BEAUMONT, Texas - Heading south with their hopes set on a post-Thanksgiving victory feast, Lamar University's men's basketball team (3-2) will play at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley (3-2) on Friday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. The Cards and Vaqueros will tip-off at 7 p.m. on the WAC Digital Network.

THE LAST TIME OUT - ARLINGTON BAPTIST

Lamar University exploded out of the gate for a 22-6 first half lead and never looked back defeating Arlington Baptist, 105-40, Monday evening at the Montagne Center. The victory pushed the Cardinals back over .500 (3-2) on the season.
 
"When we scheduled this game back during the offseason, it was done with the intention of trying to grow our young team and get better," said LU head coach Tic Price. "We got a chance to look at everyone tonight and that's what we wanted. Our first unit was very committed to making their stops and we didn't let up. We had carry over to our bench as well – our bench outscored Arlington's, 44-29."
 
Senior Josh Nzeakor led an offense that shot better than 50 percent from the field (38-of-75/.507). The Mesquite, Texas native struck for 24 points on 10-of-12 (.833) shooting. He also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Nzeakor was one of four Cardinals in double-figures as junior Jordan Hunter came off the bench to score 12 and senior Nick Garth and Michael Kolawole each added 10.

Lamar at UTRGV - Nov. 23 at 7 p.m.

Lamar and UTRGV (or UT-Pan American as it was previously known) will meet for the 75th time on Friday with Big Red holding a 42-32 advantage, though UTRGV did win the last matchup between the two programs - a 95-81 decision in Edinburg, Texas.

The Vaqueros are 3-2 this season with wins over Texas A&M-Commerce, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and Prairie View A&M and losses to Oklahoma at home and at East Carolina. They'll play at Georgia Tech on Nov. 21 before returning home to host Lamar.

Lew Hill, formerly an assistant at Oklahoma, has been the head coach of UTRGV since March 31, 2016. He's accrued a record of 28-42 in his two seasons at the helm.

UTRGV averages about 75.4 points a game while surrendering 74.0 points a contest, a margin of 1.4 points. The Vaqueros pride themselves on their blocked shots per game (3.4 bpg, 2nd in the WAC), turnovers per game (11.6, 2nd in the WAC and 54th in the NCAA), turnovers forced per game (18.20, 1st in the WAC and 30th nationwide), and offensive rebounds per game (13.60, 2nd in the WAC and 57th in the NCAA).

Javon Levi is 28th in the country in assists per game, averaging 6.2, and his assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.21 ranks fourth in the WAC. Several Vaqueros have over 20 trips to the line this season including Levi (31), Lesley Varner, Jr. (30), and Terry Winn (25), and Levi's 2.80 steals a game are second in the conference and 21st in the NCAA. Varner is the team's leading scorer with 15.5 ppg followed by Winn at 14.8 ppg and Tyson Smith at 11.0 ppg.

UP NEXT

Lamar will play four more games on the road after Friday's game at UTRGV. The Cards will travel to SMU (Nov. 27), Rice (Dec. 1), Houston (Dec. 4), and CSU-Bakersfield (Dec. 13) before returning home to play three teams at home before the New Year. Texas Southern comes to town on Dec. 19 and will be followed by Howard Payne on Dec. 21 and Champion Christian on Dec. 29. Southland Conference play begins on Jan. 2 at Houston Baptist.

TIP-INS

• Lamar improved to 25-1 under head coach Tic Price in non-conference home games with a 105-40 win over Arlington Baptist on Nov. 19.
• The Cardinals have played above .500 basketball in the season's opening month throughout program history. LU is 86-78 (.524) all-time in the month of November – including a 57-14 (.803) mark at home.
• Senior forward Josh Nzeakor is coming off the best game of his career. He led the Cardinals with a career-high 24 points on 10-of-12 (.833) shooting. The career high came following a five point outing in the victory over Prairie View A&M.
• Last season, Nick Garth became the 20th member of the Cardinals' prestigious 1,000-Point Club. Teammate Nzeakor is seeking to become Big Red's next member. Nzeakor scored 24 points in the victory over Arlington Baptist and has 955 points for his career. He needs only 45 more points to reach the plateau.
• The LU men's basketball team is on the verge of a milestone on the basketball court. With their win over Arlington Baptist, LU now has 989 wins as a program – 11 wins shy of 1,000.