LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree University Bearcats will wrap up their four-game road stretch on Thursday, January 18th and Saturday, January 20th as they travel to Lewis University and the University of Indianapolis.
Game Information
· Neil Carey Arena (Romeoville, Illinois)
· 7:30 p.m. (January 18, 2024)
· Nicoson Hall (Indianapolis, Indiana)
· 2:00 p.m. (January 20, 2024)
Watch List
Small College Basketball and the National Awards Committee announced the Bevo Francis Top 100 Watch List on Monday, January 15th. The Top 100 Watch List consists of some of the top players from the NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA.
The McKendree University Bearcats are represented for the first-time in program history on this watch list. Junior forward Milos Vicentic is one of the three players from the Great Lakes Valley Conference on this list – Jake Hilmer (Upper Iowa) and Jesse Bingham (Indianapolis).
Matchup History
The Bearcats and Flyers have matched up 18 times in the series history. McKendree has won three games in the series, including last year's contest in Lebanon by the score of 57-55. Two of the wins in the series have come on the campus of Lewis.
McKendree and the University of Indianapolis will be squaring off for the 17th time in the series on Saturday. Last time at Nicoson Hall, the Bearcats defeated the Greyhounds in first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament.
Scouting the Bearcats
The Bearcats enter the weekend with an overall record of 10-4 (4-3 GLVC) and have won their last two games at Missouri S&T and at Missouri – St. Louis. In the game at UMSL, the Bearcats had a pair of 28-point performances in Milos Vicentic and Caleb Zurliene. Zurliene was 12-of-16 from the field and blocked five shots. Vicentic was 9-of-16 from the field, pulling down six rebounds. For his efficient performance, Zurliene was named GLVC Player of the Week.
As a team, the Bearcats are the top shooting team in the NCAA (including Division I and Division III teams) at 53.6%. On the defensive side, McKendree is second in the conference in field goal percentage defense at 41.4%.
Individually, Vicentic is second in the GLVC with 23.2 points per game. He has made the most field goals (134) in the conference while being 4th in percentage (56.3). Caleb Zurliene is 3rd in the GLVC in field goal percentage at 62.0%. The Aviston, Illinois native is also leading the conference and 4th in the country in blocks (45) and blocks per game (3.21).
Scouting the Flyers
The Lewis University Flyers enter the weekend with an overall record of 8-7 (4-3 GLVC). Their last time out, they fell to the Rockhurst Hawks by the score of 94-72. Ryan Renfro led them in scoring with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
Lewis sits in third in the conference with a field goal percentage of 49.5. They are towards the bottom of the conference in scoring defense as they are allowing 76.7 points per game.
Leading the team offensively is Beau Frericks who is averaging 15.9 points per game, which sits sixth in the GLVC. Renfro is leading the league in rebounds with 7.2 per game.
Scouting the Greyhounds
The University of Indianapolis hold a 10-5 overall record and 6-1 in the GLVC. They will host UMSL on Thursday, before welcoming the Bearcats to Nicoson Hall. UINDY is coming off of a tight loss to the William Jewell Cardinals by the score of 73-71. Kendrick Tchoua led the Greyhounds with 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting.
The Greyhounds are the top field goal percentage defense in the conference as they are holding their opponents to 39% from the field. That results to them holding teams to 62.7 points per game.
Jesse Bingham leads the Greyhounds with 15.1 points per game, which is 11th in the league.
