Game Notes

Date: January 4, 2020
Time: 3:15 PM
Location: Evansville, Ind. 

Evansville, Ind. - Southwest Baptist (8-2, 1-1 GLVC) remains on the road to take on Southern Indiana Saturday afternoon. 

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
In their most recent competition, the Bearcats found their first GLVC win against the McKendree Bearcats. The 76-68 win was led by 20+ scoring performances by Damian Prgomet and Brady Smith. Prgomet also had 10 rebounds, collecting his 2nd double-double of the season. Joe Miller and Quinn Nelson were the other Bearcats in double digit scoring. SBU is 2nd in the GLVC in blocked shots per game and 3rd in assists per game.

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 SCREAMING EAGLES
The University of Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles come into Saturday's matchup with a 9-1 (1-1 GLVC) record. They lead the GLVC in scoring offense with 88.2 points per game. Their one loss on the year came against McKendree on December 3. In their most recent matchup, the Screaming Eagles defeated #25 Drury 86-82. USI led 43-31 at the half and Drury nearly came back, but free throws helped USI seal the victory. Josh Price finished with a double-double, scoring a game-high 24 and snagging 10 rebounds. Three other members of the Screaming Eagles also had double digit points. Emmanuel Little leads Southern Indiana in scoring this season, averaging 18.2 points per game shooting 53.1% from the field. He also hits the boards hard, averaging 8.1 rebounds 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.

Rodney Watson returns as the head coach for the Screaming Eagles, his 11th season in the position. Last season, Watson led USI to a 26-9 (13-5 GLVC) record which was good for 3rd place in the conference. In the conference tournament, USI fell in the second round to Bellarmine. They also advanced all the way to the NCAA Division II National Semifinals.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Southwest Baptist and Southern Indiana have only met once, the 1993-94 competition going to USI.