BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University men's basketball team is ready to get back on the court and erase the bitter memory of its four-point setback against New Orleans Monday evening. The Cardinals next opportunity to do so will be Saturday when it travels to Conway, Ark., to face Central Arkansas.
 
Big Red looks to bounce back from its four-point setback to UNO – a game that saw the Cardinals turn the ball over 28 times. Despite the miscues handling the basketball, the Cardinals had the ball down two late in the game and got three looks at the basket from three-point range. Unfortunately, LU came up short on all three attempts. The setback ended a four-game win streak for LU.
 
The Cards step on the court Sunday to face a Central Arkansas team that has struggled out of the gate. The Bears are 1-11 on the season, and are one of three conference teams to start the year 0-2 in league play. The Bears enter the contest having dropped eight straight, with their only loss on the season being a 14-point victory over UTSA back in November.
 
Despite scoring just 64 points against the Privateers, LU enters the week as one of the league's top scoring offenses currently ranked second overall (78.6 ppg). The Cardinals will be facing a UCA team that has struggled to score the ball at times and enters the showdown ranked 10^th in the league at just over 69 points per game. Defensively, it has been even worse on the Bears as they have surrendered nearly 86 points per game to their opponents.
 
The Bears come into the weekend with three players averaging better than 10 points per game, including one the of the league's top scoring threats in Jordan Howard. The Chandler, Ariz. native, leads the team averaging better than 17 points per game.
 
For the Cardinals, they have been able to count on a significant scoring punch coming off their bench, but head coach Tic Price would like to see more scoring from his starters. In the team's first two conference contests, LU has not had a starter reach double digits.
 
The Cardinals have five players averaging nine points, or better, on the season led by freshman Nick Garth's 13.6 per game. The Houston, Texas native has reached double digits in all but two games this season. Oddly, the two games he started were the ones he did not reach double-figure points.
 
Saturday's game against the Bears will tip off at 4 p.m. from Conway. It can heard live by clicking here.
-LU CARDINALS-