BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University men's basketball team will continue their five-game stretch on the road to open the season Wednesday when they travel to Monroe, La., to take on the Warhawks. It will be the Cardinals fifth-straight contest away from the Golden Triangle to start the year which comes in the midst of a stretch that will see eight of their first nine on the road. The Cardinals (0-4) will take on a UL Monroe squad who is playing in front their home fans for the first time this season. The difference between LU and the Warhawks (1-1) is Wednesday will be just the third game of the season for ULM.
 
The Warhawks opened the regular season Dec. 3 at Louisiana Tech dropping a hard-fought 16-point decision, before traveling to Natchitoches, La., three days later to defeat Northwestern State in overtime.
 
LU is looking to bounce back from a tough start to the season that has seen LU struggle with costly second-half runs by opponents. In each of the past three games, the Cardinals have either held leads, or been locked in a two possession game only to see their opponents go on scoring runs which turned out to be the difference in the game.
 
Big Red's offense has struggled to get going in the early games of the 2020-21 season, ranked 13^th in the league in scoring offense (54.8 ppg). The Cardinals have also had to play the first four games without the services of its top returning scoring from last year – Davion Buster (14.6 ppg in 2019-20).
 
Sophomore Anderson Kopp has picked up some of the slack in Buster's absence ranked among the league leaders scoring better than 16 points per game. Senior Avery Sullivan has picked right back up where he left off last season averaging nearly a double-double per game (11.0 ppg/8.0 rpg), while newcomer Quinlan Bennett has been an early surprise averaging double figures for the Red and White.
 
The Warhawks are averaging 77 points per game through two games this season with three players in double figures, led by Russell Harrison's 14.5 points per game. ULM has six players who average at least seven points per contest.
 
The Cardinals lead the all-time series against UL Monroe, 26-24 (.520), a mark that includes an 11-14 (.440) record in Monroe. LU heads to Monroe having won the past four meetings including two consecutive road games, but it will be the first meeting between the two schools since the 2005-06 season when it was a Southland Conference tilt.
 
Wednesday's game will tip off at 6 p.m. from Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe.