HARROGATE, Tenn. – After spending the first six games of the 2016-17 campaign on the road, the 23rd-ranked Railsplitters (4-2, 0-1 SAC) begin a stretch that will see them play six of their next seven games at Tex Turner Arena on Wednesday night as Lincoln Memorial welcomes the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (2-3, 1-1 SAC) to Harrogate for a South Atlantic Conference showdown beginning at 7:3o p.m.
 
Wednesday will mark the first of three games for the Railsplitters over a five-day period as the Railsplitters are also set to host Coker on Saturday and Brevard on Monday. After that, Lincoln Memorial will benefit from a much-needed break before traveling to Wingate on December 14. The Railsplitters will then host Newberry, Bellarmine and Mars Hill in succession.
 
Lincoln Memorial is coming off of its most complete performance of the 2016-17 season as the Railsplitters bludgeoned the Virginia-Wise Cavaliers 105-62 in a wire-to-wire win on Saturday afternoon. In that contest, which snapped a two-game losing streak and helped LMU avoid its first three-game skid since 2008, the Railsplitters shot 57.5 percent from the field and converted 11 of its 23 three-point attempts while limiting UVA-Wise to a dreadful 28.1 percent clip. The Railsplitters also outrebounded the Cavaliers 55-28.
 
Emanuel Terry (Enterprise, Ala.) powered Lincoln Memorial with his fourth double-double of the season and second straight overall. Terry followed up his 16-point, 11-rebound performance at Carson-Newman by pacing the Railsplitters with a game-high 21 points and 14 rebounds. The Enterprise, Ala. native, who had just six career double-doubles prior to this season, is averaging 11.3 points and 9.8 rebounds per game so far this season.
 
Dorian Pinson (Greenville, S.C.) also notched his first double-double of the season with 14 points and a season-high 12 rebounds against Virginia-Wise. Deshawn Patterson (Lenoir, N.C.) exploded for a career-high 19 points on a 5-for-6 mark from three-point range in 12 minutes off the bench to help the Railsplitters' second unit outscore the Cavaliers' bench 53-19.
 
The Railsplitters continue to thrive on the offensive end of the floor as they have accounted for at least 90 points in four of their six games, including a streak of back-to-back games with at least 100 points. Lincoln Memorial is ranked second in the SAC in points per game with 92.5 while leading the league in field goals per game with 35.2, field-goal percentage with a 53.1 percent clip and three-point field-goal percentage with a 44.4 percent mark.
 
Fueled by Terry's SAC-leading 2.8 blocks per game, the Railsplitters lead the conference in blocks as a team with 7.2. That has helped the Railsplitters hold up pretty well on the defensive end as Lincoln Memorial is ranked third in the conference in opponent field-goal percentage by holding foes to 41 percent shooting. However, the Railsplitters will need a better defensive effort than they gave against Carson-Newman in the SAC opener as the Eagles shot 49.4 percent and made seven of their 13 three-point tries.
 
Wednesday's game between Lincoln Memorial and Lenoir-Rhyne will be a rematch of last season's Sweet 16 showdown at Tex Turner Arena, which the Railsplitters won 103-80 to advance to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time in program history, but things have changed drastically for both programs over the past eight months.
 
Starting at the top, Lenoir-Rhyne hired Everick Sullivan as the program's 19th head coach in April after Ryan Odum left to take the head coaching gig at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
 
That wasn't the only massive shake-up for Lenoir-Rhyne, either, as the Bears graduated three of their top-four scorers off of last season's team, including SAC Player of the Year Keenan Palmore. With Palmore, Will Perry and Rob Noyes gone, the Bears lost nearly 50 points per game off of last season's team that averaged more than 90 points per game, went 21-10 and played in the first Sweet 16 in program history.
 
Those departures have been reflected in the Bears' offensive production this season. Lenoir-Rhyne is averaging just 83 points per game and ranked dead last in the league in field-goal percentage with a 41.7 percent clip. However, the Bears can still be deadly from three-point range as they are hitting over 12 threes per game while shooting 40.7 percent from deep.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne is steady on the defensive end, though, holding opponents to just 80.6 points per game on 44.1 percent shooting. The Bears lead the SAC in opponent three-point field-goal percentage by limiting opponents to a miniscule 23.4 percent mark from long range.
 
The Bears are led this season by veteran guards Reed Lucas, Darrion Evans and Billy Bales. Lucas is putting up 13.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, but is shooting just 32.8 percent from the field. Evans is efficiently accounting for 13 points per game on 47.9 percent shooting to go along with 3.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. Bales, meanwhile, has produced 12 points and 2.8 rebounds per game on 47.9 percent shooting and a 48.6 percent mark from deep.
 
The Bears will be trying to halt a two-game losing streak on Wednesday. Lenoir-Rhyne suffered a 94-82 loss at Wingate last Tuesday before dropping a 78-76 decision to Chowan in Hickory on Sunday. The Bears had a chance to beat Chowan late in regulation, but Evans' buzzer-beating three-pointer missed the mark.
 
Prior to their current two-game skid, the Bears had won two straight games, including a 106-98 double-overtime win at Catawba on November 16.
 
Lincoln Memorial hasn't lost to Lenoir-Rhyne since February 2010, piling up 13 straight wins in the series over that span. That includes a 3-0 mark during the 2015-16 campaign and an 86-75 win at Tex Turner Arena during the regular season.
 
The Railsplitters and Bears are set to get underway at 7:30 p.m. inside of Tex Turner Arena. Live stats, video and audio links will be available at www.LMURailsplitters.com.
 
Five things to watch against Lenoir-Rhyne:
1. Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.) buried eight three-pointers last week – five at Carson-Newman and three at Virginia-Wise – and now has 309 for his career. Choice needs just 31 more three-pointers to match Carson-Newman's Ish Sanders for the South Atlantic Conference record of 340.
 
2. The Railsplitters will be looking to avoid their first 0-2 SAC start since the 2007-08 campaign, the last season before head coach Josh Schertz arrived.
 
3. Lincoln Memorial has won 17 straight regular-season games at Tex Turner Arena and that streak started against Lenoir-Rhyne on February 14, 2015. Including the postseason, the Railsplitters went 18-0 at home last season.
 
4. The Bears pose virtually no offensive threat on the interior. Freshman Ben Zemonek is Lenoir-Rhyne's leading post player with 6.2 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
 
5. Due to that, the Railsplitters should have a tremendous advantage on the backboards. Lenoir-Rhyne is ranked second-to-last in the SAC in rebounding margin as opponents are outrebounding the Bears by 5.8 rebounds per game. In the loss to Wingate, Lenoir-Rhyne was outrebounded 44-35.