LEBANON, Ill. – McKendree University men's basketball will look conclude its 2021-22 home regular season schedule this weekend with two wins as the Bearcats welcome both Lindenwood and Maryville University to the Harry M. Statham Sports Center for Great Lakes Valley Conference games.

The Bearcats will continue its three-game homestand on Thursday, Feb. 17 as they host Lindenwood University for a 7:30 p.m. contest on both Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night and White Out Night, before concluding its regular season home slate on Saturday, Feb. 19 with a 3 p.m. game on Alumni Day and Senior Day against Maryville University.

Prior to Saturday's game with Maryville, the Bearcats will honor its four seniors in a pregame ceremony. The Bearcats seniors this season are guard Brendon Gooch (Belleville, Ill./SIU-Carbondale, guard CaRondis Harris-Anderson (Waterloo, Iowa/Waterloo West), forward Aleksa Popovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Cleveland State) and guard Oliver Stephen (Edwardsville, Ill./SWIC).

McKendree comes into this weekend's final two home regular season games sporting a 12-8 overall record and an 8-8 mark in the GLVC after snapping its three-game losing skid with a 78-71 home win on Valentine's Day over UIndy.

In the win over UIndy, the Bearcats made 12 3-pointers and shot 41 percent from the 3-point line and also were 18-for-22 from the free throw line to fend off a second half rally by the Greyhounds to snap its losing skid and improve to 7-3 at home on the season. Against UIndy, junior guard Bryson Bultman (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) and Stephen combined for 15 points, while Gooch added 13 points and sophomore guard Carson Parker (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) chipped in with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists.

On the season, the Bearcats are averaging 70.8 points per game and have scored 74 or more points in 12 of 20 games and are averaging 69.5 points per game in GLVC play. Additionally, the Bearcats, who are ranked sixth in the latest GLVC TicketSmarter Point Rating System with a PRS of 3.41, are outrebounding its foes by a little less than a board per game and are shooting 46 percent from the field, 37 percent from the 3-point line and 75 percent from the free throw line. McKendree is fifth in the GLVC in both three-point field goal percentage and free throw percentage and third in the league in made 3-pointers per game (8.8).

Perhaps the biggest strength this season for the Bearcats has been its defense as McKendree enters this weekend's action sitting eighth in the league in scoring defense as they are allowing 68.7 points per game and have held seven opponents under 70 points. In addition, the Bearcats are third in the league in 3-point field goal defense (32.4 percent) and eighth in field goal percentage defense (43.5 percent).

Leading the way offensively for the Bearcats is Bultman as he is third in the league in scoring at 19.3 points per game and has tallied double figures in scoring in 19 of 20 games, including 18 straight games of reaching double figures. Along with his scoring, Bultman is pulling down 6.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists per game and leads the league in minutes played at a little over 37 minutes per game and is coming off a 15 point game on Monday at home against UIndy. Along with scoring in double figures in 18 straight games, Bultman has scored 20 or more points in six of his last nine games, including two games with 30 or more points, which is tops among all league players and is now just 48 points shy of becoming the 52nd men's player in school history to record 1,000 career points.

Along with Bultman, Gooch is second on the team in scoring as he is averaging 11.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game and is shooting 41 percent from the floor, 36 percent from the 3-point line and 78 percent at the free throw line. Gooch has tallied double figures in scoring in 10 of his last 12 games and has recorded two double-doubles on the year.

Thursday's opponent, Lindenwood, comes into action having won two straight games to move its overall record to 11-13 and its league record to 7-9. The Lions current win streak began with a 73-55 win at Maryville on Saturday and continued with an impressive 101-66 home win on Valentine's Day over Missouri S&T.

The Lions, who are ranked tied for eighth with William Jewell in the latest GLVC TicketSmarter Point Rating System with a PRS ranking of 3.88, are 4-6 away from home this season, including a 3-4 mark in GLVC road games.

Lindenwood is one of the top free throw shooting teams in all of NCAA Division II men's basketball entering play this weekend as the Lions are shooting 78.7 percent from the free throw line, which is 11th in the latest NCAA D-II statistics and tops in the GLVC. The Lions are 348-for-442 at the line on the season and are averaging 14.5 made free throws per game and are attempting 18.4 free throw per game. Additionally, LU is second in the league in blocked shots as they average 4.1 per game and are third in the league in fewest turnovers per game as they have turned it over just 10.7 times per game.

Three Lindenwood players are averaging in double figures this season led by senior guard Jacoby Ross, who is fourth in the league in scoring as he averages 19.2 points per game and is shooting 44 percent from the field, 35 percent from the 3-point line and 90 percent at the free throw line. Ross has scored in double figures in 22 games and is coming off a 31 point performance on Monday against Missouri S&T.

In addition to Ross, senior forward Romelo Burrell is averaging 15.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game and is shooting 37 percent from the field, but leads the league in both made free throws (148) and free throw attempts (182) and also leads the GLVC in blocked shots with 39 and has recorded eight double-doubles on the year, while junior guard Kevin Caldwell, Jr., is averaging 14.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game and is shooting 39 percent from the floor and 81 percent at the free throw line.

Lindenwood is coached by Kyle Gerdeman, who is in his third season with the Lions and has compiled a 33-39 record and a 23-32 mark in the GLVC.

Thursday's game will mark the 15th all-time game in the series and the first meeting this season as the series is tied a 7-7. The Bearcats lost the most recent meeting in the series last season at Lindenwood as the Lions posted a 116-109 win in double overtime. In that game, Bultman scored a career high 45 points. Two of the last three games against the Lions have gone into overtime or double overtime as the teams played an overtime game during the 2019-20 season as Lindenwood earned a 121-116 home win. McKendree leads the series, 3-2 in Lebanon, while Lindenwood holds a 4-3 mark on its home court. The two teams have met twice on neutral courts with each team owning a win.

Meanwhile, Saturday's opponent, Maryville, comes into this week's action having lost three straight games, including a 68-64 loss at home on Valentine's Day to Truman State. The Saints, who play at Southern Indiana on Thursday before facing the Bearcats, have also lost in this stretch at home to Lindenwood (73-55) and at home to UMSL (58-50). Since its win at William Jewell on Jan. 6, Maryville has lost eight of its last nine games with the lone win being a 73-72 victory at home over Missouri S&T on Feb. 5. Thanks its three game losing skid, the Saints have fallen to 15th in the most recent GLVC TicketSmarter Point Rating System as they have a PRS ranking of 2.53.

The Saints enter play this weekend as one of the top teams in the league at collecting steals as they have 178 on the season and are averaging 7.7 per game and are forcing 14.6 turnovers per game. In addition, the Saints are allowing 68.8 points per game on defense and are scoring 70.3 points on offense and 41 percent of their field goal attempts have come from the 3-point line. The Saints have taken 542 treys and are making just 32.3 percent of those treys on the year.

Leading the way offensively for the Saints is sophomore guard Ari Jackson, who is averaging 12.6 points per game, while shooting 46 percent from the field and 81 percent from the free throw line and has scored in double figures in 17 games, including tallying 18 points in the earlier game this season with the Bearcats.

The second double-digit scorer for Maryville is graduate student forward Cameron Scales, who is averaging 11.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game and is shooting 41 percent from the field and 88 percent from the free throw line, while sophomore guard Kelvin Swims averages just a little under 10 points per game at 9.7 and is shooting 49 percent from the field and has had a team-best 29 steals.

Jesse Shaw, who is a former assistant at UMSL and played collegiately at Northwest Missouri State, is in his second season as Maryville's coach and he has compiled an 18-25 overall record with the Saints and is 12-23 in GLVC games.

Saturday's game will mark the 15th all-time meeting in the series and the second this season as Maryville earned a 60-55 win over the Bearcats on their home court on Dec. 2. Maryville leads the all-time series, 10-4. McKendree trails 4-1 at home against Maryville and also is 3-6 in the series at Maryville.

Following this week's action, the Bearcats will close out the 2021-22 regular season with road games on Monday, Feb. 21 at Lewis at 7:30 p.m. and on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 3 p.m. in St. Louis against UMSL.