PREVIEW: Crusaders Head to Schreiner (2/15) and Trinity (2/16) for Last Regular Season Games
HOW TO FOLLOW
(Multimedia Coverage)
(At Schreiner University): Livestats | Video
(At Trinity University): Livestats | Video
(Social Media)
UD Twitter: @UDallasSports
UD Basketball Twitter: @UDallasMBB
UD Facebook: University of Dallas Athletics
UD Basketball Facebook: University of Dallas Basketball (Official)
UD Instagram: udallasathletics
UD Basketball Instagram: udallasmbb
FIRST TIP
The University of Dallas men's basketball team closes out the regular season on the road with a pair of games. It will be a familiar matchup on Friday, as the Crusaders (9-14, 6-8 SCAC) play at Schreiner University around 7:30 p.m. The regular season finale happens on Saturday at Trinity University around 6 p.m.
Dallas played the Mountaineers last Saturday and fell 78-69. The Crusaders have dropped three in a row after starting February with a victory over Southwestern Adventist University.
The Crusaders either need a win or a loss from Austin College over the two games this weekend to notch a berth into the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Tournament hosted at Texas Lutheran University. A win by Dallas in either contest would secure the number five seed.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW FOR UD
- Dallas is 3-7 on opposition courts this season and 3-3 in SCAC road matchups.
- Michael Wambsganss (Denver, Colo.) is averaging 13.0 points to lead the team. His total made three-pointers (51) and rebounds (120) are also atop the squad.
- The Crusaders rank second in the league for total free throws made (362) and free throw percentage (73.1) only behind Johnson & Wales University.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Dallas prevailed 71-68 in Kerrville a year ago.
- Earlier this season, UD edged the Tigers 73-64 led by Dustin Mathis (Fort Worth, Texas) with 19 points. Logan Fruhwirth (Waynesville, Ohio) followed with 16 and Wambsganss had 15 to go with 10 boards for his first career double-double. UD hit 10 three-pointers.
- The Crusaders have dropped the previous two meetings at Trinity, including a 64-57 result in 2017-18.
A LOOK AT THE OPPONENTS
(Schreiner University)
- The Mountaineers pulled off a buzzer-beater on Tuesday at home over Trinity to win 59-57.
- Schreiner has won four straight and eight of the last 10. Both its losses were to Centenary College in that span.
- SU is now 13-11 overall and 9-6 in the conference standings eyeing a first-round bye. Centenary and Southwestern University are also 9-win teams in the SCAC.
- Matthew Rindahl and Ellis Jones lead the team in scoring averaging 14.1 and 11.5 points, respectively.
- The team is outrebounding opponents 37.2 to 35.1 on average, with Rindahl leading the team and second in the SCAC at a 7.6-clip.
(Trinity University)
- The Tigers fell victim to the buzzer-beater mentioned above at Schreiner.
- Trinity (5-19, 5-10 SCAC) has dropped their last two games after earning crucial home wins at the start of the month over Austin College and Centenary to get ahold of the last tournament seed entering the last weekend.
- Three of the team's wins have been at the home confines.
- Danny Rivara is the top scorer with 13.5 points-per-game (ppg).
- The offense is averaging 66.8 points in 13 games at home compared to 62.9 in 10 road games.
UP NEXT
Should Dallas qualify for the SCAC Tournament, it will be the second straight season the team has made it. The three-day, single-game elimination tournament will be held on February 26-28 at Memorial Gymnasium in Seguin, Texas. Brackets will be released once final seeding has been determined at the end of the weekend.