Sam Houston State (17-8, 12-0) vs. Lamar (13-12, 6-6)
Montagne Center, Beaumont, Texas; Saturday, 4:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Sam Houston State looks for its 13th straight conference win against Lamar. Sam Houston State's last Southland loss came against the Southeastern Louisiana Lions 89-79 on March 9, 2018. Lamar is coming off a 75-70 home win over Northwestern State in its most recent game.
TEAM LEADERS: The Bearkats are led by Kai Mitchell and Cameron Delaney. Mitchell is averaging 12 points and 7.2 rebounds while C. Delaney is putting up 12.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. The Cardinals have been anchored by seniors Josh Nzeakor and Nick Garth. Nzeakor has averaged 15 points and 7.8 rebounds while Garth has put up 15.9 points per game.
SOUTHLAND IMPROVEMENT: The Bearkats have scored 74.8 points per game and allowed 63.9 points per game across 12 conference games. Those are both significant improvements over the 66.9 points scored and 73.5 points given up per game to non-conference foes.
FIELD GOALS FOR NZEAKOR: Across 24 games this year, Lamar's Nzeakor has shot 62.6 percent.
UNDEFEATED WHEN: The Cardinals are 5-0 when they record 12 or more steals and 8-12 when they fall shy of that mark. The Bearkats are 15-0 when they hold opponents to 69 points or fewer and 2-8 whenever opponents exceed 69 points.
STREAK STATS: Sam Houston State has won its last six road games, scoring 74.8 points, while allowing 67.3 per game.
DID YOU KNOW: The Sam Houston State defense has forced opponents into turnovers on an impressive 23.2 percent of all possessions, which ranks the Bearkats 24th among Division I teams. Lamar has turned the ball over on 20.9 percent of its possessions (ranking the Cardinals 299th, nationally).
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This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com
