HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team will close out the 2019 calendar year with a non-conference tilt at Kentucky Wesleyan College Sunday afternoon. Tip-off from inside the Owensboro Sportscenter in Owensboro, Kentucky, is slated for 3 p.m. EST as the fourth-ranked Railsplitters (11-1) go for their 12th-straight victory.
 
The Panthers (4-6) out of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference serve as LMU's final non-conference opponent of the regular season.
 
How to Follow
Sunday afternoon's road affair will be streamed live via KWCPanthers.com on Stretch Internet, while live statistics of the game can be followed by visiting KWCPanthers.com as well. As usual, in-game updates will be available on LMU Railsplitter athletics' official Twitter account, @LMURailsplitter.
 
Opening Tip
- The Railsplitters will be making their eighth trip to Owensboro and second in three years after taking on Northwest Missouri State in a neutral-site game nearly two years ago to the day (Dec. 19, 2017). LMU entered that game as the No. 4 team in the nation as well, taking on the top-ranked and defending national champion Bearcats in a top-five matchup.
- Looking to end 2019 on a high note, the Railsplitters have posted a 23-7 record during the calendar year after going 12-6 to close out the 2018-19 season.
- LMU's current 11-game win streak is the longest for the Railsplitters since rattling off 21 consecutive during the 2017-18 season following the loss to No. 1 Northwest Missouri State in Owensboro.
- Owning a 73-9 record (.890) against non-conference opponents during the regular season since the 2009-10 campaign, LMU is 6-1 in such contests this season with its lone setback coming in overtime in the opener against seventh-ranked West Texas A&M (99-89).
- The Railsplitters are coming off a 20-point, 97-77 South Atlantic Conference home win over Lenoir-Rhyne Wednesday night and own an impressive 27.7-point scoring margin thus far this season, the second-best in the nation.
- Prior to completing a 3-0 homestand Wednesday night, LMU opened up league play by winning three straight on the road.
- Sunday's tilt is the first of back-to-back road games for the Railsplitters spanned across two weeks.
- Kentucky Wesleyan and LMU are meeting for the ninth time on the hardwood with the Panthers owning a 6-2 edge all-time. After dropping the first six matchups in the series, the Railsplitters have won the previous two meetings.
- LMU is in search of its first victory over Kentucky Wesleyan in Owensboro. In fact, the Railsplitters have gone 1-9 in Owensboro with four neutral-site games. Their lone victory came against Saint Michael's College in 1987.
- Sunday's matchup will be just the third between the two teams this century with LMU defeating the Panthers 88-72 in Evansville, Indiana, as part of the inaugural Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in 2016 and earning an 87-67 win in Harrogate a year ago.
 
McCauley Erupts for 44
Sophomore guard Courvoisier McCauley was nearly unstoppable in Wednesday night's win over the visiting Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne as he willed the Railsplitters to remain perfect in SAC play and inside Tex Turner Arena this season. The 6-foot-5 swingman scored a career-high 44 points on 17-for-25 shooting and went 8-for-10 from beyond the arc. His 44 points were the most scored by a Railsplitter in a single game in LMU's NCAA era and the most since Nick Sanford also scored 44 against Saint Michael's in 1987. Furthermore, McCauley's 44 points tied for the seventh-most in a single game in program history. He also had a season-high 11 rebounds and four assists in the triumph, claiming his third career double-double. There has been no sophomore slump for McCauley, who is leading the team in scoring (22.1 PPG) and has posted at least 13 points in each of the Railsplitters' 12 games this season. McCauley has had two 30-point outings, scoring 36 in the 83-72 home win over USC Aiken on Nov. 9, and is shooting 46.5 percent (46-of-99) from outside. The Indianapolis native is also averaging 5.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He is among national leaders in several statistical categories, including ranking third in made three pointers, 10th in both points (265) and three-point field goal attempts, 12th in three pointers per game (3.8), 14th in made field goals (92), 19th in field goal attempts (185), 29th in scoring and 37th in three-point percentage.
 
Distancing Itself from the Competition
Eight of LMU's 11 victories thus far this season have come in dominant fashion. Owning an astounding seven wins by at least 31 points and eight by 20 or more, the Railsplitters have outscored their competition by 332 points through just 12 games. Last Sunday, LMU defeated visiting NAIA member Tennessee Wesleyan by 60 points (122-62) for its largest margin of victory since pummeling Mars Hill by 87 (156-69) in December of 2017. Wednesday night, the Railsplitters used 60.3 percent (38-of-63) shooting, which included going 13-for-24 (54.2%) from three-point land, to take down Lenoir-Rhyne by 20 (97-77) inside Tex Turner Arena. Including its last two outings, LMU has now notched wins of 60, 50, 47, 40, 37, 32, 31 and 20 points. During their 11-game win streak, the Railsplitters have defeated their opponents by an impressive average of 31.1 points.
 
Among Statistical Leaders
In addition to LMU's impressive 27.7-point scoring margin ranking among the elite nationally, the Railsplitters are ranked near the top in the nation in several offensive and defensive statistical categories. LMU is second in all of NCAA Division II basketball in field-goal percentage defense (36.2%), third in assists (249), fourth in defensive rebounds per game (32.8) and fifth in assists per game (20.8), while ranked eighth nationally in scoring (95.1 PPG), ninth in both made three pointers (138) and rebounds (493), 12th in free-throw percentage (80.1%), 14th in three-point field goal defense (28.4%), 16th in both steals (109) and three point attempts (341), 17th in three pointers per game (11.5), 19th in assist/turnover ratio (1.52), 22nd in three point shooting (40.5%), 28th in made free throws (189) and 29th in steals per game (9.1).
 
Southeast Region Supremacy
On Saturday, Dec. 7, the Railsplitters ended a three-game slide versus Queens University of Charlotte with a gritty 73-64 victory. LMU got a game-high 26 points on 10-for-15 shooting from 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. The win was the Railsplitters' fifth against a team either ranked or receiving votes in at least one of the two national polls this season. For the fourth-straight week, LMU gained all possible first-place votes in the D2SIDA Southeast Region Poll released Monday morning. The Railsplitters continue to lead Belmont Abbey (8-3) and Queens (8-2, 3-1 SAC), who sit in second and third place in the regional poll, followed by Catawba (8-2, 4-1 SAC) fourth.
 
Whitfield a 1,000-Point Scorer
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 wingman has reached double-figure scoring in six of his last eight games and seven times total this season. Racking up a season-high 31 points in LMU's 37-point road rout of Wingate on Nov. 23, Whitfield has scored 20 points or more on five different occasions. He ranks 22nd nationally and leads the SAC in free-throw percentage (91.2%) among those who meet NCAA minimums. After scoring a remarkable 907 points in two seasons at Trevecca Nazarene, Whitfield scored his 1,000th career point during the win at Wingate. The Lipscomb, Alabama, native has amassed an astonishing 1,099 points in only 63 collegiate games played.
 
National Prominence
The Railsplitters continue to move up in the national rankings, rising three spots in both national polls this week to No. 4 in the NABC Top 25 Division II poll and No. 6 in the D2SIDA Media Poll. It marks the 42nd week LMU has been ranked among the top five nationally and first since completing the 2017-18 season as the top team in the country. Queens is the only other conference team to appear in the national rankings, checking in at No. 20 in the coaches poll and 21st in the media poll.
 
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 297-65 (.820) record over 12 seasons. Entering the 2019-20 season, Schertz' career winning percentage (.817) was the fifth-highest of all head coaches 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 (.844) and Mark Few, Gonzaga (.825) - and owns the second-highest winning percentage among Division II leaders.
 
Kentucky Wesleyan | 2019-20 Record: 4-6, 3-1 G-MAC

• Eight-time national champion Kentucky Wesleyan was picked seventh in the G-MAC's preseason predicted order of finish by the league's head coaches after finishing ninth in the final conference standings last season with a 10-16 overall record and 8-12 G-MAC mark.
• The Panthers will be poised against the fourth-ranked Railsplitters after taking on three Division I teams in exhibition contests this season. Kentucky Wesleyan opened up its campaign by facing Saint Louis and Samford and traveled to Western Kentucky Tuesday night.
• Sunday's tilt will be the Panthers' fifth game in eight days and fourth game this week. Kentucky Wesleyan began its strenuous stretch of games last Saturday with an 87-71 conference win over Tiffin before dropping an 80-69 G-MAC decision to Cedarville Monday. In the exhibition contest at Western Kentucky, the Panthers fell 75-53 but picked up an 85-77 win over Trevecca Nazarene Thursday night.  
• Excluding the road exhibition contest at Western Kentucky, Kentucky Wesleyan will be closing out an eight-game homestand Sunday afternoon with LMU. The Panthers have gone 4-3 during the homestand and are 4-4 in Owensboro this season.
• Kentucky Wesleyan, who is perhaps the most storied program in all of Division II basketball, has gone 3-1 in the month of December.
• Led by second-year head coach Drew Cooper, who has gone 14-22 (.389) leading the Panthers and is 108-69 (.610) in seven seasons as a head coach, Kentucky Wesleyan features returning All-G-MAC Second Team performer Adam Goetz. The senior guard leads the team in scoring (16.4 PPG) and assists (4.2 APG) while second in rebounding (5.1 RPG). Senior forward Abu Arisha Mohamed leads the Panthers in rebounding (5.5 RPG) as junior guard Stew Currie is second in both scoring (11.6 PPG) and assists (3.5 APG).
• Kentucky Wesleyan is one of the top passing teams in the nation, ranking 22nd in assist/turnover ratio (1.5) and 43rd in assists (176).

Looking Ahead
The Railsplitters will have a 13-day break from game action before beginning the new year and returning to SAC play Saturday, Jan. 4 at Newberry. Tip-off from inside Eleazer Arena in South Carolina is scheduled for 4 p.m.
 
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.