Game Notes (PDF)

Date: December 14, 2020
Time: 3:00 PM
Location: St. Louis, MO 

Bolivar, Mo. - Southwest Baptist (1-0, 1-0 GLVC) will play their second game of the season Monday afternoon at Missouri-St. Louis. This game was originally scheduled for November 29, but was moved to December 14 due to the pandemic.

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
SBU opened the season with an 86-72 win over Missouri S&T. Brady Smith had an outstanding game, leading many of the categories. Quinn Nelson and Joe Miller also hit double-digits in the win.

The Bearcats are coming off their best season in program history since 2009-10. Last year, the Bearcats finished 20-9 (13-7 GLVC). In the regular season rankings, the Bearcats finished fourth out of the sixteen GLVC teams. They upset #12 Southern Indiana and #1 Bellarmine both on the road, and defeated Drury at home for the first time in eight years. Eight players return from last year's roster. Second team All-GLVC honoree Brady Smith returns for his senior campaign. Two other starters from last season also return in juniors Quinn Nelson and Joe Miller. Sophomore Mitch Ganote was SBU's sixth man last season, and will play quite a bit during the 2020-21 season. The Bearcats will see several other new faces make an impact as well.

SCOUTING THE TRITONS
The Missouri-St. Louis Tritons (St. Louis, MO) enter Monday's game with a 2-1 record on the young season. After beginning the season with an 89-64 victory over Quincy, the Tritons fell to now-nationally ranked Truman State, 69-81. That loss broke UMSL's 18-game home win streak. On Saturday, UMSL held on in a tight competition with Rockhurst, defeating the Hawks 82-77. Four starters are averaging more than 10 points per contest, but none of those are more than 13.0 per game. The Tritons are out-shooting their opponents this year, 50.5% to 47.9%. They have been outrebounded by their opponents 100-92 so far this season.

THE COACHES
SBU head coach Clark Sheehy begins his seventh season on the SBU bench after compiling an 82-92 (45-73 conf.) record while at SBU. Coach Sheehy holds a career coaching record of 264-198 across fifteen seasons while coaching six different All-Americans and over 40 athletes that have moved on to play professional basketball.

Bob Sundvold begins his eighth year as the head coach of the Tritons. In his seven seasons, Sundvold has led UMSL to a 119-85 record, including back-to-back 20-win seasons. He was named 2020 GLVC Coach of the Year.

ALL-TIME SERIES
SBU leads the all-time series 12-11. The Tritons took the matchup last season, 84-68. In that game, Brady Smith dropped 24 points and had 3 blocks. Prior to last year's matchup, the teams had not met since the 1995-96 season.