BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University men's basketball team will step on the court Saturday afternoon looking to move back above the .500 mark and put an end to a three-game slide. The minor skid comes while the Cardinals (4-4) were in the midst of a four-game road swing that consisted of stops at Prairie View A&M, Idaho State, San Francisco and DePaul. LU enters Saturday having played six of its last seven games away from Beaumont.
After the long road swing to open the season, the Cardinals will now play four of their next five games in front of their home fans – the lone road trip during that stretch is a Dec. 16 game at UT Rio Grande Valley. The Cardinals begin the homestand with Austin College Friday. It will be the second consecutive season the Roos have made the trip from Sherman, Texas to face LU.
The Roos bring a 2-4 (.333) record with them to the Golden Triangle in what can only be described as a rollercoaster season thus far. After opening the season with back-to-back losses, Austin College rebounded with consecutive wins, but they enter the Saturday afternoon showdown looking to put an end to their own two-game slide.
The Roos have averaged nearly 77 points per game during their first six games, but have struggled at times from the field shooting less than 38 percent for the season. Austin College converts nearly 32 percent of its three-point attempts, and does a solid job of attacking the glass. The Roos pull down better than 45 rebounds per game and outrebound opponents by nearly five per contest.
The Roos have three starters averaging double-figure points, led by Brian Baehl's 15.0 points per game. Teammates Jeremy Swisher and Austin Wells are both averaging better than 11 per contest.
LU is averaging better than 71 points per game, but during the past three games the Cardinals have scored just 61.3. Leading scorer
Colton Weisbrod is coming off his worst game as a Cardinal, but is still ranked among the league leaders averaging better than 15 points per game and leads the Southland pulling down 10.1 rebounds per game.
While Weisbrod's streak of seven-straight games scoring at least 10 points to start his LU career came to an end in Chicago, sophomore
Dorian Chatman posted one of his best games as a Cardinal. The Port Arthur native netted a season-high 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting and pulled down six rebounds against DePaul. It was the third 20-point outing of Chatman's career.
Saturday's game is slated to tip off at 2 p.m. from the Montagne Center. It can also be seen live on
ESPN3, and heard live on
Newstalk 560 KLVI.
-LU CARDINALS-
