Game Notes

Date: January 9, 2020
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Bolivar, Mo. 

Bolivar, Mo. - Southwest Baptist (9-2, 2-1 GLVC) will host the Lindenwood Lions Thursday evening after a 2-0 road trip to begin 2020.

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
In their most recent competition, the Bearcats had a huge upset win at #12 Southern Indiana, topping the Screaming Eagles 71-69. Brady Smith was hot early with 19 points, and Godfrey Rolle helped close out the game with clutch free throws and 20 points. Damian Prgomet almost had his second straight double-double, scoring 12 points with 9 rebounds and 5 blocks. Prgomet was also just named GLVC Player of the Week.

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 LIONS
The Lindenwood University Lions (St. Charles, MO) come into Thursday's matchup with an 8-3 (2-1 GLVC) record. They are riding a 5 game winning streak which includes 2 conference wins. Their last loss came against #22 ranked Florida Southern, 96-98. In conference play, their lone loss came against Missouri-St. Louis, 69-93. Last week, the Lions squeaked out 2 conference wins by 5 points; 78-73 against Missouri S&T and 81-76 to Maryville. The same 5 have started every contest this season, with TJ Crockett leading the way with a blistering 24.3 points per game, 1st in the GLVC. As a team, the Lions rank first in the conference in scoring offense, averaging 87.5 points per contest, but they rank last in scoring defense.

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.

Kyle Gerdeman begins his first season as the head coach for the Lions, 20th in program history. Prior to LWU, Gerdeman spent 7 years at Central Michigan, holding a 121-108 record there. He also led the Chippewas to a winning season the previous 5 years, including a 23-12 record in 2018-19.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Southwest Baptist trails the all-time series 6-7. Last season, the Bearcats beat the Lions in 2 of 3 matchups, including an upset in the first round of the MIAA Tournament in Kansas City. In that upset, Godfrey Rolle scored 22 points on 7-11 shooting from the field.