KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Truman State Men's basketball plays their final two games of the 2032-24 regular season on the road against Southwest Baptist and Drury. The Bulldogs play SBU on Thursday, February 29th and Drury on Saturday, March 2nd.

The SBU Bearcats are 6-20 overall and are last in the GLVC with a 2-16 record. The Bearcats are on a seven-game losing streak, falling 64-48 to Maryville and 63-60 to Missouri S&T last week.

Their two conference wins came against Drury on 12/9/23, where they beat the Panthers 65-62, and against Quincy 65-62 on 1/27/24.

The Bearcats have two double-digit scorers, with Drenin Dinkins averaging 16.3 and Drew McMillin scoring 11.0. Dinkins has missed some time, playing in 22 of their 26 games this season.

David Hector is the team-leader in rebounds, grabbing 5.5 per game. He averages 2.0 offensive rebounds and 3.5 defensive rebounds.

Drew McMillin plays the most minutes on the squad with 31.2.

In Truman's last game against SBU, he Bulldogs held the Bearcats to just 58 points and 22-57 shooting from the field. They kept SBU to 2-18 shooting from behind the arc. Drew McMillin led the Bearcats with 11 points, and Drenin Dinkins had 10. Sash Glushkov had a game-high eight rebounds along with seven points.

The Drury Panthers are 14-12 overall and 7-11 in conference play. The Panthers are 11th in the GLVC, and will not play in the league tournament.

Drury is fantastic at home, posting a 10-3 record. Their three losses at home came against SBU (65-62), Quincy (83-78), and McKendree (76-56). Drury's last game was a 70-60 win at Maryville on 2/24/24.

Logan Applegate and Juok Riak both score 13+ points per game, with Applegate leading at 14.3 and Riak scoring 13.1. Juok Riak has only played in 19 of Drury's 26 games. Applegate is 13th in scoring in the GLVC and Riak is 19th.

Logan Applegate also leads in rebounding, grabbing 5.1 boards per game. He averages just 0.4 offensive rebounds per game but 4.7 on the other side of the ball. Applegate is also the team and league leader in steals per game with 1.9.

The Bulldogs played Drury on 1/20/24, where Truman State won 68-63. Logan Applegate recorded a double-double, scoring 16 points with 10 rebounds. The Drury Panthers shot 24-57 from the field and 11-28 from three, while Truman shot 21-56 and 8-24.

Truman State lost to Illinois Springfield 74-65 and defeated Quincy 94-55 on Senior Day last week.

Against UIS, the first 20 minutes were tight, with the Bulldogs having a 15-8 lead which was the largest of the half. The UIS Prairie Stars went into the break up 35-33. UIS started the second-half hot, making three 3-pointers in a row to take an 11-point lead. Truman State battled back, and eventually cut the lead to four with 00:49 left in the game. Illinois Springfield was able to make late-game free throws to take a nine-point victory. Xavier Hall led the Bulldogs in points once again, scoring 17 on 7-11 shooting. Hall had four rebounds, an assist, and a steal as well. Trey Shearer was two points behind Hall with 15 and was 6-11 from the field. Brennan Lovette had 12 points with a team-high five assists on 5-11 shooting. Kobi Williams was the final double-digit scorer, dropping 10 with six boards. Matt Haefner had seven points and Landon Eiland scored four. The Bulldogs shot 26-53 (49.1%) from the field and just 5-23 (21.7%) from behind the arc. 

Against Quincy, at the 10:12 mark in the first-half, Truman State was up 14 with a 29-14 lead. The Bulldogs held a double-digit lead for nearly the rest of the half, and went into the break up 44-33. The second-half was all Truman State, with the Bulldogs increasing their lead to 22 with 13:21 left. Truman's largest lead with 43 two separate times, and won by 39 over their rivals.  Five Bulldogs scored double-digit points, with Trey Shearer having a team and game-high 18 on 6-10 shooting from three. Shearer had four rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Brennan Lovette had 16 on 6-8 shooting from the field and 4-5 from three. Casen Lawrence had 13 with three 3-pointers and went 4-4 from the line. Xavier Hall and Kobi Williams both had 12, with Hall leading Truman in assists with four. Matt Haefner and Joe Knutson dropped five points in the game, with Haefner having a team-high seven rebounds.  Jermarco Burse, Landon Eiland, Blaise Porter, and Tobias Reizner all scored in the game. Reiner had five rebounds in seven minutes.  Senior CE Talton had three rebounds in his final game in Pershing Arena. Cooper Randall had three rebounds as well. Every Bulldog that played recorded a stat.

With 14 wins overall and 11 in the GLVC, Truman has already exceeded their overall win total from last season by two and have four more conference wins with two games to go. Last season, the Bulldogs were 7-6 at home and 4-10 on the road. This season, Truman is 10-3 in Pershing Arena and are 3-7 away from Kirksville and could surpass last season with two wins to finish the year.