BEAUMONT, Texas – Lamar University hits the road for the third time in past four games looking to right the ship after dropping consecutive games and four of its past five. To right the ship, the Cardinals will have to do that against a team that is looking to do the exact same thing – UIW.
 
The recent rough patch has dropped LU into a tie for eighth in the conference standings with its most recent opponent, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Cardinals enter the new week 9-10 (.474) overall and 3-5 (.375) in conference play.
 
Big Red will step on the court Wednesday against a UIW squad that is looking to fight its way out of an early hole in conference play. San Antonio's version of the Cardinals are currently 4-13 (.235) overall and tied for 12^th in the conference standings at 1-5 (.167). The UIW Cardinals have lost consecutive games and six of seven and are coming off a 24-point setback at league-leading Stephen F. Austin. UIW's lone victory of the season came at home against New Orleans.
 
Both schools have struggled to get their offenses going recently as LU is ranked 10^th in the conference in scoring averaging 70.2 points per game, while UIW is 12^th averaging fewer than 65 points per game.
 
Senior V.J. Holmes has turned himself into more of a scoring threat over the course of the team's past three games. The Jupiter, Fla., native set a career high with 19 points against Houston Baptist and followed that up by tying his career high the next night out versus Sam Houston State. Holmes is averaging 16.7 points per game in the team's previous three games.
 
Senior T.J. Atwood leads the Cardinals averaging just under 16 points per game, while sophomore Davion Buster is coming off the bench averaging 13.5 points per game. Junior Avery Sullivan is scoring just under 12 per game and ranks among the Southland leaders in rebounds pulling down better than nine per game.
 
UIW is led offensively by two freshmen – Keaston Willis and Drew Lutz. Willis leads the team averaging 11.9 per game while Lutz is scoring 10.4 per contest. Willis and Lutz both rank among the top four freshman scorers in the league, but LU also has a rookie in that mix. Freshman Anderson Kopp is fourth in the league among freshmen averaging right at 10 points per game.
 
The Cardinals lead the all-time series over UIW, 6-4 (.600), but LU's success has only come in recent years. UIW dominated the series early on winning four of the first five meetings, but the Red and White have responded by winning five straight in the series. The Cardinals are 2-3 (.400) all-time against UIW in the McDermott Center. The Cardinals posted a 76-58 victory over UIW last season in San Antonio.
 
Wednesday's game will tip off at 7 p.m. from the McDermott season from San Antonio. The game will be broadcast live on Newstalk 560.