Game Notes (PDF)

Date: December 18, 2020
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Liberty, MO 

Bolivar, Mo. - Southwest Baptist (2-1, 2-1 GLVC) hits the road after playing their home opener Wednesday against Rockhurst. Friday's matchup will feature the William Jewell Cardinals of Liberty, MO. 

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
After a 1-1 start against Missouri S&T and Missouri-St. Louis, SBU won their home opener 91-83 thanks to a near triple double by Mitch Ganote and high scoring performances by Brady Smith and Quinn Nelson. Ganote leads the GLVC in field goal percentage, shooting 71.4% on the season.

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 CARDINALS
The William Jewell Cardinals (Liberty, MO) head into Friday's matchup with a 1-1 record. In their season opener, the Cardinals upset the Indianapolis Greyhounds on their court, 70-69. Two days later, WJC fell to #25 Southern Indiana by 30 points. They have not played any other GLVC teams since, but they played an exhibition matchup against Missouri State in Springfield on Wednesday, falling to the Bears by just 9 points in the 64-73 final. However, the Cardinals were out-rebounded 29-41 in that exhibition. Against Indy, four starters for Jewell hit double digits. Mason Alexander's 18 points and 6 assists led the team. Grant Stubbs had a double-double against Missouri State, scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

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.

Chris McCabe begins just his second season at William Jewell. McCabe led the Cardinals to double digit wins last year, their third straight year doing such. Prior to WJC, McCabe coached at Liberty North HS, just across town. He coached at Liberty North for 9 seasons.

ALL-TIME SERIES
SBU leads the all-time series with WJC, 6-4. The Bearcats swept the two-game series last year, defeating the Cardinals 76-65 on the road earlier in the season, and 71-66 in Bolivar for SBU's last regular season game. In that second game, Joe Miller hit three three's helping reach 15 points along with 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Brady Smith also had 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists.