KIRKSVILLE, Mo.—The Truman Men's Basketball team comes into 2020 with a 5-4 record on the season, looking for their best ten game start since 2016-17; when they won eight of their first ten games. The Bulldogs fell in their final contest of 2019 81-66 to the second ranked Bearcats of NW Missouri State in Maryville. The opening two games of the new decade are at GLVC rivals William Jewell on the second and Rockhurst on the fourth.

Brodric Thomas continues to lead the team in scoring with 23.1 points per game, which is second in the GLVC and 16^th nationally. Thomas also leads the team with 6.6 rebounds per game (15^th in the conference) and is tied with Alex McQuinn for the team lead in blocks with seven. McQuinn has reached double figures in points three times this season en route to averaging 7.6 points per game.

The Bulldogs shot 46.4% from the floor against NW Missouri State in the 81-66 loss, with four Bulldogs reaching double figures in a game for the first time this season. Thomas led the team with 13 while McQuinn, Hunter Strait and Turner Scott each had ten points. Strait reached double figures for the first time since scoring 14 against Davenport on November 16 while Scott has reached double figures in four of the last five games.

The Opponents:

William Jewell is 5-4 under first year coach Chris McCabe, and on a two game winning streak after defeating Baptist Bible College and Central College of the Bible. The Cardinals are led by Eysan Wiley, who is averaging 17.6 points per game, tied for ninth in the conference. Wiley is the leading rebounder in the GLVC with 9.7 per game. Nick Bradley leads the conference in steals with 2.78 per game, which is tied for 11^th nationally.

Rockhurst also carries a 5-4 mark into the new year, winning three of their last four contests. They defeated William Jewell by 31, downed Manhattan Christian College by 72, then fell to Avila before beating Missouri Western by 12 in their most recent contest. Curtis Lewis leads the Hawks in points per game with 18.1 while Quinton Curry leads the team in rebounds with 8.1, fourth in the GLVC. Curry, Lewis, Nick Volz and Chris Hamil are all averaging double figures as they sit sixth in the GLVC—averaging 83.1 points per game.

Up Next:

The team will return to Pershing Arena on January ninth as they take on Missouri S&T at 7:30 p.m., then host Maryville on Saturday with a 3 p.m. tip off.