BEAUMONT, Texas – After consecutive games against No. 12 (CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Top 25 poll) Southern Mississippi, Lamar University now hits the road for a Saturday afternoon battle at Louisiana-Monroe. Saturday's contest will mark the third consecutive season that LU has squared off against its former Southland Conference foe.
 
The Cardinals enter the week looking to put an end to a minor two-game slide – with both setbacks coming against the same team. Saturday's contest takes on a little more importance as it marks one of two final warm-ups before LU (4-7) opens Southland Conference play New Year's Eve.
 
Big Red will be stepping on the court against a team in a similar situation. It has been a tough start for the Warhawks who enter the year 3-8 (.273) overall and have dropped seven of their last eight games and are coming off a 26-point setback to Sam Houston.
 
Despite numerous injuries, the Cardinals are averaging 70 points per game on the season. Big Red's offense still runs through freshman Nate Calmese who enters the week as the Southland Conference's leading scorer, and the nation's third-leading freshman scorer. Calmese is one of three Cardinals averaging in double figures, while sophomore Jakevion Buckley is scoring just under 10 per game (9.5 ppg).
 
The Warhawks enter the weekend averaging nearly 73 points per game, with six players averaging at least 8.5 points per game. ULM's Tyreke Locure leads the team averaging better than 13 points per contest but he is the lone Warhawk in double figures.
 
The Cardinals lead the all-time series over ULM, 27-25 (.519), which dates back to the 1958-59 season, with most of those meetings coming when both schools were Southland Conference foes. The Cardinals are two games under .500 (12-14) all-time in Monroe, but the last time the Cardinals traveled east to face ULM Big Red walked away with a three-point buzzer-beater victory with the game-winning shot landing the Cardinals a spot on the ESPN Top 10 Plays of the Day.
 
Saturday's game is slated to tip off at 2 p.m. from Fant-Ewing Coliseum. It will be streamed live on ESPN+.