MEMPHIS, Tenn. --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team will look to snap a three-game losing streak on Saturday afternoon when they travel to face Christian Brothers at 4:00 p.m. in Canale Arena.
This will be the 6th all-time meeting between the two schools but the first since they played in the 1978-79 season with MC winning, 69-67. The Choctaws are 5-1 in the series, winning three straight from 1976-79. The biggest victory came in 1954-55 when the Choctaws picked up a 91-54 victory.
Head coach
Don Lofton enters his 11th season at the helm, winning his first two games of the season for his 180th career victory. Lofton has compiled a 104-30 (.776) record at home, including a perfect mark in the 2005-06 season.
The Choctaws are coming off a 97-65 loss at Union on Thursday night that saw the Bulldogs shoot 60% (18-of-30) from the three-point line, including going 13-of-21 in the first half. Junior
Johnny Rucker led MC with 14 points, while senior
Emmanuel Ezejiofo had 11 points. Senior
Rayner Fredrick pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
MC is shooting 45% from the field on the season, but their opponents have shot 50% over the first five games. The Choctaws are outrebounding their opponents by nearly five boards per game and are making over 20 free throws per contest, five more than their opponents.
Junior
Tory Rice leads the team with 16.8 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, tallying three double-doubles in the first five games of the year. Rucker (14.6 ppg) and Moore (10.0 ppg) are also averaging in double-figures, while Moore leads the team with 4.4 assists per contest.
The Bucs are led by head coach Mike Nienaber, a 1977 graduate off Mississippi College and a four-year player for Doug Hines. Nienaber is the winningest coach in school history with 270 victories over his 16 seasons. Nationally-ranked CBU opened the season with an exhibition overtime victory over Memphis but dropped their last outing to Delta State, 72-68.
As a team, CBU is shooting 52% from the field and 44% from the three-point line. Trey Casey leads the squad with 20.2 points per game, shooting 54% (22-of-41) from the three-point line. Sidy Sall (16.8 ppg), Ryan Fleming (12.5 ppg) and Drew Hildreth (10.0 ppg) are also averaging in double-figures while Sall leads the team with 8.2 rebounds per contest.
