PITTSBURGH, Pa. – For just the second time this season, the Lamar University Cardinals will play a game following a loss. Winners in five of their last six games, the Cardinals (8-2) saw a season-long five-game win streak come to an end Sunday afternoon at Southern Illinois, and will now look to start a new streak at Duquesne.
The Dukes (7-3) enter Tuesday's contest in the same situation LU was heading into Sunday. Duquesne has won five consecutive game entering the week, and has not suffered a setback since a Dec. 1
st showdown at Pittsburgh that saw the Panthers get the upper hand, 76-64. Duquesne is coming off a 74-58 victory over North Carolina A&T Sunday afternoon.
The Cardinals are coming off a frustrating performance at SIU the likes of which they haven't experienced previously this year. For the most part the Cardinals have been clicking on both sides of the court. Even if they were struggling offensively, the defense would pick up the slack until the offense got going and vice versa. That never happened at Southern Illinois. Struggling through one of its worst offensive outings of the season, the Cardinals managed to get within striking distance several times in the second half against the Salukis but never managed to get the stops they needed on the defensive end.
The setback doesn't change the fact that the Cardinals are still out to one of their best starts in program history. Led by preseason All-Southland Conference selection,
Colton Weisbrod, the Cardinals are averaging nearly 79 points per game, and outscoring opponents by more than 15 points per game.
Weisbrod leads the team averaging nearly 15 points and 9.0 rebounds per game, while junior
Nick Garth is scoring just under 12 per game. Junior
Josh Nzeakor is averaging 11.6 points per game while senior
Zjori Bosha is adding 11.0 per game. Weisbrod is also coming off a career-night on the glass pulling down 19 rebounds against the Salukis. The 19-rebound effort is the best single-game performance in the Southland this year.
Weisbrod is also coming off another double-double performance Sunday. His 14-point and 19-rebound outing was his third double-double of the season and the 13
th of his career. He is currently tied for second in the league with his three double-doubles.
The Dukes are very similar to LU from the standpoint that they enter the game averaging better than 75 points per game and outscore opponents by nearly 14 points per game. Duquesne also has four players averaging in double figures led by Mike Lewis' 16.8 points per game. Erik Williams is averaging 14.7 points per game, while Rene Castro-Cannedy is scoring better than 13.4 points per night. Tarin Smith (12.0 ppg) is the fourth member of that group.
Tuesday's meeting will be the first time in program history the two teams have met on the court. The game is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. (6 p.m. Beaumont time) from the A.J. Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.
-LU CARDINALS-
