HAMMOND, La. – With the non-conference portion of its schedule now behind it, the Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team returns home to kick off the 2023 portion of its schedule, hosting Houston Christian on Thursday and Lamar on Saturday as Southland Conference play begins in earnest.
 
The Lions (6-8, 0-1 SLC) enter 2023 coming off a 93-55 loss at Vanderbilt in their final contest of 2022. Brody Rowbury continued his recent good run of play, picking up his third straight game of double-digit points while resetting his season high in scoring as he scored 18 points against the Commodores. Boogie Anderson, who has been Southeastern's most consistent scorer throughout non-conference play, finished that game with 10 points.
 
Anderson continues to lead the team in scoring at 11.7 points per game, just fractionally better than Christian Agnew who is averaging 11.6 points per game this season. Anderson also continued to lead the Lions in assists and steals on the year. SLU continues to be a balanced squad when it comes to scoring as six other members of the team average more than 6.5 points per game, including the aforementioned Rowbury who has seen his points per game average rise from 6.2 at the start of December to 8.4 as the calendar turned to 2023. SLU averages 76.1 points per game this season on 44.8% shooting overall, including 36.1% from above the arc heading into this weekend's games.
 
On Thursday night, Houston Christian comes to town. The Huskies (4-10, 1-0 SLC) are coming off of a 101-96 overtime win in their Southland Conference opener at home against New Orleans. Bonke Maring was the best of five HCU players who scored in double figures in the win over the Privateers as he scored 24 points on 12-of-14 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds as well. Brycen Long scored 19 points in the win while Andrew King and Maks Klanjscek each scored 16. Sam Hofman came off the bench to score 13 points and grab seven rebounds before fouling out against UNO.
 
Three Huskies average in double figures on the season, led by Long (15.5 points) and Maring (15.2 points) with Klanjscek rounding things out at 11.3 points per game. The Huskies average 80.7 points per game and shoot 47.7% while hitting 37.3% from distance. However, HCU allows 85.8 points per game to their opponents, who average 51.7% shooting and 35.5% from three. Even in the victory, HCU allowed UNO to hit 54.7% from the field, including 76.5% from above the three-point arc, hitting 13 of their 17 attempts from distance. SLU leads the all-time series against HCU, 9-7. Tip-off of Thursdays game against the Huskies is set for 7:30 P.M., or about 30 minutes following the end of the women's contest.
 
On Saturday, Lamar comes to town to wrap up the first full week of conference action. The Cardinals (4-10, 0-1 SLC) enter this week's action coming off an 81-62 home loss at McNeese to open Southland Conference play, playing at UNO prior to coming to Hammond. Jakevion Buckley came off the bench to lead Lamar in scoring in the loss to the Cowboys as he scored 13 points with four assists. Chris Pryor was the only other Cardinal to score double-figures in that contest, putting in 11 points.
 
Nate Calmese leads the Cardinals in scoring on the season, averaging 15.1 points per game on the season. Adam Hamilton averages 11 points each time out while Pryor puts in 10.4 points. Lamar averages 68.1 points per game as a team this season on 42.6% shooting, including 26.5% from three. Lamar's opponents score 75.9 points per game on 45.4% shooting and hit at a 34.7% clip from three. Lamar leads the all-time series against the Lions 27-23. Tip-off of Saturday game against the Cardinals is set for 3:30 P.M., or about 30 minutes after the end of the women's game. Also, all children in attendance can get their face painted on Saturday as well.
 
All games this weekend will be live streamed on ESPN+ with live stats available online.
 
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.