Game Notes

Date: November 8-9, 2019
Time: 11/8 - 4:30 PM | 11/9 - 11:30 AM
Location: Nashville, Tenn. 

Bolivar, Mo. - Southwest Baptist (0-0, 0-0 GLVC) begins their 2019-20 season on the road at the Trevecca Classic in Nashville, Tennessee. In previous years, SBU has hosted the opening tournament. However, after moving conferences and regions, a more central meeting point for the regional teams became Nashville. Along with SBU, Drury will also represent the GLVC in this classic but the teams will not play each other.

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
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 TROJANS
The Trevecca Nazarene Trojans enter the season after a 4-21 record last year. They are a pretty young team, returning just 1 senior and adding 6 freshmen. They bring a strong junior class (9) to this 17 man roster, with just 1 sophomore as well. Austin Wills was the Trojans' leading scorer last season, averaging 11.1 points per contest. He returns for his junior season. They also return their leading rebounders in Imani Starling and Reed Smith.

SCOUTING THE LAKERS
The Lake Superior State Lakers are coming off a 15-12 (11-9 GLIAC) record in their 2018-19 season. They come into the new season with a pretty even roster, having 3 seniors, 3 juniors, 4 sophomores, and 4 freshmen. LSSU returns their leading scorer from last season in Malek Adams, but they lost their next two top scorers.

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.

Omar Mance is entering his second season on the Trevecca Nazarene bench. The Trojans went a mere 4-21 (4-16 GMAC) last season. They wrapped up their 2018-19 season with 3 wins in 8 games, all of those coming at home.

Steve Hettinga begins his 13th season as the Lake Superior State head coach. He is the program's winningest coach with a 218-132 record with the Lakers. Under Hettinga's tenure, the Lakers have appeared in 4 NCAA appearances.

ALL-TIME SERIES
The Bearcats have played against Lake Superior State once, defeating the Lakers 96-71 in the 2009-10 season. Friday will mark the first matchup between SBU and Trevecca Nazarene.