Joplin, Mo. --   The  The Missouri Southern men's basketball program will play host to Lincoln University Saturday afternoon. Tip off from Robert Corn Court inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center is slated for 2 pm. 

Game Information

Teams:           Missouri Southern (10-6, 4-3 MIAA) vs. Lincoln (11-5, 4-3 MIAA)

Date: Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017
Tip-Off: 2:00 pm
Location: Joplin, Mo.
Site: Robert Corn Court/Leggett & Platt Athletic Center (3,240)
Series Record: Southern leads 26-9
Coaches: Jeff Boschee (48-29 overall/at MSSU).  John Moseley (36-43 overall/at Lincoln)

Media Coverage

MSSU Radio: Mike McClure - Play by play - ESPN Joplin - 101.3, 103.5 FM, AM 1560; KXMS 88.7 FM
Internet Audio: www.mssulions.com
Live Video: www.mssulions.com
Live Stats: www.mssulions.com
Lions on Facebook:  Facebook.com/mososports
Lions on Twitter: @mososports; @mssumensbball

The Series

The Lions lead the series between the two teams by a margin of 26-9. Southern is 12-4 at home against the Blue Tigers, while the Lions are 13-4 in Jefferson City. The Lions and Lincoln have split neutral site games, both at Pittsburg. The Lions and Blue Tigers have played in four overtime games in the series with the two teams splitting the games.The Lions have won 16 of the last 17 games against the Blue Tigers, including the last 13 in a row. 

NCAA Individual Stat Leaders

CJ Carr is 13th nationally in total steals, while ranking 22nd in steals per game. He ranks 15th in total field goals attempted, while ranking 22nd in steals per game and 28th in total assists. He ranks 34th in scoring, 43rd in assists per game, 44th in free throw percentage and 49th in free throws made.   

NCAA Team Stat Leaders

Southern ranks fifth in free throw percentage, while ranking 18th in turnover margin. The Lions rank 30th in free throws made, 38th in offensive rebounds per game, 39th in turnovers forced, 42nd in scoring, 47th in three point attempts, and 52nd in total threes made.   

MIAA Individual Leaders

Carr leads the MIAA in total steals, steals per game, and total assists, while ranking second in total field goal attempts and assists per game, and third in scoring, total points and total field goals made. Elyjah Clark ranks second in total three pointers made, while Lawrence Brown ranks third in offensive rebounds per game.    

MIAA Team Stat Leaders

The Lions lead the MIAA in scoring, offensive rebounds per game and free throw percentage. The team ranks second in three point attempts, three pointers made per game, total rebounds, total steals and turnovers forced, while ranking third in free throws made, total three's made and turnover margin. 

Getting Offensive (About Boards)

The Lions lead the MIAA in offensive rebounds this year, averaging 13.4 offensive boards per game. That equates to 14.8 second-chance points a game.   

LJ's Night At The Boards

LJ Ross had a career-night against Nebraska-Kearney as the junior from Tulsa had 19 rebounds in the game against the Lopers, besting his previous career-high of 13 set earlier in the year against Minnesota State. 

High-Scoring Freshman

Elyjah Clark is third on the team in scoring this year with 13.3 points per game and he ranks 17th in the MIAA in that category. However, he is the top-scoring freshman in the entire MIAA.  

Give Me That Ball

The Lions rank third in the MIAA in turnover margin, while ranking second in turnovers forced. Southern is forcing 16.7 turnovers per game this year, with a turnover margin of 4.0.

Three Point Streak

The Lions failed to make a three-pointer at Arkansas Tech in their match-up in 2012-13. It was the first time in 403 games that Southern had failed to hit a three pointer, dating back to Jan. 20, 1999 against Missouri S&T. The Lions have had a three in 128-straight games since Arkansas Tech in 2012-13. 

High Scoring Affair

The Lions scored the second-highest points of the season against Randall when they scored 105 points. The 37-point margin of victory is the most since the Lions defeated Avila by 41 points in the 13-14 season (108-67). 

Game of Firsts

Against Arkansas Tech, the Lions scored 90 plus points and lost for the first time this year and just the second time under Jeff Boschee. They also allowed 100 plus points at home for the first time since the 2009 season.

New Starting Five

For the first time in program history (since joining the NCAA), the Missouri Southern men's basketball program started five entirely new players to the roster the first two games to the season this year. All five players in the starting lineup did not play last year at MSSU.  

Keep Em Low

The Lions held Lindenwood to just 55 points which is a season-low for any MSSU opponent. The 55 points are the lowest allowed in a single-game for Southern since 48 in the 2014-15 season against Benedictine and the lowest against an MIAA opponent since 54 against Northeastern State on Jan. of 2015. 

New School Record

The Lions set a new school record with 42 attempted three pointers against Missouri S&T. The mark surpassed the 34 set last season against Washburn. 

Single-game High

CJ Carr scored 47 points earlier in the year against Minnesota State. That point total is the fourth-highest single-game total in the NCAA this year and the second-highest in MSSU single-game history. 

No Dish For You

For the first time this season, CJ Carr had zero assists in a game as he failed to dish the ball at Northwest Missouri. Carr is averaging 5.2 assists this year. 

As the Point Guard Goes

The point guard is usually referred to as the floor general and as CJ Carr goes, so do the Lions. In the Lions' ten wins this year, Carr is averaging 23.6 points, 6.8 assists, 3.1 turnovers and 3.3 steals per game. In the six losses, Carr is averaging just 17.0 points, 2.7 assists, 2.5 turnovers and 1.2 steals per game.  

Lions On The Radio 

The majority of the Lions games this season can be heard on the Missouri Southern Radio Network in Joplin. Partnering with ESPN Joplin, the Lions can be heard on 101.3 FM, 103.5 FM, 88.7 FM and AM 1560. 

Lions on TV

All Missouri Southern conference home games will be brought to you live this season courtesy of KGCS TV in Joplin. Fans can catch the action over the air live on Digital Channel 22 as well as on local cable systems. 

Up Next

The Lions will be back at home this Saturday, as Southern plays host to Lincoln University. Tip off from Robert Corn Court inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center is slated for 3 pm.