead the way for Wisconsin-Parkside, and Riauka has responded with team-leading averages of 17.1 points and 9.2 rebounds per outing. Riauka is also shooting .667 from the field and has swatted away 22 shots through 13 games. 

McKendree and UWP met twice last season, with the Rangers winning both match-ups. Wisconsin-Parkside netted a 76-59 win in the first meeting on Jan. 19, 2013 at the Statham Center before posting a 76-63 triumph on Feb. 14, 2013 in Somers, Wis. The only other meeting prior to last season between McKendree and Wisconsin-Parkside came in the 1988-89 season. That year, the Rangers notched an 81-67 victory over the Bearcats in Lebanon.