Game Notes
 
CANYON, Texas – The 25^th-ranked Buffs of West Texas A&M look to secure the Lone Star Conference regular season title on Saturday against Lubbock Christian. The Buffs and Chaps start at 3 p.m. inside the Rip Griffin Center. WT wrapped up a share of the conference title, but a win gives the Buffs the title outright.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
A live stream and stats will be provided by the LCU Communications department.  The game will be streamed on the Lone Star Conference Digital Network.  Fans will be able to purchase a $10 daily pass that will give them access to all contests on the network that day as well as access to previously aired games from the current season for 24 hours. Fans can also purchase a $75 basketball season pass that will give them access to all Lone Star Conference basketball games.  In addition to live and archived streaming options, viewers will have the option to purchase and download games from the 2022-23 season for $10 each.
 
NABC TOP 25 POLL
Nova Southeastern, the only undefeated team left in Division II, stayed in the top spot in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Top 25 Poll for the second week in a row. Northwest Missouri State and Indiana (Pa.) moved up one spot each to second and third, respectively. Indianapolis jumped two spots to occupy the No. 4 spot. Fort Lewis moved to No. 5 in this week's rankings after defeating Black Hills State. Six members of the South Central Region are represented in the national standings with Fort Lewis (5th), Black Hills State (10^th), Colorado Mesa (14th), Colorado School of Mines (15th), Angelo State (22nd), and WT (25^th).
 
AROUND THE LONE STAR
WT stays in the top spot in the Lone Star Conference overall standings with the win over Lubbock Christian. WT also leads the West Division with an 21-6 overall record and 11-2 divisional record. Angelo State ranks second at 23-5 overall and 19-3 in LSC action followed by Western New Mexico (16-11, 10-11 LSC), Lubbock Christian (18-9, 14-7 LSC), Midwestern State (12-16, 9-13 LSC), Eastern New Mexico (17-11, 12-10 LSC), UT Permian Basin (13-18, 7-15 LSC), and Cameron (4-24, 2-20 LSC).
 
Texas A&M-Kingsville (20-9, 14-7 LSC), leads the East Division followed by St. Edward's (21-10, 15-7 LSC)  St. Mary's (15-12, 12-10 LSC), DBU (16-13, 11-10 LSC), Texas A&M International (17-12, 10-11 LSC), UAFS (12-16, 8-14 LSC), Oklahoma Christian (9-19, 5-17 LSC), and UT Tyler (9-16, 5-16 LSC).  
 
The divisional winners will receive the top two seeds in the tournament. The championships are set to take place March 2-3-4-5, 2023, at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
 
SCOUTING THE CHAPS
LCU looks to avenge a loss to WT on Thursday and spoil the Buffs hopes of winning the Lone Star Conference title outright. The Chaps enter with a 18-9 overall record, 14-7 in LSC action and a record of 9-2 at home during the 2022-23 season.
 
Head coach Todd Duncan is in his 12th season as the head coach for Lubbock Christian. While at the helm of the Chaps, Duncan has accumulated 220 wins with 120 losses.
 
LCU averages 73.0 points per game while their opponents are scoring 66.67for a 6.3 scoring margin. The Chaps are shooting 48.0 percent from the field, 36.3 percent from behind the arc, and 76.6 percent from the free throw line to go along with 32.3 rebounds, 13.8 assists, 5.6 steals, 12.0 turnovers and 1.4 blocks.
 
Rowan Mackenzie leads Lubbock Christian as the top double-digit scorerswith 19.6 points per game. The 6-foot-3 junior guard from Perth, Australia is shooting 55.6 percent from the floor, 43.9 percent from three, and 81.5 percent at the charity stripe to go along with while totaling 86 assists, 41 steals, a team-high 170 rebounds, and a team-high nine blocks.
 
Russell Harrison is the other double-digit scorer with 16.0 points per game and 5.2 rebounds per game. Mackenzie leads the Chaps with 6.3 rebounds per game while Najeeb Muhammed leads LCU with 114 total assists.
 
THE SERIES
WT leads the all-time series between the two programs, 21-8, with an 9-4 record in Lubbock and 8-7 under head coach Tom Brown.
 
W, 68-755 – Canyon, 2023
L, 85-76 – Canyon, 2022
L, 66-73 – Lubbock, 2021
W, 101-92 – Lubbock (NCAA), 2021
L, 85-103 – Canyon, 2021
 
THE BROWN ERA
Head coach Tom Brown is in his ninth season at the helm of Buffalo Basketball, building the program into one of the elite NCAA Division II schools in the nation.  He has guided the Buffs to six consecutive NCAA Tournaments including the Buffs first-ever NCAA Division II National Championship game in 2021. Under Brown, the Buffs are 231-56 since he took the reins in 2014 for an incredible winning percentage of 80.5%.  Brown registered his 200th career victory on Jan. 31, 2022, after the Buffs defeated St. Edward's, 82-72, to become just the third coach in program history to reach the 200-win plateau.
 
LAST TIME OUT
WT claimed a share of the Lone Star Conference crown with a 68-55 victoy over Lubbock Christian in Canyon. The Buffs' defense locked up a potent Chap offense and never allowed LCU to get into an offensive rythym. Zach Toussaint led WT in scoring with 15 points to go along with two rebounds and a steal. Two other Buffs reached double digits as Damion Thornton scored 14 and Julius Brown added 13. Thornton pulled in a game-high nine rebounds, coming one rebound shy of a double-double. Addison Wallace posted a team-high two steals while Ryland Holt dished out three assists. WT shot 41.8% (23-of-55) from the field, 26.9% (7-of-26) from deep, 71.4% (15-of-21) from the charity stripe with 30 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals, four blocks, and eight turnovers.
 
RECORD WATCH
The Johnsburg, Ill., product ranks third all-time with 286 threes after passing former Buff Martin Lattibeaudiere (1993-97).  David Chavlovich (2014-18) is the program's all-time 3-point leader with 388. 
 
Toussaint also sits at ninth in all-time scoring with 1,319 points. He became just the 24th player in program history to reach 1,000 career point in the Buffs Top 5 matchup against the No. 1 Northwest Missouri State in the 2022-23 season opener.
 
BEVO FRANCIS TOP 50 WATCH LIST
Senior Julius Brown was named to the Top 50 Watch List for the 2022-2023 Bevo Francis Award presented to the top player in Small College Basketball, awarded by SmallCollegeBasketball.com. The honor is awarded to a deserving player whose university is affiliated within NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA Division I, NAIA Division II, USCAA and NCCAA.
 
The Clarence "Bevo" Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character, and team achievements. This is an incredibly prestigious award, as this award will only be given to one player within Small College Basketball per season.
 
On March 15th, the Top 25 players will be announced. On April 1st, the finalists of this year's award will be announced, followed by the Bevo Francis Award winner being crowned on April 3rd.
 
ON THIS DAY: FEB. 25
Saturday's matchup marks the 33rd time the Buffs have played on Feb. 25, playing on this date in 2021 against Lubbock Christian. In that game, WT took upset the sixth-ranked Chaps, 82-78, in Canyon.
 
W, 82-78 – #6 Lubbock Christian, 2022
W, 74-65 – #15 Tarleton State, 2017
L, 61-67 – Cameron, 2012
W, 80-60 – #6 Tarleton State, 2006
L, 60-62 – Tarleton State, 1999
 
LSC PRESEASON FAVORITE
The Buffs were picked to win their sixth consecutive LSC Tournament title receiving 36 o the 39 first place votes for 619 total points. DBU received 560 points to rank second followed by Lubbock Christian (2-fpv, 489), Midwestern State (460), and St. Edward's (428) closing out the top five. Texas A&M-Kingsville (399) was picked sixth followed by St. Mary's (380), Angelo State (364), UT Tyler (314), UT Permian Basin (1-fpv, 310), UAFS (293), Texas A&M International (246), Western New Mexico (145), Oklahoma Christian (134), Eastern New Mexico (95), and Cameron (68).
 
PRESEASON POY
Julius Brown, a native of Westerville, Ohio, was named the league Preseason Player of the Year after helping the Buffs to their fifth straight conference title. The D2CCA All-Region selection and LSC Newcomer of the Year averaged 16.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 42.1 percent from the floor, 31.1 percent from 3-point range and 76.8 percent from the free throw line. He scored a season-high 34 in the Buffs 83-73 victory over Angelo State in the conference quarterfinals.
 
THE LONE STAR
The 2022-23 LSC basketball schedule will feature 16 men's teams in two divisions with each team playing a double round-robin schedule within their division. Additionally, teams will play eight crossover competitions against teams from the opposite division for a total of 22 conference games.
 
The LSC Basketball Championships will feature an 8-team field in 2023 with seeding based on the 22 conference games. The divisional winners will receive the top two seeds in the tournament. The championships are set to take place March 2-3-4-5, 2023, at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
 
2021-22 REVIEW
The Buffs ended the 2021-22 season 29-7 with the program's sixth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.  WT earned the automatic bid to the tournament after claiming the Lone Star Conference Tournament title for the fifth consecutive year, defeating Texas A&M-Kingsville 77-70 in the championship. Julius Brown earned Tournament MVP honors after leading the tournament with 76 points including 34 in the quarterfinals.  Zach Toussaint became the first player to drop 36 points in a single game since 2016 while becoming the 14th in program history to reach the milestone.
 
UP NEXT
WT awaits their seeding for next week's Lone Star Conference Tournament in Frisco, Texas. The winner of the tournament secures the Lone Star Conference's automatic qualifier spot into the NCAA Tournament.
 
FOLLOW THE BUFFS
Fans can follow and stay up to date on all the Buff action on online and on social media.  Follow the Buffs on Twitter (@WestTXD2Hoops), Instagram (@WTAMU_MBB), and Facebook (/WTAMUMBB).