Game Notes

Date: January 16, 2020
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Rolla, Mo. 

Bolivar, Mo. - Southwest Baptist (10-3, 3-2 GLVC) will travel to Rolla, Missouri to take on the Missouri S&T Miners after falling to #23 ranked UMSL on Saturday.

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
The Bearcats look to bounce back from the loss to UMSL, still 10-3 (3-2 GLVC). One of their biggest wins this season came against #12 Southern Indiana on the road. Damian Prgomet was recently named GLVC Player of the Week. He ranks 3rd in blocks in SBU history, and currently holds the highest field goal percentage in SBU history. All 5 Bearcats in the starting lineup are averaging 10+ points per game.

In their most recent competition, the Bearcats fell to nationally ranked Missouri-St. Louis 68-84. SBU was out-rebounded 41-29, and the Tritons shot 66.7% from three in the second half. Brady Smith collected another 24 points with 5 rebounds and 3 blocks. Godfrey Rolle finished with 12, and Joe Miller had 10 with 5 rebounds.

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 MINERS
The Missouri S&T Miners (Rolla, MO) head into Thursday's competition with a 3-8 (1-4 GLVC) record. They began the year with two losses to MIAA schools in Lincoln and Missouri Western, finally picking up their first win against Lindenwood-Belleville. In conference play, S&T defeated Maryville 72-59 but they have lost four straight. Most recently, the Miners fell to Quincy 81-88. In that game, the Miners scored the most points they had all season, and CJ Hedgepeth hit 12-17 shots for 32 points. He also gathered 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Hedgepeth is second in scoring for S&T behind Dulan Scott who is averaging 14.4 points per contest.

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.

Bill Walker begins his first year on the S&T bench after spending the previous 5 seasons as the head coach of the University of Illinois Springfield Prairie Stars, who is also in the GLVC. Last season, Walker led UIS to a 14- 14 (7-11 GLVC) record, failing to make the conference tournament. He led the team to a nearly identical record the season prior to that.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Southwest Baptist leads the all-time series against Missouri S&T 29-19. The teams last met up in 2013-14 where SBU won 123-117.