KIRKSVILLE, Mo.—The Truman Men's Basketball team won in dominating fashion twice last week as they beat Rockhurst by 21 and William Jewell by 29 to move to 8-0 on their home court this year. This week they remain in the friendly confines of Pershing Arena as they take on Lindenwood and #13 Missouri St.-Louis.
Brodric Thomas continued to lead the way for the Bulldogs in the two victories with 38 total points in the two games last week, his scoring average per season coming to 20.8 points per game—39th nationally. His 1,250 career points currently put him in 12th place in program history—surpassing Brian Brown this past weekend. He is 33 points away from Justin Matthews for 11th all time, and 57 away from tying Bob Young for 10th. With 74 career blocks his is one away from tying Dan Storck for seventh on the all-time list.
Cade McKnight has scored in double figures in seven straight games—including a career high 27 against Quincy on January 20th. Mark Rogers reached double figures for the second time this season—scoring 11 against Rockhurst on Thursday. Alex MCQuinn grabbed 12 boards against Rockhurst to set a new career high and Hunter Strait tied his career best in assists with seven against William Jewell.
Truman has risen to 22nd nationally in scoring defense and third in the GLVC allowing 66.6 points per game. In the conference they trail only Missouri-St. Louis and Bellarmine; who are 3&4 nationally. The Bulldogs allow opponents the second fewest rebounds in the GLVC—with opponents getting 30.3 rebounds per game. Keeping opponents off the boards has allowed Truman to rise to fifth in the GLVC in rebounding margin at +4.
The Opponents:
Lindenwood comes in having dropped their last nine games. They are the top scoring team in the GLVC averaging 82.4 points per game, with TJ Crockett leading the conference in points with 21.3 per game.
The Bulldogs and Lions have met six times, with the first meeting coming in 1982. Truman won the first two meetings, Lindenwood the next three; then Truman took the last meeting in 2017. That night Jake Velky led the team with 25 points while Zach Fischer got a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds.
Missouri-St. Louis leads the conference at 11-1, with their only loss coming to Bellarmine. From November 16-January 11 they won 13 straight games, and have won their last six since losing to the Knights. They also overtook Bellarmine this week in the ratings, jumping up to 4.33.
The Tritons have the top scoring defense in the GLVC, allowing only 61 points per game—which is third best in the nation. They are second in the conference in rebounding margin at +7 and lead the conference by a wide margin with 207 steals (9.41 per game). This will be the 44th meeting between the two schools, with UMSL leading the series 27-16.
Up Next:
The Bulldogs will head out for three straight contests following this week's games: going to nationally ranked Bellarmine and Indianapolis (Feb. 13&15) before heading to Drury on the 20th.
