Fort Hays State (8-2, 3-1 MIAA) at
Newman (5-5, 2-3 MIAA)
Sunday, December 17 – 3:30 PM
Wichita, Kan. – Fugate Gymnasium
 
Fort Hays State Men's Basketball will play its final game before the mandatory holiday break when it takes on Newman University in Wichita on Sunday (Dec. 17). Tipoff is set for 3:30 p.m. inside of Fugate Gymnasium. The Tigers enter at 8-2 overall, 3-1 in the MIAA, while the Jets are 5-5 overall, 2-3 in the MIAA.
 
Fort Hays State is currently on a three-game win streak after three straight wins at home. The Tigers knocked off a pair of NABC Top 25 ranked teams, No. 17 Northwest Missouri State and No. 22 Missouri Western, to improve to 3-1 in MIAA play. They capped their three-game homestand with a win over Bethel College on Wednesday night. FHSU held the opposition to less than 50 points in all three of those games.
 
Newman is coming off a 90-72 win against Nebraska-Kearney on Friday evening to move back to .500 overall and one-under .500 in conference play. The Jets are 2-1 in conference games at home so far this year, also notching a win over Central Missouri in the first weekend of conference play. Their lone conference loss at home was to Lincoln.
 
Fort Hays State has a firm 45-10 lead in the all-time series with Newman. The Tigers are 8-0 since the Jets joined the MIAA in 2019-20, which constitutes all of their current 8-game win streak in the series. All four of the MIAA meetings between the teams in Wichita have been decided by 10 points or less. FHSU won last year's meeting in Wichita 71-62.
 
Kaleb Hammeke (12.8), Elijah Nnanabu (11.0), and R.J. Crawford (10.2) all average double figures in scoring for the Tigers. Traejon Davis led the Tigers with a career-high 19 points in the win over Bethel on Wednesday night. He leads the team in rebounding at 5.2 per game, while Shaun Riley is right behind at 5.1 per game. Hammeke continues to lead the team in assists at 3.7 per game.
 
The Jets currently have four players averaging double figures in scoring, led by Stevie Strong (14.1) and Stevie Smith (12.4). Sam Somerhalder leads the Jets in rebounding at 6.8 per game, while averaging 11.5 points per game.