LEBANON, Ill. – The Bearcats are preparing for their final road trip of the regular season as a trip to southwest Missouri looms this weekend. The road trip will see a battle of the bearcats on Thursday, February 15 as they take on the Southwest Baptist University Bearcats and the Drury University Panthers on Saturday, February 17th.
Point-Rating System
With five games left in the regular season, McKendree currently sits in the 8th place in the GLVC's PRS, which is used to qualify the league's top 8 teams for the conference tournament.
Series History
McKendree University and SBU have battled six times since SBU joined the conference in 2019. SBU holds the series advantage at 4-2, but McKendree took the most recent battle in the GLVC tournament last year.
The series between the Bearcats and the Panthers has a little bit more history as this Saturday will be the 13th matchup. Drury holds the advantage at 9-3, but last February the Bearcats won the most recent contest in Lebanon.
Scouting McKendree
The Bearcats, winners of their last three, come into the weekend with an overall record of 13-9 (7-8 GLVC). Last weekend, they were able to defeat Quincy (77-68) and Illinois – Springfield (121-116, 3 OT), which helped them to move up in the PRS. The triple overtime contest against the Prairie Stars was the first in the DII era for the Bearcats. For his performances last week, which included 41 points against UIS, Milos Vicentic was named GLVC Player of the Week for the second time this season.
Vicentic's 41 points became the highest scoring game in the GLVC so far this season, he is now averaging 22.8 points per game. That average put his second in the league only behind Upper Iowa's Jake Hilmer and 7th in the country. The Belgrade, Serbia native also ranks in the top 3 of the GLVC in field goals, and field goal percentage. Supporting Vicentic in scoring is Caleb Zurliene at 14.5 points per game and Carson Parker at 11.8 per game. Zurliene is also a factor on the defensive end of the floor as he leads the conference in blocked shots (63) and blocks per game (2.86). Those marks are good for top five in the nation. He has moved into second all-time for career blocks with 188.
Shooting 51.2% from the field, puts McKendree second in the GLVC and sixth in the nation for field goal percentage. While they can shoot at an effective clip, they also sit fourth in the GLVC in field goal percentage defense (42.9%). Staying on the defensive end, McKendree leads the conference in defensive rebounds per game (27.95).
Scouting Southwest Baptist
SBU has been in their own way this year as they own an overall record of 6-16 (2-12 GLVC). Their two conference wins have come at Drury on December 9th in a close battle 65-62 and at home against the Quincy University Hawks on January 27 in another 65-62 contest. Overall, they have lost their last three games, including one-point loss at Rockhurst (70-69) last time out.
Leading the offense has been Drenin Dinkins at 16.4 points per game, which puts him seventh in the GLVC. Supporting Dinkins in double figure scoring has been Drew McMillin at 11.5 points per game.
Sitting 13th in the GLVC in scoring at 66 points per game, SBU is having a hard time scoring as they are only shooting at a 43.4% clip. They are also towards the bottom of the league from beyond the arc at 31.3%.
Scouting Drury
They will begin the weekend with an overall record of 12-10 (5-9 GLVC) as they battle the Missouri – St. Louis Tritons on Thursday. Drury lost both of their games last weekend on the road at Rockhurst (94-67 and at William Jewell (80-57).
Logan Applegate leads the Panthers in scoring at 15 points per game, while shooting 41.2% from the field. Juok Riak is the other Panther in double figures at 13.1 points per game. Applegate is also top five in the GLVC in steals (39) and steals per game (1.77).
As a team, the Panthers are middle of the conference in scoring at 76.3 per game. Up and down all of the team categories, Drury is middle of the pack.
