LEBANON, Ill. – The men's basketball team will look to put a bow on their out-of-conference slate and the entire 2025 calendar year with a pair of true road tilts at Ferris State University on Friday, December 19th, and at Hillsdale College to follow on Sunday, December 21st.
No live coverage of streaming or stats will be provided during the match against Ferris State, albeit a box score will be published to mckbearcats.com following the match. The game against Hillsdale can be watched live or on-demand on FloSports with a subscription purchase required, as live stats will be made available for viewing.
Tickets can be found at each of the opposing team's athletic websites.
[Ferris State] [Hillsdale]
SCOUTING THE LAST OUTINGS
The men's basketball team took care of business and with ease in their first GLVC road win of the season as they took down Maryville University 70-50 on Thursday, December 11th at the Moloney Arena in St. Louis, Missouri. The Bearcats started out hot with a 10-2 run, and moments later with an 11-2 run thanks to a pair of sunken three-pointers by redshirt sophomore Grant Fridley (Trenton, Ill.) to take a commanding 38-22 lead at halftime. Maryville could not chip into McKendree's lead in the second half of play, especially with another double-digit spurt from the Bearcats midway through to take control and tame the Saints 70-50 in GLVC action.
Freshman guard Andrew Moore (Montgomery County, Mo.) led all scorers with 16 points on 5-for-9 (55.5%) shooting from the field and 3-for-5 (60.0%) from the arc to go with five rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Sophomore guard Rini Harris (O'Fallon, Ill.) followed with a double-figure scoring outing of his own with 11 points, plus six rebounds, five assists, and a block on 4-for-7 (57.1%) shooting and 2-for-5 (40.0%) from deep.
The team continued their journey on the road with a 66-49 win over the Lakers of Roosevelt University at the Hansen-Spear Funeral Home Classic on Tuesday, December 16th in Quincy, Illinois. It was a neck-and-neck first half with the largest lead game was at eight points. McKendree would get some shots down from the outside while also presenting themselves inside the paint for a plethora of contacted lay-ins as the game would be just slightly in the Bearcats' favor with a 28-27 lead at the break. After a made free throw by sophomore Wyatt Zellers (Scottsburg, Ind.) to open up the second half, Roosevelt dropped in eight straight points to take their largest lead of six points. Yet, Head Coach George Suggs would lit a fire under his players as they responded immensely with a blazing 17-2 run in a six-minute span to go up 46-37. With under 10 minutes to go in regulation, the Lakers canned four three-point shots to pull back within three. However, that would be the last time Roosevelt would see the bottom of the net for the remainder of the game, as McKendree would go on to score the game's final 14 points and hold the Lakers scoreless in the final 5:51, with Harris firing from all cylinders with a 14-point second half outing and giving his squad the favoring 66-49 win at the Classic.
Harris led McKendree with 18 points on an efficient 7-for-12 (58.3%) shooting, including a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond the arc, and supplemented greatly with eight rebounds, two assists, a pair of blocks, and three steals. Moore followed with 14 points on 5-for-8 (62.5%) from the field and 2-for-4 from three, plus also eight boards along with a trio of assists and two takeaways. Senior guard Cha'Vez Woods (Louisville, Ky.) returned to his squad with netting 10 points on 4-for-7 (57.4%) shooting as he also finished with a rebound and an assist. Zellers snatched a career-high nine rebounds, with eight of them coming on the defensive end. The team's 7-2 overall start to the season remains their best since the 2017-18 season (started 10-2).
HISTORY SHOWCASE
Against Ferris State, this will be the third meeting as a member of NCAA Division II. The Bulldogs stole the last game in Lebanon when they were ranked No.25 in the NABC National Coaches Poll and handled the Bearcats 93-61. The year prior saw McKendree escape Big Rapids with a monumental 71-68 win over the then-No.7 Ferris State in a marquee regional matchup on the road. It is the second straight GLIAC foe for the bearcats, as they surged against Roosevelt University on Tuesday.
Against Hillsdale, this will be the first-ever recorded meeting in the Division II era. This is, however, the third meeting so far against a Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) opponent for the Bearcats this season. McKendree had taken down both Tiffin University (63-44) and Malone University (65-53) to tip-off the season at the GLVC/G-MAC Crossover in mid-November in Tiffin, Ohio.
KNOW THE FOES
The Bulldogs came into the season with receiving votes in the national poll and was picked to finish sixth in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) after loosing to fellow GLVC-member University of Missouri-St. Louis in the NCAA Division II Regionals after earning an at-large bid. This season, Ferris state sits at 3-4 overall and 1-1 in conference play. Their most recent outing was a narrow 66-64 road win over GLVC's Lewis University on Tuesday evening.
The Chargers have had a fair start to their season as well, posting a 4-6 record overall and have so far gone 1-2 in G-MAC action. Hillsdale was picked to finish 5th in a 12-team conference preseason poll after going 20-10 last season and concluding their season in the G-MAC Semifinals to Malone 55-58.
WE ONE ON THE DEFENSIVE END
As of Thursday, December 18th, the Bearcats are ranked number one in the nation across all of NCAA Division II in both scoring defense and field goal percentage defense.
For the former, McKendree is allowing only 58.2 points by their opponents on average a game, which is 0.5 points better than next on the list (Michigan Tech). The team is also 5.7 points ahead of the next-best GLVC school (Southwest Baptist at 19th).
And for the latter, the Bearcats are holding teams to an average of 35.4% from the entire floor, 0.3 points better than the nation's number two (Arkansas Fort Smith). That number is also 2.2 points greater than GLVC's nest best (Missouri S&T at 10th).
BETTER STICK TO THE FUNDAMENTALS
McKendree is currently 7-0 in games when outrebounding their opponents, as they have a +7.0 margin on an average contest. That ranks 2nd in the conference, only behind Lincoln University (Mo.) at +7.6, with the Bearcats being placed at 43rd in the country.
When being outrebounded, McKendree is at a dismal 0-2 on the season. Their season high was 46 at home against Rockhurst University, while their low came at 31 twice, with the most recent against the University of Central Missouri in The DoubleTree by Hilton Thanksgiving Classic.
GO BIG OR GO HOME
In games decided by 11+ points so far in the 2025-26 campaign for the Bearcats, they are a perfect 6-0, with their largest coming against Hannibal-LaGrange University in their home opener on November 21st, winning 80-39.
McKendree is 1-1 when the game falls within a 6 to 10-point spread, with the lone win being at Lebanon against Rockhurst University in a 95-82 double overtime win. The sole loss in that range was their setback to Central Missouri.
They are 0-1 in games decided by 1-to-5 points, which came at the hands of a 58-63 loss at the University of Illinois Springfield on December 4th.
NCAA'S TOP 100 (as of 12/18/25)
McKENDREE
Team:
• Effective field goal percentage (73rd – 54.1%)
• Field goal percentage (61st – 48.0%)
• Field goal percentage defense (1st – 35.4%)
• Fouls per game (58th – 15.7)
• Rebound margin (43rd – +7.0)
• Defensive rebounds per game (29th – 28.7)
• Scoring defense (1st – 58.2)
• Scoring margin (37th – +13.3)
• Three-point percentage defense (42nd – 28.9%)
• Turnovers per game (80th – 12.1)
• Winning percentage (45th – 77.8%)
Individual:
• Rini Harris –– defensive rebounds per game (70th – 5.8)
FERRIS STATE
Team:
• Bench points per game (46th – 31.9)
• Blocks per game (85th – 3.6)
• Rebound margin (94th – 3.9)
• Offensive rebounds per game (45th – 13.7)
• Total rebounds per game (54th – 39.7)
• Three-point percentage defense (25th – 28.0%)
Individual:
• Mykel Bingham –– field goal percentage (30th – 60.7%)
HILLSDALE
Team:
• Bench points per game (49th – 31.5)
Individual:
• Cole McWhinnie –– assist-to-turnover ratio (91st – 2.0)
LOOKING AHEAD
After McKendree wraps up the non-conference slate this weekend, they will get a well-deserved break from action for 11 days, until they get back to the grind and resume GLVC play at home, where they will face Lewis on Friday, January 2nd at 7:30 PM CT, and the University of Indianapolis on Sunday, January 4th at 3:00 PM CT.
Both contests will be streamed live and on-demand on McKendree's GLVC Sports Network via a subscription/download purchase, as live stats will also be available for fans to tune in. Ticket information can be found online at mckbearcats.com.
TUNE IN-FO
| DATE |
TIME (CT) |
HOME TEAM |
AWAY TEAM |
LIVE STATS |
WATCH LIVE |
| 12/19/25 |
5:00 PM |
Ferris State |
McKendree |
NO LIVE STATS |
NO LIVE STREAM |
| 12/21/25 |
12:00 PM |
Hillsdale |
McKendree |
STATS |
WATCH ($) |
Keep up with McKendree University Men's Basketball on Facebook, X (Twitter), and Instagram. #GLVCmbb | #D2mbb
For more updates and information on Bearcat Athletics, please continue to visit McKBearcats.com and follow us on Facebook, X (Twitter), and Instagram.
#BearcatsUnleashed
