LEBANON, Ill. – The Bearcats return home this week as they host the Maryville University Saints on Thursday, January 25th and the Missouri S&T Miners on Saturday, January 27th.
Game Happenings
During Thursday's contest, we are hosting International Student-Athlete night where athletes are encouraged to come and show their countries colors and heritage. Also on Thursday, the men's swimming and diving team will be recognized at halftime of the men's game for their third place finish at the NCAA National Championships last season.
On Saturday, McKendree University is hosting a Community Day.
Scouting the Bearcats
The McKendree University Bearcats enter the weekend with an overall record of 10-6 (4-5 GLVC). They are coming off a weekend where they lost two roads games to Lewis University (68-62) and the University of Indianapolis (87-76).
The Bearcats are still amongst the leaders in the nation in shooting. They currently sit second in field goal percentage at 52.0%. While they are leading the conference in that category, they are also second in the GLVC in field goal percentage defense holding teams to 41.4% shooting.
Leading McKendree offensively is Milos Vicentic who is sixth in Division II and second in the conference at 23.1 points per game. The Belgrade, Serbia native sits just eight points shy of 1,000 in a Bearcat uniform. Also averaging double figures in scoring is Caleb Zurliene at 14.9. The Aviston, Illinois native sits third in the GLVC at 58.3%.
Scouting the Saints
The Maryville Saints enter the weekend with a record of 7-8 (3-6 GLVC) and winners of their last three. Last weekend they won both games by a combined three points – William Jewell (61-59) and Rockhurst (70-69).
The Saints are about their defense as they are the second best scoring defense in the GLVC at 68.0 points per game. While their defensive numbers are low, they also take care of the ball with a turnover margin of 2.3. Part of that margin is them forcing 13 turnovers per game.
They are led by Dewayne Vass who has appeared and started in all 15 games averaging 11.9 points per game, while shooting 62.3% from the field. Vass is leading the GLVC in steals per game at 2.07.
Scouting the Miners
The Miners will start the weekend with an overall record of 9-7 (3-6 GLVC). Before coming to Lebanon, they will battle the Missouri – St. Louis Tritons on Thursday evening on the campus of UMSL. S&T and McKendree battled back on January 6th with the Bearcats coming away with the 71-63 in Rolla, Missouri.
S&T is the third highest scoring team in the GLVC at 80 points. They also attack the glass pulling down 38.5 rebounds per game to rank second in the conference behind Quincy.
They are led by Ikenna Okeke who is averaging 13.9 points per game. He is one of four Miners' averaging double figures as Lovell Williams, Julien Smith and Kaden Froebe are in the mix scoring. They have one of the top rebounders in the conference in Andrew Young who is pulling down seven rebounds per game.
