HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team will look to make it a Happy Pre-New Year Party on Friday as the Lions head to Nashville for a date with the Vanderbilt Commodores in Southeastern's final game of the 2022 calendar year and the final non-conference game of the 2022-23 season.
 
SLU will look to start its first winning streak of the season with a win over the Commodores, which would be the first Lions win in its fourth try against Vanderbilt should Southeastern prove successful on Friday.
 
The Lions (6-7) are coming off of an 80-62 Christmas week home win over the Southern Jaguars, a game that saw Roger McFarlane set season bests in points scored (20), field goals made (7), three-point shots made (4), and minutes played (35). The three-pointers made and minutes played were also career bests for the second year Lion out of Fort Lauderdale. McFarlane's 20-point outburst against Southern last Wednesday moved him up to third in scoring average behind the lone two SLU players who currently average double digits on the year, Christian Agnew and Boogie Anderson.
 
Agnew, who missed the game against the Jaguars, leads the team in scoring at 12.1 points per game and is one of two Lions who have hit 20 or more three-pointers on the season, with Matthew Strange as the other at 20 and 24 made threes, respectively. Anderson, who has been hitting above 50% from the field most of the season but is now at 49.6%, is right behind Agnew in scoring average at 11.8 points per game while also leading the team in assists per game average at 4.5 and steals per game at exactly two a contest. Southeastern's two bigs, Brody Rowbury and Nick Caldwell, have seen their production rise as both have settled into the system in place for this season as both now average between 7.5 and 8.0 points per game and between 4.5 and 5.5 rebounds per contest. Those two have combined for three of SLU's four double-doubles on the season with McFarlane, who leads the team in rebounding this season at 7.3 per game, accounting for the other.
 
A day after Southeastern ended its two-game skid with the win over Southern, Vanderbilt (6-6) ended its own two-game slide with a 70-62 home win over Alabama A&M last Thursday. All three of the Commodores double-figure scorers in the win over the Bulldogs came off the bench as the Vanderbilt starting 5 combined to score 23 points. Liam Robbins led the Commodores in the game with 14 points while Ezra Manjon and Jordan Wright each scored 12 in the win.
 
Robbins leads Vanderbilt in scoring on the season, averaging 12.3 points per game on 53.1% shooting while also leading the Commodores in rebounding, 5.4 per game, and blocked shots, 2.8 per game. Myles Stute scores 11.8, mostly from behind the arc where he's already hit 38 three-pointers on the season, while Tyrin Lawrence puts in 10.7 points per game.
 
Tip-off between the Lions and Commodores is set for 6:00 P.M. at the historic Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville and will be streamed on the SEC Network+.
 
HARDWOOD CLUB/S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the basketball program are encouraged to join the Hardwood Club.  Lion alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letterwinners.  All membership fees and donations to Hardwood Club are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern basketball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Basketball, follow @LionUpMBB and @DavidKieferSLU on Twitter, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
 
TICKETS
For ticket information, please contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit www.LionSports.net/tickets. Southeastern is implementing mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets. All tickets will be available via e-mail in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.