GAME PREVIEW: Men's Basketball at Austin College (2/20)
MULTIMEDIA COVERAGE
THE LEAD
The University of Dallas men's basketball team completes the regular season on Saturday at Austin College. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.
Dallas is looking to shake off a six-game slide, with five coming against Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) foes. The Crusaders are 2-8 on the road, and are coming off a 65-63 setback against Arlington Baptist College last Tuesday. During the season-long streak, the Crusaders have fallen in five games by single-digits and a trio of them by three points or less.
FINAL TOURNAMENT SPOT
Five teams in the SCAC have clinched a spot in the conference tournament hosted at Centenary College of Louisiana from February 26-28. In respective order of the current standings, the teams include: Texas Lutheran University, Colorado College, Southwestern University, Centenary College, and Trinity University.
Dallas (10-14, 4-9) enters the final contest of the campaign in a tie with Schreiner University. The squads boast identical records, but Saturday's opponents will have direct impact on the final two seeds.
The Crusaders need a victory over Austin College to secure a spot in the tournament. If the previous scenario occurs along with a Schreiner win over Trinity University, then Dallas would leap to fifth place in the rankings – due to holding the tiebreaker over the Tigers. A setback on Saturday concludes UD's season.
CRUSADER NOTES
-Junior Michael Sarrat (Colleyville, Texas) leads the team with 308 points and 12.8 points-per-game (ppg). The guard ranks fourth in the SCAC in three-point field goal percentage with a 41.6-mark.
- In the past eight league matchups, Sarrat has shot double figure performances, and has combined for 64 points in the last three in such games.
- Rounding out the quartet of players averaging double-digits in points are: junior Lorenzo Gonzalez (San Antonio, Texas), freshman Prince Giadolor (Rockwall, Texas), and junior Tom Kaiser (Nashville, Tenn.) with 11.8, 11.0, and 10.5-clips, respectively.
- Gonzalez ranks second in the conference in assists with a career-best 100 and 4.3 per contest.
- Kaiser is third in the conference in rebounds with a career-best 188 and 8.5 per contest. The forward has also rejected a personal best 32 blocks and is averaging 1.5 a game. He slots fourth in the league for both columns.
- Sophomore Rory MacCallum (Golden, Colo.) has stepped up the past two games with just as many double-doubles. He notched career-highs in both points (16) and rebounds (12) last weekend versus Southwestern University. In both big showings, MacCallum combined for 30 points and 22 boards.
(UD MEN'S BASKETBALL SEASON STATS)
SCOUTING AUSTIN COLLEGE
The 'Roos are 13-10 overall and 3-10 in the SCAC entering the final game of the league action. The Maroon and Gold have dropped the past five games. Despite an 8-4 mark at the home confines, the 'Roos are 2-4 at Hughey Gym against conference opponents. This includes setbacks last weekend to Southwestern (89-71) and Texas Lutheran (68-64).
Austin College is one of the top defenses in the SCAC, ranking first in field goal percentage defense (37.5 percent) and three point field goal percentage defense (30.2 percent). The men's basketball team checks in second for scoring defense with 73.6 ppg allowed. Dallas is right behind in third with a 74.7-mark.
Headlining the offense for the 'Roos is Alan Sullivan with 15.4 ppg and is tied fourth individually in the scoring for the SCAC. Also averaging over double-digits in point totals this year are Brian Baehl with 13.6 and Cedric Hudson with 12.5. Stephen Igbinosa has kept the post cleaned up with an SCAC-leading 72 blocks. He also leads the conference with 3.1 rejections a game.
(AUSTINC COLLEGE SEASON STATS)
PREVIOUS MEETING
With about an hour separating the two campuses, these games always have extra thrill to them, but the conference-opener was wild one for both programs earlier this season in the Maher Center. The Crusaders would hold onto a 106-104 victory, in a game that featured a combined 61 fouls. It was also the third highest combined scoring game in SCAC history.
Gonzalez led Dallas in scoring (19 points), rebounds (nine), and assists (six). Sarrat contributed 16 and sophomore Emmanuel Calton (Keller, Texas) added season-high 13. Freshman TJ Cooks (Jenks, Okla.) tossed 11 from the bench. AC's Igbinosa posted a game-high 20 points for the opposition. Hudson and Jeremy Swisher added 17 and 16, respectively.
Dallas trails in the all-time series 26-41. Last season at Sherman, Texas, the Crusaders fell short in a comeback, 69-68.
UP NEXT
If Dallas qualifies for the tournament, the SCAC Quarterfinals would be on Friday, Feb. 26. The Crusaders would face Southwestern if the sixth seed, or host school Centenary if the fifth seed.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Dallas Twitter: UDallas Athletics (@UDallasSports)
Men's Basketball Twitter: UofDallas Basketball (@UDallasMBB)
Facebook: University of Dallas Athletics
Instagram: udallasathletics