HARROGATE, Tenn. – Stepping out of South Atlantic Conference play and returning to the hardwood for competition after an eight-day break from game action, the Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team will host Tennessee Wesleyan Sunday afternoon. Presented by Minton Family Dental Care, tip-off is slated for 3 p.m. inside B. Frank "Tex" Turner Arena.
 
The Railsplitters (9-1) are seeking their 10th consecutive win and looking to remain unbeaten at home (5-0) in 2019-20 following fall final exam week.
 
How to Follow
Sunday afternoon's non-conference affair will be streamed live via SAC Live on Stretch Internet, while live statistics of the game can be followed by visiting LMURailsplitters.com, As usual, in-game updates will be available on LMU Railsplitter athletics' official Twitter account, @LMURailsplitter.
 
Opening Tip
- Last time out, LMU ended the nation's longest road winning streak among all levels of NCAA basketball by defeating then 12th-ranked Queens University of Charlotte to remain a perfect 4-0 in conference play. The victory was the Railsplitters' 140th home win since 2010.
- LMU is on a 19-game win streak versus non-conference opponents at home and has not dropped a game to a non-conference opponent in Harrogate since the 2015 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional semifinals. The Railsplitters have posted a 55-3 (.948) record against non-conference opponents at home since 2008 and have gone 65-5 (.929) in home non-conference affairs since head coach Josh Schertz took over the program prior to the 208-09 season.
- The Bulldogs (5-6) enter Sunday's matchup having most recently dropped a 99-95 home decision to Point University Wednesday night.
- NAIA and Appalachian Athletic Conference members, Tennessee Wesleyan is 4-2 in road games this season but 0-3 against NCAA opponents – which have been counted as exhibition contests for the Bulldogs.
- LMU and Tennessee Wesleyan have one common opponent this season in fellow SAC member Carson-Newman. The Bulldogs suffered a 103-70 setback at Carson-Newman on Nov. 18 before the Railsplitters earned a 93-88 win over the Eagles in Jefferson City, Tennessee.
- Tennessee Wesleyan and LMU will be meeting for the 113th time on the hardwood Sunday afternoon with the Railsplitters owning a 63-49 record in the all-time series. In Harrogate, LMU has gone 39-19 versus the Bulldogs.
- The Railsplitters have won each of the previous 13 meetings with Tennessee Wesleyan and 17 of the last 18. In November of 2014, the two team's only other matchup this century, LMU routed the Bulldogs 100-56 inside Tex Turner Arena.
- The two teams used to be conference adversaries from the 1950's to 1989 prior to the Railsplitters joining the NCAA Division II ranks in 1993. LMU and Tennessee Wesleyan were both members of the Smoky Mountain Athletic Conference, Volunteer State Athletic Conference and then the Tennessee Valley Athletic Conference.
 
Southeast Region Supremacy
Prior to fall final exams last Saturday, the Railsplitters ended a three-game slide versus Queens with a gritty 73-64 victory. LMU got a game-high 26 points on 10-for-15 shooting from sophomore guard Courvoisier McCauley and led by as many as 20 points in the first half of the top-25 matchup that featured the top two teams in the league and Division II Southeast Region. After the then 12th-ranked Royals got within seven in the second half, the Railsplitters went on a game-clinching 14-7 run over a 4:14 span late and hit three of four free throws in the final minute of play along with getting a layup from redshirt senior guard/forward Kamaran Calhoun. Using a dominant first half, LMU led 39-21 at the break and shot 51 percent (25-of-49) for the 40 minutes of on-court action. The win was the Railsplitters' fifth against a team either ranked or receiving votes in one of the two national polls this season.
 
Distancing Itself from the Competition
Of LMU's nine victories thus far, six have come in convincing fashion. The Railsplitters own six wins by 31 points or greater this season with 50, 47, 40, 37, 32 and 31-point margins of victory. Two weeks ago, LMU completed a 3-0 SAC road trip with a 92-61 win at Coker. Overcoming an eight-point deficit late in the first half, the Railsplitters outscored the host Cobras 48-19 in the second half and closed out the contest on a 26-7 run over the final 10:20 of play. With a 25.2-point average margin of victory, LMU ranks fourth in the nation and leads the SAC in scoring margin. During their nine-game win streak, the Railsplitters have defeated their opponents by an impressive average of 29.1 points.
 
A National Statistical Leader
In addition to LMU's scoring margin ranking among the elite nationally, the Railsplitters sit among the top teams in the country in several offensive and defensive statistical categories. LMU leads all of Division II basketball in field-goal percentage defense (35.5%) and is ranked second in the nation in defensive rebounding (33.8 RPG), while ranking fifth in total assists (191), 10th in three-point field goal defense (27%), total rebounds (416) and free-throw percentage (80.8%), 11th in both assists per game (19.1) and scoring (92.2 PPG), 15th in three pointers made (106), 17th in free throws mad (168), 18th in field-goal percentage (51%) and 21st in steals (91).
 
Voss is the Boss
There has been no sophomore slump for Courvoisier "Voss" McCauley, who is leading the team in scoring (20.7 PPG) and has posted at least 13 points in each of the Railsplitters' 10 games this season, including a career-high 36 in the 83-72 home win over USC Aiken. The 6-foot-5 guard is shooting 41 percent (34-of-83) from outside, in addition to averaging 4.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Coming off his 26-point performance last Saturday, McCauley ranks eighth in the country in three-point attempts (83), 12th in three pointers made (34), 23rd in total points scored (207), 27th in field goal attempts (151) and 33rd in field goals made (70).
 
Whitfield Reaches 1,000
It took redshirt junior guard Devin Whitfield just five games to get acclimated into head coach Josh Schertz' offensive system after transferring to Harrogate from fellow Division II member Trevecca Nazarene in Nashville and sitting out the 2018-19 season. The 6-foot-5 swingman has reached double-figure scoring in five of his last six outings and scored a season-high 31 points in LMU's 37-point road rout of Wingate. After recording a remarkable 907 points in two seasons at Trevecca Nazarene, Whitfield scored his 1,000th career point at Wingate on Nov. 23. He has amassed an astonishing 1,064 points in only 61 collegiate games played.
 
National Prominence
The Railsplitters continue to move up in the national rankings, checking in at No. 7 in this week's National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Top 25 poll after being ranked eighth a week ago. With its lone loss to now No. 3/2 West Texas A&M in the season opener at the fourth annual Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Saint Joseph, Missouri, LMU remains in the top 10 of the D2SIDA Media Poll sitting at No. 9 in the fourth ranking release of the regular season.
 
Southeast Region Leaders
For the third consecutive week, the Railsplitters gained all possible first-place votes in the D2SIDA Southeast Region Poll. Ranked first in the region, LMU sits ahead of Queens and Belmont Abbey, who are tied for second in the regional media poll while fellow SAC member Catawba is ranked fourth.
 
Railsplitters at Home
Inside Tex Turner Arena, the Railsplitters have registered a .927 (140-11) winning percentage this decade. Entering the 2019-20 season, LMU ranked sixth nationally at home in all of college basketball since 2010-11 with a .925 (135-11) winning percentage. Only West Liberty (.953), Bellarmine (.949), Kansas (.947), Kentucky (.942) and Duke (.929) owned a higher home court winning percentage than the Railsplitters during that span. Since coach Schertz took over the reins of the program prior to the 2008-09 campaign, LMU has gone 163-16 (.911) in home affairs.
 
Standard of Success
The Railsplitters have finished within the top two of the final SAC standings each of the last nine years, spent 95-straight weeks in the national rankings from December 2010 to December 2016 and completed the season as the top team in the country in two of the last four seasons. LMU is one of four Division II programs to have posted 20 wins or more for 10 consecutive years. Only West Liberty (15), Bellarmine (11) and Indiana Pa. (11) can say the same. The Railsplitters have also reached the NCAA Tournament eight of the last nine seasons.
 
Coach Schertz Among the Elite
Since taking over the LMU men's basketball program in March of 2008, head coach Josh Schertz has amassed a remarkable 295-65 (.819) record over 12 seasons. Entering the 2019-20 season, Schertz' career winning percentage (.817) was the fifth-highest of any head coach in college basketball history at any NCAA level. Furthermore, Schertz ranks third among active head coaches with at least 10 years at the helm - Jim Crutchfield, Nova Southeastern (.846) and Mark Few, Gonzaga (.825) - and owns the second-highest winning percentage among Division II leaders.
 
Tennessee Wesleyan | 2019-20 Record: 5-6, 3-6 Appalachian Athletic Conference

• The Bulldogs enter Sunday having lost three of their last five counted games and four of their last six contests (exhibition at Division I Chattanooga).
• Led by head coach Ray Stone, who is in his second season at the helm, Tennessee Wesleyan has gone 13-26 (.333) under his leadership.
• Averaging 75.9 points per game, the Bulldogs are shooting 39.1 percent (302-of-773) from the field this season and 31.7 percent (78-of-246) from beyond the arc with 13.2 assists per contest and a plus-3.1 rebounding margin.
• Six-foot junior guard Bryant Bernard leads the team in scoring (13.5 PPG) while 6-foot-4 sophomore forward Ty Patterson is averaging 12.6 points and 7.3 rebounds. Freshman guard Dominique Oggs, 6-foot-5, is also averaging double-figure scoring at 11.6 points per game as 5-foot-11 sophomore guard Lorenzo Gatling leads the team in assists (2.0 APG) and is scoring 9.1 points an outing.

 
Looking Ahead
The Railsplitters wrap up their three-game homestand Wednesday night with Lenoir-Rhyne, stepping back into SAC play for LMU's first midweek conference game of 2019-20. Presented by Papa John's Pizza, tip-off from inside Tex Turner Arena is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. It will be the second of three games in seven days for the Railsplitters, who travel to Owensboro, Kentucky, next Sunday, Dec. 22 for a matinee tilt at Kentucky Wesleyan.
 
LMU L-Club
All LMU L-Club members receive basketball season tickets with premium seating available through silver and platinum memberships. Additional membership benefits include discounts at community partner locations, exclusive e-mail communications, VIP basketball parking and Tex Turner Arena hospitality room access. Become an LMU L-Club member today by visiting LMURailsplitters.com.  
 
On Social
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms - @LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram, for complete coverage of Railsplitter basketball throughout the 2019-20 season.