OWENSBORO, Ky. – In one of the most highly-anticipated games on the NCAA Division II men's basketball schedule so far this season, the No. 4 Railsplitters (11-0) and No. 1 Northwest Missouri State Bearcats (10-0) collide in a rematch of the 2017 national semifinals on Tuesday evening inside of the Owensboro Sportscenter. Tip-off between the back-to-back Southeast Region champion Railsplitters and the defending national champion Bearcats is set for 7 p.m.
 
"After getting to watch them in depth these last few days it's pretty easy to see why they are ranked No. 1 in the country," said LMU head coach Josh Schertz. "As good as they were last year in winning the National Championship, I think they are significantly improved this season. They bring back most of their rotation from last year and the new additions have made them a more versatile and explosive team offensively while their defense, which has been the staple for them, continues to be excellent."
 
The Railsplitters survived their toughest test of the season on Saturday afternoon, grinding out a 98-94 win at Newberry to move to 11-0 overall and 5-0 in South Atlantic Conference play. Trevon Shaw, who was tabbed as the SAC Player of the Week on Monday, scored a career-high 36 points and buried 10 three-pointers for the third time this season to power the victory, while Emanuel Terry racked up 21 points and 13 rebounds in just 22 minutes of action. Terry also blocked Newberry's potential game-tying shot with 34 seconds left to seal Lincoln Memorial's narrowest win of the season.
 
That win pushed Lincoln Memorial to 11-0 for the fourth time in the past eight seasons, and this is arguably the most impressive of any of those 11-0 starts. The Railsplitters are scoring 101.8 points per game while allowing just 69.5. Lincoln Memorial is shooting 56 percent from the floor and holding opponents to 36 percent shooting. Led by Shaw's ridiculous 64 three-pointers on a 52.9 percent mark, the Railsplitters are making over 13 three-pointers per game on a 46 percent clip. In addition to all of that, LMU is dishing out 21.7 assists per game and outrebounding its opponents by almost 12 boards per game.
 
Until Saturday's nail biter at Newberry, the Railsplitters had hardly been challenged this season, winning each of the previous 10 games by a minimum of 18 points. But Lincoln Memorial has not faced a team like the one it will see on the other side of the court on Tuesday night.
 
The No. 1 ranked and defending national champion Northwest Missouri State is in the midst of one of the most impressive streaks in recent memory. The Bearcats have won 45 of their last 46 games and 62 of their last 64 dating back to the 2015-16 campaign. Northwest suffered its last loss on February 18, 2017 and followed that up with 21 straight wins, which includes the NCAA title and a 10-0 start to this season.
 
Like the Railsplitters, the Bearcats, who are back in action following an eight-day layoff, really haven't been challenged this season, winning all but one of their 10 games by at least 11 points. Washburn played Northwest better than anyone else in an 86-78 loss on November 21. The Ichabods led by as many as eight points in the first half before the Bearcats ultimately prevailed.
 
It's hard to find a chink in Northwest Missouri State's armor. The Bearcats lead the nation in points allowed with just 59.7 per game and rank third in scoring margin with an average margin of victory of 20 points. Northwest has also accumulated the 10th-best field-goal percentage (51.3) in the country while leading the nation with just eight turnovers per game. The team is also hitting 11.5 three-pointers per game on a 43 percent clip, both of which rank in the top 20 nationally.
 
The Bearcats are led by reigning National Player of the Year and all-world point guard Justin Pitts. The 5-10 senior is responsible for an absurd stat line of 24 points and 5.4 assists per game while shooting 60 percent from the field and 49 percent from three. Despite playing nearly 36 minutes per game and engineering everything that happens on the offensive end of the court, Pitts has turned it over just 14 times total this season. He also leads the team with 31 made threes.
 
"They have the best player in the country and I am so impressed because as the reigning National Player of the Year he's improved dramatically from the guy we saw nine months ago," Schertz said of Pitts. "That says a lot about the type of person he is, that you can have all of that success and he's still driven to grow and improve and you can see it in his efficiency across the board."
 
Behind Pitts is a balanced attack and some veteran talent. Senior forward Chris-Ebou Ndow is putting up 14.5 points and a team-leading 6.3 rebounds per game while shooting 58 percent from the field. The 6-7 Norwegian has also hit 26 three-pointers. Junior Minnesota State transfer Joey Witthus is chipping in 10.4 points but is shooting just 39 percent from the field. Senior Brett Dougherty is also a solid producer with 8.2 points per game on 55.4 percent shooting.
 
"They surround Pitts with great complimentary pieces who are all stars in their roles and would be the best players on a lot of other teams across the country," Schertz said. "To top it off they are extremely well coached and execute at the highest level on both sides of the ball."
 
Northwest is a massive team with five regulars listed at 6-7 or taller, but that size has not necessarily translated in the rebounding department. If there is a weakness for the Bearcats, and there probably isn't one, it's on the glass, where they are outrebounding opponents by less than three boards per game.
 
Tuesday night's clash will serve as a rematch of the 2017 NCAA Division II national semifinals game, which is the only other time in Lincoln Memorial's NCAA history in which it faced the No. 1 team in the country. In that contest, the Bearcats overcame a one-point halftime deficit and outscored the Railsplitters 47-34 in the second frame to power a 79-67 win. Northwest Missouri State went on to defeat Fairmont State to capture the program's first national title in men's basketball.
 
"The key for us is to stay disciplined," Schertz said. "When you play somebody this good not everything is going to go your way. If you deflate or become disconnected at all that is when they crush you. We will have to be at our very best for the entire 40 minutes to be competitive with these guys."
 
The Railsplitters and Bearcats get underway at 7 p.m. eastern time at the Owensboro Sportscenter just outside of the Kentucky Wesleyan University campus. Live stats, video and audio links are available at www.lmurailsplitters.com.