Fort Hays State looks to snap its recent struggles when it plays at Lincoln University on Saturday (Jan. 10) in Jefferson City, Mo. Tipoff is set for 3:30 pm at Jason Gym. FHSU enters the game looking to snap its current two-game losing skid at 8-6 overall and 2-4 in the MIAA. Lincoln enters the game at 4-11 overall and 1-5 in the MIAA.
The Tigers are coming off a 27-point loss at Lindenwood on Thursday, scoring a season-low 46 points. The Tigers also shot their worst field goal percentage of the season and ran into a red-hot shooting Lindenwood squad. The Tigers were outrebounded for the second-straight game, something that happened just one time in the first 12 games of the season. FHSU entered this week leading the MIAA in rebounding margin, but has seen that number dip from 8.0 to 5.9 in the last two games. FHSU was also held to just five assists against Lindenwood after entering the week averaging 18.0 per game.
The Tigers need to snap out of the recent struggles in order to stay in contention in the MIAA standings. Entering this game at 11th place in the conference, a win can keep the Tigers within a good striking distance to make a move. All but one team (Northwest Missouri State) has at least two losses in conference play, so the Tigers can stay within at least two games in the loss column of second place with a win on Saturday. Northwest Missouri State currently leads the MIAA at 5-1 in conference play.
Three-point shooting is an area the Tigers have struggled with over the last four games, shooting less than 35 percent beyond the arc in all four of those games. The Tigers have gone just 1-3 overall in that stretch. FHSU was shooting over 40 percent as a team beyond the arc before the recent stretch that has pushed that percentage back down to 37.6 percent for the season. While Fort Hays State has struggled beyond the arc over four games, the opponent thrived in Fort Hays State's last three losses. Northwest Missouri State and Southwest Baptist each buried nine 3-point field goals, while Lindenwood buried 13 - a new season high for a Tiger opponent. The Tigers surrendered an average of 10.3 three-point field goals per game over those three losses.
Craig Nicholson has a great opportunity to become the third Tiger in school history to record 500 career assists on Saturday, just one shy of the mark. The junior point guard has 499 in his career to go along with 1,120 points (ranks 15th on the all-time scoring list at FHSU). With 15 more points he'll move up to 14th on the list. He averages 15.4 points per game and a MIAA-best 6.1 assists per game.
Nicholson is the only Tiger averaging double figures in scoring for the season following the rough outing as a team at Lindenwood.
Dom Samac dipped to 9.9 points per game as he was held scoreless for the first time this year.
Royce Williams (9.3 ppg) and
Jake Stoppel (7.8 ppg) were held to just one point each.
Achoki Moikobu is averaging 9.4 points per game, while
James Fleming is adding 7.4 points per game. With a team-best 13 points at Lindenwood,
Jeremy Wilson upped his average to 7.0 points per game.
Joshua Buie leads Lincoln in scoring at 17.6 points per game, while Victor Scott adds 11.5 per game as one of the top 3-point shooting threats in the MIAA at 46.2 percent (43-of-93). Blake Ralling also shoots a high percentage from 3-point range (47.6 percent), but has just 21 attempts on the year. Mike Smith, one of the team's top scorers and rebounders at 14.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, has not played the last four games.
