Game Notes (PDF)

Date: February 4, 2021
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Bolivar, MO 

Bolivar, Mo. - The Bearcats (11-3, 11-3 GLVC) return home after a three-game road trip last week. Thursday's matchup will feature the Tritons of Missouri-St. Louis, visiting Bolivar for the second matchup of the season.

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
SBU suffered their third loss of the season against Lindenwood on Saturday. It took the Lions double overtime and a last second shot to pull the 91-90 victory. That ended SBU's second five-game winning streak of the season. The Bearcats have fallen to Missouri-St. Louis and Southern Indiana as well. In this week's coaches national rankings, both SBU and UMSL received votes.

Although the Bearcats surrendered 91 points to Lindenwood, they had only given up 67 points at the end of regulation. SBU's field goal % defense remains 1st in the GLVC (39.5%), but their scoring defense (67.7 ppg) now ranks 2nd behind Truman State's 67.6 ppg. The Bearcats are second to the Bulldogs in scoring margin as well at +11.4. On offense, SBU is 3rd in scoring (79.1 ppg) and field goal % (48.1%). Quinn Nelson sits 10th in the GLVC in scoring (16.9 ppg) and Brady Smith is 12th at 15.4 ppg. Three Bearcats are in the top 15 in field goal %, Nelson is 6th at 55.5%, Mitch Ganote is 10th at 54.0%, and Brady Smith is 14th at 52.4%. Ranking 4th in assists is Ganote, averaging 4.36 per contest. Smith is also averaging 4.0 assists per game, ranking 9th in the GLVC.

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) head into Thursday's matchup with an identical record at 11-3. Prior to Saturday's game, the Tritons were riding an eight-game winning streak. However, the Rockhurst Hawks ended that streak with a 76-67 victory over UMSL. That winning streak began after the Tritons fell to Lindenwood 72-84. Their other loss of the season came against Truman State in their second game. The Tritons are 1st in the GLVC in three-point field goal % defense (30.5%) and 2nd in field goal % at 48.3%. Their scoring defense is right behind SBU's at 68.8 ppg. Marty Jackson is the team's leading scorer at 12.8 ppg, but three others are averaging 11+ ppg. Steve Webb and Jose Grubbs are both averaging 5.0 rebounds per game. From deep, Lawrence Brazil III is 20-39 (51.3%) on the year.

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
After UMSL defeated SBU at the beginning of the season, the series became tied at 12-12. In the season's first meeting, UMSL's Jose Grubbs dropped 20 points and grabbed 7 boards. Brady Smith led SBU with 13 points, but Mitch Ganote and Joe Miller were right behind with 12 each. Miller also had the game-high 8 rebounds.