HARROGATE, Tenn. – Eager to get back on the hardwood for competition, the Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team returns to action for a Sunday matinee top-15 showdown with 11th-ranked The University of Alabama in Huntsville. The Railsplitters (2-0), who have not played a game since Tuesday, Nov. 24, host the Chargers (0-0) inside B. Frank "Tex" Turner Arena in a 2 p.m. tip. The tilt is the first of LMU's two allotted non-conference games in 2020-21.
 
How to Follow
Sunday afternoon's top-15 matchup will be streamed live via SAC Live on Stretch Internet with the voice of the Railsplitters, Rusty Peace, providing play-by-play of the game. Live statistics of the contest can be followed by visiting LMURailsplitters.com. As usual, in-game updates will be available on LMU Railsplitter athletics' official Twitter account, @LMURailsplitter.
 
The old Gulf South Conference rivalry is presented by the Prescription Shop and IGA.
 
Limited Attendance
Due to the ongoing public health crisis of the COVID-19 global pandemic, LMU Athletics has a revised attendance policy for home basketball games during the 2020-21 season. Tex Turner Arena will have a limited capacity of 10% in an effort of promoting and prioritizing the health and safety of student-athletes and game day personnel. The following groups of individuals are the only permitted attendees for home LMU athletic events held inside Tex Turner Arena: student-athlete pass list designees, L Club members, 50 students, dignitaries and game day personnel. In line with LMU's COVID-19 policies and protocols, specific guidelines have been outlined to keep the health and safety of the LMU community the athletic department's top priority. For LMU Athletics' complete COVID-19 game day policies, please click here.
 
Return to Play
Following their 78-57 road win at Coker, the Railsplitters had positive COVID-19 test results within the program which led to a temporary 14-day pause to LMU's season in accordance with the South Atlantic Conference COVID-19 Return to Play Protocols for Basketball. Sunday afternoon's game will be the first for the Railsplitters in 19 days as the league and all of college basketball continues to deal with the challenges of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
 
History with the Chargers
An old conference rivalry will be renewed Sunday when UAH visits Harrogate. LMU and the Chargers met 26 times between 1994-2006 when the Railsplitters were members of the Gulf South Conference. Two memorable overtime games were played between LMU and UAH in Huntsville, Alabama, during that period with the Chargers prevailing 80-77 on Jan. 22, 1996, and the Railsplitters getting the upper hand in a narrow 82-81 victory on Feb. 13, 1999. The first ever game played in Tex Turner Arena on Feb. 2, 1991, was between LMU and UAH. Additionally, a Feb. 21 contest between the two programs in 2005 was halted in the second half due to injuries among Railsplitter players and LMU's inability to finish the game. Officially declared a no contest by the NCAA, the Chargers were credited with a win by the GSC for conference tournament seeding purposes since UAH was leading by a point. However, LMU does not count the game in its series history with the Chargers or its record book.  
 
National Rankings
The Railsplitters enter Sunday afternoon's affair ranked as the second-best team in the nation in both the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Top 25 and the preseason D2SIDA Media Poll. UAH is also ranked in the top 20 in both polls, appearing at No. 11 in the NABC Top 25 rankings and No. 16 in the preseason media poll. The Chargers represent the highest-ranked team LMU has faced since Nov. 1, 2019, when the Railsplitters took on No. 7/5 West Texas A&M in a neutral-site game. Last season, LMU defeated No. 12/11 Queens University of Charlotte (73-64) on Dec. 7 and took down No. 22/16 Catawba (110-85) on Jan. 11. UAH is the highest-ranked team to visit Tex Turner Arena since Feb. 2, 2019, when the Railsplitters hosted No. 9/6 Queens. Sunday's contest will be the sixth meeting between LMU and the Chargers when UAH is ranked and the second top-15 matchup between the two programs. The third-highest ranking the Chargers have held while facing the Railsplitters, No. 11 UAH is the highest-ranked Charger team to ever visit Harrogate. LMU is 2-3 against UAH when the Chargers are ranked, upsetting No. 8 UAH 79-69 on Feb. 3, 2001, in Huntsville after taking down the 24th-ranked Chargers 69-61 on Jan. 29, 2000, inside Tex Turner Arena. UAH was ranked No. 13 when the Chargers last traveled to east Tennessee on Feb. 20, 2006. The two teams' last meeting took place as a top-five showdown at the inaugural Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Evansville, Indiana, on Nov. 19, 2016. On the heels of a national title game appearance, the Railsplitters were also ranked No. 2 in the country while UAH was ranked fifth.
 
Charming the Cobras
Nearly three weeks ago, LMU had its first road test of the season and passed with flying colors. Despite a sluggish start and early first-half deficit at Coker, the Railsplitters outscored the hosts 42-27 in the final 20 minutes of play to improve to 15-0 against Cobras. After five ties and four lead changes in the first half, LMU controlled the second half behind 55.2 percent shooting. The Railsplitters were active on the glass all night, owning a plus-nine rebounding margin and getting 13 second-chance points off of eight offensive boards. Overcoming a 4-for-22 (18.2 percent) shooting night from behind the arc, LMU scored 48 points in the paint and got 21 points off the fast break. Holding Coker to just 33.3 percent second-half shooting, the Railsplitters claimed eight steals and scored 15 points off of turnovers. Led by junior point guard Julius Brown's 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting, LMU got a career-high 15 points from redshirt sophomore guard/forward Xavier Bledson who coupled his scoring performance with five rebounds. Preseason All-American redshirt junior guard Cameron Henry dictated the offense with his smooth passing while posting a near triple-double of 13 points, career-high 10 assists and nine boards.
 
Staying Hot
Coming off their best season in terms of winning percentage (.970), the Railsplitters pushed their longest win streak in program history to 34 against the Cobras on Nov. 24. The 34-straight victories are also the most consecutive by a SAC team and represent the longest active winning streak in all of college basketball. LMU has now won 24-straight conference games after going an unblemished 22-0 in 2019-20 for its third undefeated league season in the last five years. Finishing 32-1 overall last year, the Railsplitters have dropped just one game in the last 646 days and 407 days have passed since LMU's last loss.
 
Preseason Accolades
Both redshirt senior guard Devin Whitfield, the 2020 SAC Tournament MVP, and Henry, the reigning SAC Defensive Player of the Year, were selected as preseason All-Americans by Basketball Times. The all-region tandem also landed a spot on the preseason All-SAC First Team and are two of the top returning players in all of Division II basketball. Whitfield has scored 1,545 points in his collegiate career, while Henry led the conference in steals (71) and was second in rebounding (8.0 RPG) in 2019-20.
 
Versus the Chargers
The Railsplitters are 14-22 all-time versus UAH and 9-9 against the Chargers in Harrogate. LMU has not defeated UAH in over 17 years with the Railsplitters' last triumph over the Chargers coming in a low-scoring 49-46 affair on Feb. 22, 2003, inside Tex Turner Arena. This millennium, LMU is just 3-12 against UAH. However, the Railsplitters have faced the Chargers only once since leaving the GSC in 2006. Head coach Josh Schertz has gone head-to-head with UAH only one other time at the 2016 Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic. The top-five neutral-site game was won by the then fifth-ranked Chargers, 91-67.
 
About LMU Basketball
The second-winningest Division II program of the 2010's (.845), LMU has won 13 total SAC titles since 2011. Selected as the top seed and host of the Division II Men's Basketball Southeast Regional Championship four of the last six years, the Railsplitters have ended the season ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 three times in the last five seasons. The only school in Division II to have reached 30 wins in five of the last six years, LMU is one of only four Division II programs to have recorded 20 wins or more for 11-straight seasons. The Railsplitters have notched at least 25 wins and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament nine of the last 10 seasons. Inside Tex Turner Arena LMU has registered the second-highest home court winning percentage in Division II basketball since 2010-11, going an impressive 153-11 (.933). The 153 home victories are the most among Division II programs in the last 10 years as the Railsplitters have posted three perfect seasons in Harrogate during that time.
 
About Coach Schertz
Since taking over the LMU basketball program, coach Schertz has amassed an astonishing 320-65 record over 13 seasons. Schertz' career winning percentage of .831 is the second-highest of any head coach in men's college basketball at any NCAA level (minimum 10 seasons). He also ranks second among active head coaches with at least 10 years at the helm – Jim Crutchfield, Nova Southeastern (.841) – after passing Gonzaga head coach Mark Few (.829) in 2019-20. On Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, coach Schertz reached his 300th career victory with a 76-64 conference home win over UVA Wise. Reaching the 300-win milestone in only 365 games as a head coach, the seven-time SAC Coach of the Year owns the second-most SAC victories with a phenomenal 202-36 (.849) league record.
 
About No. 11 UAH
Picked to win the GSC West Division, Sunday afternoon will serve as the Chargers' season opener. UAH went 26-5 overall last year and finished third in the GSC race with a 15-5 conference record. The Chargers won their final nine games of 2019-20 and are the reigning GSC Tournament champions after defeating top-seeded Valdosta State 91-82 in the title game. Earning the No. 4 seed for the 2020 Division II Men's Basketball South Regional Championship, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, UAH returns three of its top four scorers from last season. Redshirt junior 6-foot-5 guard Max Shulman, who is the son of second-year head coach John Shulman, averaged 12.7 points in 2019-20 while shooting 44.7 percent (101-of-226) from three-point range. The Chargers also return senior 6-foot-2 guard Sam Orf, who averaged 12.3 points last season, and redshirt senior 6-foot-5 guard JJ Kaplan, who averaged 11.6 points and led the team in rebounding (9.1 RPG) a year ago. Redshirt senior 6-foot-7 forward Kerney Lane was UAH's top assist man (3.2 APG) in 2019-20 and is back for the Chargers as well. Both two-time All-GSC performer Kaplan and Shulman were tabbed preseason All-GSC as UAH has the services of sophomore guard Auston Leslie, a transfer from Division I Southern Miss. Coach Shulman led the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball program from 2004-13 and previously served as an assistant coach at Wofford, Tennessee Tech and East Tennessee State University.
 
Looking Ahead
The Railsplitters step back into SAC play and hit the road Wednesday, Dec. 16 when LMU travels to Salisbury, North Carolina, to take on Catawba in a rare 1 p.m. midweek tip-off. Next Friday, Dec. 18, the Railsplitters return to Tex Turner Arena and welcome Anderson to Harrogate for a 2 p.m. tilt. Following Christmas break, LMU hosts Tusculum the day after New Year's on Saturday, Jan. 2.
 
LMU L Club
Register to become an L Club member today. 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.  
 
Stay Up to Date
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 2020-21 season.