Tonight's Game

• The Lindenwood Lions head out on the road for the last time in the regular season. The Lions will take on the top team in the conference Northwest Missouri State.

• Lindenwood is coming off a 82-76 loss the Central Missouri Mules. The loss dropped the Lions to 10-16 on the season and 5-11 in the MIAA.
 
• Northwest Missouri is coming off only its second MIAA loss of the season. The Bearcats lost to Missouri Southern on the road. Northwest Missouri has an overall record of 18-6 overall and 13-2 in the MIAA.
 
• Lindenwood and Northwest Missouri have met five previous times. The Bearcats hold the 5-0 edge. Northwest Missouri beat the Lions earlier in the season 63-61 in St. Charles.

Lindenwood Notes

• Three-point shooting has been a strength this season. The Lions have made at least five threes in every game but two. Three times this season, Lindenwood made a season-high 10 threes in a game.

• Darris Smith is the team's lone returning starter is averaging over 33 minutes a game and has just 43 turnovers compared to 75 assists. Twice this season the junior has played in all 40 minutes.

• A halftime lead has been very important to the Lions. In nine of the Lions 10 wins, the team has led at the half.

• Garrett Reeg has made his presence felt over the last three games. The junior has compiled double-doubles in two of the last four games.

• Michael Boos has become the Lions best three-point shooter this season. Boos is shooting at a 43 percent clip which ranks him fourth in the conference.

• The Lions starting five have been frequent visitors to the charity stripe this season. The five starters have taken 454 free throws and are shooting 76 percent from the stripe.

• When the Lions offense has been clicking they have been tough to beat. When they score over 80 points the team is 7-2.

• Free throw attempts are up all across the NCAA and that is definitely the case for the Lions. Four times this season Lindenwood's free throw attempts have been in the top 10 of attempts in program history.

• In every game but three this season the Lions have shot at least 10 free throws. Eight times this season Lindenwood has had games when it took 30 free throws.

• In a win against Pittsburg State the Lions 50 free throws attempted was the most free throws in school history.

• Tyler Ressel had his best game of his career and one of the best in program history. Against Missouri S&T, his 41 points scored was the second highest point total in program history. He also broke the school record for free throw attempts with 24 and tied the record for free throws made with 21.

• Unlike last year's team which had six seniors this season's squad has just one. Tyler Ressel is the only senior on the roster.

• The Hyland Arena floor has been very good to the Lions since Brad Soderberg took over. In his first five seasons, Lindenwood is 59-14 at home.

• Coach Soderberg is the all-time leader in school history in wins and winning percentage. It took Soderberg just four years to become the schools all-time winningest coach.

Northwest Missouri Notes

• The Northwest Missouri Bearcats enter today's game with a record of 18-6 overall and 13-2 in MIAA play. The Bearcats lost their last game against the Missouri Southern Lions.  

• As a team, the Bearcats are averaging 82.0 points a game and are giving up just 69.8. Northwest Missouri is shooting 51 percent from the field and 44 percent from behind the arc. The Bearcats are also shooting 75 percent from the free-throw line.  

• The Bearcats are led by five players who score in double figures. DeShaun Cooper leads the team with an average of 16.3 points a game. Dillon Starzl is second on the team with an average of 14.3 points and Conner Crooker chips in with 12.3 points. Grant Cozad and Bryston Williams average 10.7 and 10.8 respectively.  

• Ben McCollum is the head coach of the Bearcats and is in his 5th season at Northwest Missouri.


Last Time against Northwest Missouri

The Lindenwood Lions gave the top team in the MIAA everything it could handle on Thursday night. The Lions had a shot at the buzzer that would have given them an upset win but it just missed. The Lions fell to the Northwest Missouri Bearcats 63-61 at the Hyland Arena.
     It was a back-and-forth game from the very opening tip of the contest. The Lions fell behind late in the game but Tyler Ressel started the comeback with a three at the 1:44 mark to cut the deficit to three. On the ensuing possession, the Bearcats turned the ball over but as Darris Smith was heading in for a lay up, Ressel was called for an off the ball foul and gave the ball back to Northwest Missouri.
     But the comeback fell short when Garrett Reeg's long three just caromed off the side of the rim and the Bearcats held on for the win.
    The Lions had one of their best shooting nights of the season going 24-for-48 from the field. Hinton led the way for Lindenwood scoring a career-high 17 points. Smith was the only other double digit scorer with 13 and Reeg led the team in rebounds with nine.