LEBANON, Ill. – The men's basketball team is set to face Maryville University in their makeup contest from November 29th, which has been rescheduled to Thursday, December 11th in St. Louis, Missouri, and will follow with a one-game outing at the annual Hansen-Spear Funeral Home Classic on Tuesday, December 16th against Roosevelt University in Quincy, Illinois. 

Both games will be streamed on the GLVC Sports Network via a subscription/download purchase, as live stats will also be available for fans to tune in. 

Tickets for the Maryville game can be found on their athletics website. with general admission going for $12. Tickets for the Classic game against Roosevelt are $10 for general admission, $7 for those 60 or older and military veterans, and free for those of the age 12 and under. 

[Maryville] [Roosevelt] 

SCOUTING THE LAST OUTING 

It was a tough last game for McKendree, who fell by a close 58-63 at the University of Illinois Springfield on Thursday, December 4th. The Bearcats started out with a strong 13-5 lead five minutes into action, but the Prairie Stars would shoot their way back into contention with the upset-minded visitors. UIS took their first lead with six minutes left in half number one, which they closed out leading 36-32. McKendree would make a late push and go on a 14-6 run to be down by just one point with a hair under three minutes remaining, but the hot three-point shooting by UIS sealed themselves with the conference win and put the Bearcats at 5-2 on the season and 1-1 in conference play. 

Fifth-year forward Noah Franklin (Cobden, Ill.) led all scorers on both sides with 19 points on 7-for-15 (46.6%) shooting, including a 4-for-7 (57.1%) mark from beyond the arc as he supplemented with 11 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double along with an assist and a steal.  

Senior guard Cha'Vez Woods (Louisville, Ky.) would tab his fourth consecutive double-digit scoring game and sixth of the season with 15 points, plus five boards, five assists, and a block. 

HISTORY SHOWCASE 

Against Maryville, this will be the 19th meeting as a member of NCAA Division II and the 21st overall since the 2005-26 season. Within the Division II realm, the series is tied at nine apiece, as the Bearcats have won five of the last six contests, including a two-point (78-76) overtime victory in St. Louis in their last meeting on January 30th, 2025. In the three most recent losses for McKendree since 2020, all such contests came within five points or less. 

Against Roosevelt, this will be their first meeting ever between the two in-state teams in the NCAA Division II era. This will be the first of two straight and overall games against a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) opponent this season, with Ferris State University coming up on December 19th. McKendree went 0-2 against the conference last season (Ferris State and Lake Superior State). 

KNOW THE FOES 

Maryville has had a slow start to the season with a 1-7 overall record, with their only win coming on their home floor against Union University (Tenn.). They have yet to capture a GLVC victory as they currently sit at 0-3 with a recent 52-69 setback on Tuesday at Moloney Arena to their in-city rival the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The Saints also currently post a -16.6 scoring margin through their first seven games. 

Like the Saints, Roosevelt has had a rough opening to their 2025-26 season with a goose egg in the win column with six setbacks. They have already played two fellow GLVC members prior in UIS (L, 56-88) and Upper Iowa University (L, 76-88) as this game against the Bearcats will be the first of a three-game slate against GLVC opponents with Quincy University on December 17th and a rematch with the Peacocks on December 19th. The scoring margin sits at -18.2 for the Lakers. 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT 

As of Wednesday, December 10th, the Bearcats have two of their players leading the GLVC in major statistical categories. Woods ranks first amongst all conference players in scoring by putting up an average of 23.5 points per contest in his first pair of league games, including the career-high 32-point outburst in the double overtime win over Rockhurst on December 1st. 

Franklin, who is flying under the radar at 12th in conference scoring (18.0 ppg), is pulling down 11.5 boards per game in the two GLVC outings, which is a +1.2 lead from the second-ranked. On the defensive end solely, the fifth-year player is also dominating his opposition with 9.5 a contest, with a +1.8 margin. 

IN YOUR FACE! 

McKendree continues to be one of the best defensive teams in all of NCAA Division II through the early stages of the 2025-26 season. They have the fifth-best field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot 36.1% from the entire field, which is 1.4% behind number one in the nation (Arkansas Fort Smith – 34.7%) and a whopping 2.6% greater than the next GLVC member (Missouri S&T at 21st – 38.7%). 

No coincidence, the Bearcats are also top-10 nationally in scoring defense, placing at 7th in holding the opposition to an average of 60.7 points per game. That is only 4.1 points less than the nation's number one (Malone – 56.6) and 2.1 points greater than the next best GLVC team (Southwest Baptist at 16th – 62.8). 

MOVING UP THE LADDER 

With a stellar 5-2 start to the 2025-26 season, Head Coach George Suggs has surpassed Frank Laurence for 11th all-time in coaching win percentage, sitting currently at 55.7% with a 68-54 overall record at the Bearcats' helm. Suggs is also an even 41-41 (50.0%) in GLVC contests in his five years. 

Per historic archives, Laurence coached the McKendree men's basketball team in the 1920-21 season and posted a 5-4 (55.6%) record. Suggs will need 34 more wins to pass James Collie for third place in all-time total wins, with the latter ending with 101 victories. 

NCAA'S TOP 100 (as of 12/10/25) 

McKENDREE 

Team: 

• Effective field goal percentage (82nd – 53.9%) 
• Field goal percentage (61st – 48.0%) 
• Field goal percentage defense (5th – 36.1%) 
• Fouls per game (90th – 16.4) 
• Rebound margin (67th – +5.6) 
• Defensive rebounds per game (25th – 28.9) 
• Scoring defense (7th – 60.7) 
• Scoring margin (56th – +11.9) 
• Three-point percentage defense (66th – 29.5%) 
• Turnover margin (93rd – 1.7) 
• Turnovers per game (46th – 11.4) 
• Winning percentage (76th – 71.4%) 

Individual: 

• Rini Harris –– defensive rebounds per game (52nd – 6.0) 
• Cha'Vez Woods –– three-pointers per game (99th – 2.6) 

MARYVILLE 

Team: 

• Offensive rebounds per game (80th – 12.9) 

Individual: 

• Kobe Clark –– total rebounds (47th – 70), defensive rebounds per game (52th – 6.0), offensive rebounds per game (96th – 2.8), total rebounds per game (40th – 8.8) 

ROOSEVELT 

Team: 

N/A 

Individual: 

N/A 

LOOKING AHEAD 

After McKendree plays Maryville and Roosevelt, the Bearcats will make a quick turnaround and venture off to the Wolverine State of Michigan and take on Ferris State on Friday, December 19th at 6:00 PM CT and a couple days later on Sunday, December 21st at 12:00 PM CT against Hillsdale College. 

Both contests will be streamed live and on-demand on FloSports via a subscription/download purchase, as live stats will also be available for fans to tune in. Ticket information will be released soon. 

TUNE IN-FO 

DATE	TIME (CT)	HOME TEAM	AWAY TEAM	LIVE STATS	WATCH LIVE
12/11/25	6:00 PM	Maryville	McKendree	STATS	WATCH ($)
12/16/25	3:00 PM	McKendree	Roosevelt	STATS	WATCH ($)

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