BEAUMONT, Texas – Now that the calendar has flipped from 2023 to 2024, Lamar University turns its focus to the start of Southland Conference play and the Cardinals will tip things off with a pair of home games. The Cardinals will open the conference schedule Saturday against Northwestern State (6 p.m.) before returning to the court Monday to take on UIW (7 p.m.) – both games will be broadcast live on Newstalk 560 KLVI and streamed live on ESPN+.
 
The Cardinals enter the Southland portion of the schedule with a 6-7 (.462) overall record but closed the 2023 portion of the calendar with some very tough games including road trips to UTSA, Sam Houston and LSU to go along with home contests against UL Monroe and Southern Mississippi.
 
Through the first 13 games, the Cardinals have proven to be the Southland's strongest offense averaging a league-best 82.5 points per game, and rank second in the league in three-point field goal percentage and three-pointers made per game. Big Red has four players averaging in double-digits (and two others just under 10.0 per game) led by Adam Hamilton's 11.3 points per game.
 
It has been a tough start to the season for Northwestern State. After opening the year with a win over Dallas Christian, the Demons dropped 10 consecutive games and head to Beaumont with a 2-11 mark (.154).
 
Led by Cliff Davis' 15.4 points per game, the Demons open conference play near the bottom of the league averaging just over 69 point per game (69.2 ppg) and are surrendering nearly 82 points per game to their opponents. The Demons have struggled at times to find the bottom of the basket ranked 10^th in the league in field goal percentage and seventh in three-point field percentage.
 
After Saturday, the Cardinals return to action just two days later to take on the Southland's other Cardinals – UIW. Looking to build off a ninth-place finish in the standings last year, UIW posted a 5-8 record during non-conference play with some key wins over Jacksonville State and Illinois-Chicago. UIW enters SLC play having won two of its last three games.
 
Averaging better than 75 points per game, UIW enters the week ranked fourth in the Southland in field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage, but turnovers have been an issue for San Antonio's version of the Cardinals. UIW has turned it over a league-worst 201 times this season and ranks seventh in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio and ninth in turnover margin.