CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team will wrap up their January schedule by traveling to face Union University on Saturday afternoon in Fred DeLay Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.

This will be the 9th all-time meeting between the two schools with the series tied, 4-4. The Choctaws won the first two games in the 1954-55 season. The Bulldogs have won 2-of-3 since MC rejoined the Gulf South Conference schedule.

The two teams played on December 10th in Clinton with the Bulldogs holding MC to their lowest field goal percentage (28%) of the season. The Choctaws led 29-26 at halftime, but could only muster 25 second-half points. Johnny Rucker led MC with 11 points, while Tristan Moore and Jonathan McGee had 10.

The Choctaws are coming off a tough loss to Christian Brothers on Thursday night, falling to the Bucs in Memphis, 71-57. CBU used a 12-3 run at the end of the first half and pulled away in the second 20 minutes. Tory Rice led MC with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Moore had six assists in the contest.

MC head coach Don Lofton comes into his 12th season with his 200th career victory in sight. Lofton, who has been a part of the program for more than 30 years, has won 195 games as the head man and coached his 300th career game against UWF.

Rice (14.0 ppg / 11.8 rpg) leads the GSC in rebounding and ranks 2nd nationally in cleaning the glass. The Starkville native ranks 50th in school history with 619 career points and is 16th with 419 rebounds. He is on pace to be just the 8th player in school history to average a double-double over his career.

Moore (12.9 ppg) is MC's second-leading scorer and has a team-high 68 assists and 26 steals. He continues to rank 1st in school history with 4.3 assists and 1.9 steals per game.

Rucker (12.8 ppg) ranks 3rd on the team in scoring and is 2nd on the team in free throw percentage (.789). The Yazoo City native has scored in double-figures in his last three games and is shooting 7-of-17 (.411) from the three-point line in that stretch.

Freshmen David Fisher and Hunter Ray each had memorable nights on Thursday against CBU. Fisher (Rome, Ga.) scored a career-high five points, while Ray (Houston, Texas) scored his first career points in his first action. Both red-shirted last season.

The Bulldogs are led by 7th-year head coach David Niven, who has his team currently tied for 4th in the Gulf South Conference standings. The top four teams in the league host the opening round of the GSC Tournament at the beginning of March.

Union has won two straight games in very different fashion. On January 23rd, the Bulldogs went to Shorter University and came away with a 109-96 victory, led by Marterrace Brock (30 pts) and Roy Bullock (27 pts). On Thursday, they sludged through a 51-48 win over Delta State in Jackson.

The Bulldogs opened the season with nine straight wins, but dropped three straight following the win streak. Since then, Union is 5-3 with two losses coming in overtime.

Brock (20.7 ppg) is the team's leading scorer, scoring in double-figures in all but one game this season. The Tallahassee CC transfer has scored 30+ points three times and has shot double-figure free throws in seven of his 19 games this season.

Ashanti Day (11.5 ppg / 8.9 rpg) is the team's leading rebounder and is shooting 45% from the floor. Jordan Montgomery (11.3 ppg) and Bullock (10.0 ppg) are also averaging in double-figures this season. KC Goodwin (8.8 ppg) leads the team with 3.1 assists per contest.