HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team heads back into Texas for the final road games of the 2023-24 regular season, looking to move into position for a SLC Tournament bye, as it battles Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday and Incarnate Word on Monday to round out the season's road schedule.
 
Saturday's game between Southeastern (14-14, 9-6 SLC) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (18-10, 11-4 SLC) is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. from the American Bank Center while Monday's game against Incarnate Word (8-20, 3-12 SLC) is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the Alice P. McDermott Convocation Center. Both games will be live streamed on ESPN+ while only Monday's game against UIW will have a radio broadcast, thanks to the Southeastern Sports Radio Network, on 90.9 FM The Lion in the Hammond/Ponchatoula area, worldwide at LionSports,net/ListenLive or LionUpRadio.org, or on smart devices on the Lions Gameday Experience app, the TuneIn Radio app, or the MyTuner Radio app. Live stats will also be available through the host institution.
 
With just three games remaining in the regular season, SLU finds itself tied with Lamar in fourth in the Southland Conference standings, a spot which would include a bye into the Southland Conference Tournament quarterfinals. The Lions enter the weekend two games back of both Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Nicholls for second in the standings, which would include a double-bye to the SLC Tournament semifinals.
 
The Lions finished the month of February with a 6-1 record and have won eight of their last 10 games, including their last contest, a 77-67 win over New Orleans on Saturday in the Pride Roofing University Center. Nick Caldwell scored 20 of his 22 points in the win over the Privateers in the first half as he helped turn a 10-point deficit eight minutes in the contest into an 18-point halftime lead thanks to a 37-9 SLU run over the final 12 minutes of the period. It was the fourth-straight game where Caldwell has scored at least 20 points while he added nine rebounds and a block to his stat line in the win over UNO.
 
Roger McFarlane came alive offensively in the second half as he scored 18 points while he took care of the glass all contest long, grabbing a career-high 17 rebounds on Saturday. His 18-point, 17-rebound performance against UNO was his ninth double-double of the season.
 
Kam Burton helped open things up for the Lions offensively as he came off the bench and hit five three-pointers to account for all 15 of his points against UNO, scoring his third-highest point total of the season. He also secured three rebounds, collected a steal, and dished out an assist.
 
Roscoe Eastmond continued to take on a bit more of the scoring load, putting in 10 points while continuing to be the conference's best distributor as he added eight more assists to his total on the year while also doing work on the glass, picking four rebounds to tie his highest number of the season. Following the game against UNO, he now has 182 assists on the season, currently third-most in a single season in SLU program history, just six behind Leo McClure's 188 for second-most. He remains within striking distance of catching Marlian Veal's SLU single season record of 207 assists.
 
Caldwell, who has won at least one player of the week award for the last three weeks, is now solidly SLU's scoring leader on the season, averaging 16 points per game on 55.1% shooting and 42.7% from above the three-point arc. He also grabs 5.7 rebounds a game while his block per contest also leads SLU this season.
 
McFarlane got his scoring average back up to 14.7 points per game following Saturday game against the Privateers. He hits 41% of his shots and 34% from beyond the arc while still leading the team in rebounding, averaging 8.6 boards a game. Against Southland teams, he's averaging a double-double at 15.7 points and 10.1 rebounds in SLC play.
 
Alec Woodard averages nine points per game while Eastmond and Brody Rowbury both average 8.3 points each time out with Eastmond averaging 6.5 assists on the season which leads the Southland by more than an assist per game.
 
Southeastern averages 69.6 points per game while hitting 43.5% from the field and 35.1% from beyond the arc. SLU's opponents average 70.6 points per game while connecting on 43.2% of shot attempts and 32.2% from deep.
 
SLU will be looking to win its sixth-straight contest against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on the Islanders home floor while trying to earn a season split after A&M-Corpus Christi took a 73-68 decision over the Lions in Hammond back in January. The Islanders enter the weekend riding a four-game win streak, their last coming on Monday as A&M-Corpus Christi went to Houston and knocked off Houston Christian, 91-79.
 
Jordan Roberts led the Islanders in scoring against the Huskies as he finished the contest with 25 points, hitting eight of his 12 shot attempts, including both of his three-point shots. He was also seven-of-nine from the free throw line while adding three rebounds, three assists, a block, and a steal.
 
Garry Clark also scored more than 20 points on Monday, finishing with 22 points against the Huskies as he hit 10 of his 14 shot attempts, secured six boards, dished out a pair of assists, and blocked a shot.
 
Dayne Prim was the last Islander to score in double-figures on Monday, coming off the bench to finish with 12 points as he hit six of his nine field goal attempts while securing eight rebounds, blocking two shots, getting an assist as well as a steal.
 
TAMUCC dominated the inside against HCU, scoring 58 points in the paint while taking just six three-point shots in the entire contest, of which the Islanders hit three. In a game that saw 54 free throws taken, split almost evenly between the two teams, A&M-Corpus Christi scored 24 points from the charity stripe while HCU connected on 17 of its attempts from the charity stripe.
 
Clark is A&M-Corpus Christi's top scorer and rebounder this season, averaging 12.6 points and 8.1 boards per game. He connects on 54.6% of his shot attempts and 22.7% from three on the year.
 
Dian Wright-Forde, who finished with nine points Monday against the Huskies, averages 10.4 points per game on 40.6% shooting and 26.2% from three.
 
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi averages 75.7 points per game and hits 43.7% from the field while connecting on 30.5% of three-point attempts. Islander opponents average 66.6 points per game on the year, hitting 40.5% of shot attempts and 29.9% of shots from above the three-point arc.
 
The Islanders lead the all-time series over the Lions, 15-10. TAMUCC has won four of the last six meetings overall while the road team has won six meetings overall with A&M-Corpus Christi winning the lone postseason meeting between the two teams.
 
On Monday night, the Lions will look to finish a season sweep of Incarnate Word following Southeastern's 76-64 victory over the Cardinals in Hammond back in early February. UIW enters the weekend looking to end a four-game losing streak, taking on UNO on Saturday, also in the McDermott Center, as the Cardinals and Privateers battle for one of the two remaining spots in Lake Charles and the Southland Conference Basketball Championship Tournament that's available to them.
 
UIW's most recent contest saw the Cardinals fall 92-82 to Nicholls in Thibodaux on Monday. Sky Wicks led the Cardinals with 22 points and nine rebounds against the Colonels with a pair of steals. He hit six of his 16 shot attempts, but was just one-of-eight from beyond the arc. He was effective at the free throw line, hitting nine of his 11 shots from the charity stripe.
 
Dylan Hayman posted a double-double for UIW on Monday as he also crossed the 20-point plateau, scoring 22 points while also getting 10 rebounds against the Colonels. He hit eight of his 14 shot attempts, was one-of-three from three, and four-of-six at the free throw line while also dishing out a team-best four assists.
 
T.J. Ford, Jr. added 12 points against Nicholls as he connected on three of his eight shot attempts, was two-of-five from three, and hit four of his six free throw attempts. He added three assists to his stat line on Monday night as well.
 
Josiah Hammons rounded out UIW's leading scorers from the game against the Colonels with 10 points, hitting three-of-seven from the field and two-of-five from deep while converting on two of his three free throw attempts. He also contributed a rebound and an assist.
 
Devante Dennis finished the night with nine points off the bench, but also grabbed a team-high 14 rebounds while coming up with two steals, a block, and an assist.
 
Wicks is UIW's leading scorer and rebounder on the season, averaging 14.3 points and 6.6 boards per contest. He hits 39.7% from the field and 31.5% from three on the year.
 
Alex Anderson, who missed Monday's game while serving a conference-mandated suspension, averages 12.4 points on 47.1% shooting while his 3.3 assists per game leads the UIW team.
 
Hammons rounds out the leading scorers for the Cardinals heading in the weekend, averaging 11.9 points per game while hitting 36.2% shooting and 35.5% on three-pointers.
 
The Cardinals average 73.3 points per game on the year while hitting 43.4% from the field and 33.6% from beyond the arc on the season. UIW opponents average 78.8 points per game, converting on 45.3% of shot attempts and 35.9% of three-point attempts on the year.
 
SLU leads the all-time series over UIW 9-3, including wins in six of the last eight meetings overall. The Lions hold a 3-2 edge over the Cardinals in match-ups played in San Antonio.
 
HARDWOOD CLUB/S CLUB
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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.