Game Notes

Date: November 26, 2019
Time: 1:30 PM
Location: Kansas City, Mo. 

Bolivar, Mo. - Southwest Baptist (4-1, 0-0 GLVC) hits the road after defeating the Williams Baptist Eagles 75-57 Saturday afternoon. The Bearcats will meet former MIAA opponent Fort Hays State at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, with tip-off set for 1:30 PM on Tuesday, November 26.

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
In their most recent competition, the Bearcats downed the Williams Baptist Eagles by a score of 75-57. Brady Smith and Joe Miller were each 1 rebound shy of a double-double. Smith led the team in scoring with 15, but three other Bearcats also hit double digits.

The Bearcats come into the 2019-20 season following an appearance in the MIAA Tournament last season. Finishing with a 13-15 (7-12 MIAA) regular season record, the Bearcats received the #10 seed in the conference tournament. In the first round, SBU edged out #7 Lindenwood 76-75, becoming the first #10 seed to win a game in the MIAA Tournament and picking up their first conference tournament win since 2006. Washburn put an end to SBU's run in the second round with a 77-58 final score. The Bearcats are now full-time member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference which consists of 16 teams. Lindenwood is also making the move from the MIAA to the GLVC. Three starters return for SBU, Godfrey Rolle, Damian Prgomet, and Quinn Nelson. In addition to those three starters, Tyler Williams and Lucas Brueggemann also return from last year's roster. This year's roster consists of 16 total players, 11 of those being new faces. The breakdown of the roster is 2 seniors, 5 juniors, 4 sophomores, and 5 freshmen. 

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
The Fort Hays State Tigers (Hays, KS) head into this matchup with a 3-1 (0-0 MIAA) record this season. They started the year 2-0 with wins against Arkansas Tech and Southwestern Oklahoma State but fell to #14 ranked Colorado School of Mines. In their most recent competition, the Tigers defeated UC-Colorado Springs 75-68. All 5 starters reached double digit points with junior Jared Vitztum leading the way with 17 points. Nyjee Wright is leading the team in scoring through 4 games, averaging 13.3 per contest. All 5 starters are averaging over 10 points per game as well. Jake Hutchings and Jared Vitztum, both starting forwards, lead the team with 6.3 and 6.0 rebounds per contest respectively.

THE COACHES
SBU head coach Clark Sheehy begins his sixth season on the SBU bench after compiling a 62-83 (32-66 MIAA) record while at SBU. Coach Sheehy holds a career coaching record of 244-189 across fourteen seasons while coaching six different All-Americans and over 22 athletes that have moved on to play professional basketball.

Mark Johnson returns as the head coach for Fort Hays State, his 19th season in the position. Johnson is currently the program's all-time wins leader, and has won MIAA Coach of the Year twice (2009-10 and 2012-13). Last season, Johnson led the Tigers to an 18-11 (12-7 MIAA) record, good for 4th in the conference.

ALL-TIME SERIES
The Bearcats have played against Fort Hays State 23 times, SBU winning 10 of those matchups. In the Coach Sheehy era, SBU has won 3 out of 8 meetings. Last season, the Tigers visited Bolivar, defeating the Bearcats 58-73. Damian Prgomet had his way in that game, scoring 24 points on 10-13 field goals. He also had 7 rebounds and 3 blocks.