Game Notes (PDF)

Date: January 23, 2021
Time: 3:00 PM
Location: Bolivar, MO 

Bolivar, Mo. - Southwest Baptist (8-2, 8-2 GLVC) hosts Missouri S&T (3-9, 3-9 GLVC) for their first Thursday/Saturday home stretch of the season after hosting Drury on Thursday. The teams met earlier this year in Rolla where SBU won 86-72.

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
The Bearcats are riding a two game winning streak, riding solid defensive performances in both outings. SBU held Rockhurst to 19-55 shooting from the field and held Drury to 63 points, a team that came in averaging 83.5 points per game. Before the loss against USI, SBU was on a 5-game winning streak. The UMSL Tritons, who have spent time in the national rankings, handed the Bearcats their other loss. SBU received votes in the NABC Coaches poll for the fourth straight week.

In the conference, the Bearcats are first in field goal % defense (40.3%), third in scoring margin (+8.2), third in field goal % (48.4%), and fourth in scoring defense (69.6). Individually in the GLVC, Brady Smith and Quinn Nelson are 11th and 12th in scoring at 16.3 and 16.2 ppg. Mitch Ganote is averaging 4.5 assists per game (5th in GLVC) and is shooting 56.3% from the field (6th in GLVC). Smith leads the team in rebounds, snagging an average of 5.9 per game. Just behind him with 5.1 rebounds per contest is Joe Miller. He is also shooting 48.1% from the field, with 9.3 ppg.

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 MINERS
The Missouri S&T Miners (Rolla, MO) began the 2020-21 season on a five game losing streak. After falling to SBU on December 12, the Miners won two in a row, upsetting Drury 96-89 in Springfield and defeating William Jewell 78-74 on the road. The Miners went on to lose another four in a row before defeating William Jewell by a narrow final of 68-66 in their most recent GLVC competition. In an exhibition game, the Miners fell to Missouri State 49-94 on January 17. Julien Smith is 8th in the conference in scoring, averaging 17.3 points per game. Kaden Froebe sits 6th in the GLVC in assists, dishing an average of 4.08 per contest. The Miners are surrendering an average of 82.0 points per game, second to last in the conference. They also rank last in field goal percentage defense at 48.5%.

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.

Bill Walker begins his second season with the Miners. Last year, Walker led Missouri S&T to a 6-20 (4-16 GLVC) record, finishing 15th out of the 16 teams in the conference. Prior to Missouri S&T, Walker spent 5 seasons as the head coach of University of Illinois Springfield.

ALL-TIME SERIES
SBU leads the all-time series 32-19, including a 3-0 record since entering the GLVC. The first meeting of the year was SBU's season opener, winning 86-72. In that game, Brady Smith had an outstanding stat line of 26 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. Quinn Nelson also scored 20 points on 7-12 shooting, adding 3 rebounds and 3 assists.