Notes (PDF)
Notes (McKendree update)
Notes (Lewis update)

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman Men's Basketball team will be in the friendly confines of Pershing Arena for a busy slate of three games in five days: starting with Thursday night against Southern Indiana, continuing with a rematch against McKendree on Saturday afternoon and concluding with a rescheduled game against Lewis on Monday night.
 
Truman split their games in the shadow of the Gateway Arch as they downed UMSL for the season time this season, winning by a score of 79-72; and then fell to Lindenwood 78-68. Truman is now 12-4 on the season, and 6-2 in GLVC play. Thus far in January the Bulldogs are 4-2, with wins over Lindenwood, Quincy, Missouri S&T and UMSL while falling to Lindenwood and McKendree; whom they get a rematch against this week.

Thursday the Bulldogs welcome Southern Indiana to Kirksville for the first matchup of the year between the two teams. Saturday McKendree comes to town and then Monday evening a rescheduled game between Truman and Lewis will take place.
 
The Bulldogs remain the top scoring team in the GLVC with 80.4 points per game and are third in scoring margin at +8.5. Truman is second in field goal percentage at .492 and first in three point percentage at .416. With 10.8 made threes per game, the Bulldogs lead the GLVC in treys per game and are second in free throw percentage at .777.  
 
About the Players:
 
Cade McKnight remains second in the GLVC in points per game at 19.3, ahead of McKendree's Bryson Bultman, who is fourth with 18.7 ppg. Both are chasing Julien Smith of Missouri S&T who leads the conference with 20.3 ppg. He's been averaging over 17 points per game since his return to the lineup earlier this month against Missouri S&T. Against the Miners he tied his season high with eight free throws made. McKnight continues to lead the GLVC with a .600 shooting percentage from the floor and .805 from the line is fourth in the GLVC.

Masen Miller continues to be the top marksman in the GLVC with 3.6 makes from downtown per game and shooting at .463 clip from beyond the arc. He set a new career high with 27 points at UMSL last week, exceeding his previous career high of 25 at UMSL in 2020. Miller also remains sixth in the GLVC in minutes per game with 34.5, and also is tied with Nico Aguirre of Southwest Baptist with a 2.6:1 assist to turnover ratio.

Hunter Strait has taken over as the top distributor not only for the Bulldogs this season but also in the GLVC—he is averaging 5.1 assists per game; which is now far ahead of SBU's Mitch Ganote who is second at 4.7. Strait is also 22^nd in the conference in minutes per game at 29.8. Each of the last two games, he's matched his previous career high with seven rebounds and scored in double figures with 12 against UMSL and 16 against Lindenwood.

Elijah Hazekamp continues to be an all-around player for the Bulldogs—third in points per game with 11.5 and second in rebounds with 6.8. His mark on the boards is good for ninth in the GLVC. This past weekend he scored nine against UMSL and seven against Lindenwood.

Dylan Peeters leads the Bulldogs with 6.9 rebounds per game, which is sixth in the GLVC. He has scored in double figures four of the last five games; including 12 against Lindenwood last Saturday. His most recent double-double came against McKendree earlier this month.

Eric Northweather has made four starts this season, and in 15 total games played has racked up 15 blocked shots to lead the Bulldogs and is tenth in the GLVC with a block per game. He's averaging just under seven points per game and just under three boards per game.

Trey Shearer is averaging 14.6 minutes per game, and is averaging 4.2 points per game and has dished out 23 assists. He's shooting 40% from the floor and .367 from beyond the arc. He tied a season high with three assists at Lindenwood this past weekend.

Keaton Mitchell is averaging 12.9 minutes per game off the bench this season, and has seven blocked shots which ranks third on the team. He also averages almost seven points per game and 3.4 rebounds per game. He scored in double figures with 12 points in a season high 21 minutes at McKendree.

Sam Nissen is averaging 11.8 minutes per game this season, with 1.9 points per game. He's dished out 13 assists this season with five steals.

Sam Lock has played in 13 games this season, playing 7.9 minutes per game. He's shooting 50% from downtown and averages 3.5 points and 1.2 rebounds per game.

Josh Ollendieck has appeared in nine games this season, averaging 6.2 minutes per game. He got his first career block at Lindenwood this past weekend. Devin Fields has been in four games this year and made three shots from downtown. 

Series History w/USI: The Bulldogs first met the Screaming Eagles in 1997, with USI coming out on top in Evansville. The two did not meet again until 2014 when Truman was a part of the GLVC, and the Bulldogs took the first conference meeting 71-68. Overall USI has a 7-4 edge in the series but Truman won both meetings last season.
 
About the Screaming Eagles: USI comes into this week with a record of 9-4, with a 4-3 mark in GLVC play. They have won two straight with victories over Illinois Springfield 66-39 and Lewis 67-57 last week. Leading scorer Jacob Polakovich averages 13 points per game and leads the GLVC with 10.5 rebounds per game—2.1 ahead of second place. Jelani Simmons and Tyler Henry are also averaging double figures with 11.7 and 10.9 points per game, respectively. Trevell Cunningham is averaging almost three assists per game with 23 in eight games played.
 
Series History w/McKendree: The teams met for the first time in 2014, when Truman first joined the GLVC. The Bulldogs took the first meeting 91-60 and won the first seven matchups between the two. McKendree got their first win earlier this month with a win in Lebanon.
 
About the Bearcats: Bryson Bultman leads the team with 18.7 points per game, which is fourth in the GLVC—his .497 shooting percentage from the floor also ranks seventh in the conference. He's also averaging 6.2 rebounds per game, which is 15^th in the conference. Brendon Gooch leads the team with 6.9 rebounds per game, while Bultman also leads the team in assists with 49 and steals with 19. Gooch also averages double figures with 10.7 points per game.

Series History w/Lewis: Like McKendree, the Bulldogs did not see Lewis until they joined the GLVC. The first meeting was in Romeoville in 2014 and it was won by the Flyers. Lewis took the first five meetings before Truman took the next three, Lewis took two more, and then Truman has taken the last three. Lewis owns a 7-6 edge in the series coming into these back to back meetings.
 
About the Flyers: Connor Niego leads the team with 14.8 points per game, with Bruno Williams also averaging double figures with 12.3 points per game. Niego leads the team with rebounds per game with 8.2, which ranks third in the GLVC. Dre Bell leads the team with 29 assists while Niego leads with 19 steals and Atakan Sahinkaya leads with seven blocked shots.

Up Next: The Bulldogs will see Lewis just a few days later in Romeoville for their regularly scheduled game with the Flyers on February 3^rd. Then the swing east continues with a trip to Indiana's capital to take on the Greyhounds of Indianapolis for the first time this season on Saturday the 5^th.