HARROGATE, Tenn. – On a five-game win streak, the Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team closes out a three-game homestand Wednesday night against in-state rival Carson-Newman University inside B. Frank "Tex" Turner Arena. The fourth-ranked Railsplitters, who sit atop the South Atlantic Conference standings with a 10-1 league mark and a 12-1 overall record, welcome the Eagles (5-4, 4-4 SAC) to Harrogate in the midst of a six-game stretch within 12 days. Tip-off is slated for 8 p.m.
 
How to Follow
Wednesday night's tilt will be streamed live via SAC Live on Stretch Internet with the voice of the Railsplitters, Rusty Peace, providing play-by-play of the contest. Live statistics of the conference matchup can be followed by visiting LMURailsplitters.com. As usual, in-game updates will be available on LMU Railsplitter athletics' official Twitter account, @LMURailsplitter.
 
Presented by DeRoyal Industries and Angelo's in the Gap, Wednesday night's affair marks LMU's fourth game in seven days and fifth in nine days. The Railsplitters are seeking their 26th consecutive home victory and have won more games this season than any NCAA Division II men's basketball program in the country.
 
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.
 
A Top-10 Staple
LMU is ranked among the nation's top five in both national polls. In the seventh National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Top 25 regular season poll of 2020-21 announced Tuesday afternoon, the Railsplitters are No. 4. LMU received one first-place vote and is No. 2 in the third D2SIDA Media Poll of 2021, which was also released Tuesday afternoon. Receiving four first-place votes, the Railsplitters sit atop the third regular season D2SIDA Southeast Region Poll released Monday morning. Due to the difficulties of the COVID-19 global pandemic, at least one of the nation's top 25 programs has still yet to play a game this season. Several teams were removed from the NABC Top 25 following the announcement that they would no longer be eligible for the 2021 NCAA Division II Basketball Championship due to delayed season starts. LMU has spent a program record 23-straight weeks ranked in the top 10 dating back to Nov. 19, 2019 and has held a top-five ranking a combined 59 weeks. The Railsplitters have been a top-10 team for 93 total weeks and have appeared in the national polls a total of 142 weeks since December of 2010.
 
Among National Leaders
Continually striving to be elite on both ends of the floor, LMU leads the nation or is near the top in several offensive and defensive statistical categories including ranking:

• First in total assists (310)
• First in assists per game (23.8)
• First in total three-point field goals made (163)
• First in three-point field goal attempts (396)
• First in field-goal percentage (54.5 percent)
• First in total rebounds (551)
• Second in defensive rebounds per game (33.69)
• Second in rebound margin (12.4)
• Second in scoring margin (27.8)
• Second in scoring offense (97.2)
• Second in three-point field goals per-game (12.5)
• Fourth in assist-turnover ratio (1.64)
• Fourth in total steals (100)
• Sixth in field-goal percentage defense (38.2)
• Ninth in free throws made (189)
• Ninth in total rebounds per game (42.38)
• 11th in three-point field goal percentage (42.5)

Dominating the Glass
An explosive start and exceptional rebounding propelled the Railsplitters to a 102-71 rout of Mars Hill Monday night inside Tex Turner Arena. LMU tallied 63 rebounds for the third-most in any game in program history and reached the century mark for the seventh time of 2020-21. Distributing more than 20 assists for the ninth time of the season, the Railsplitters overcame uncharacteristic mediocre shooting and assisted on 24 of their 39 made baskets. Grabbing a season-high 17 offensive boards LMU held the Lions to 31.2 percent shooting, including 28.95 percent in the first half. The Railsplitters scored 27 points off of 15 Mars Hill turnovers and earned 27 points off of fastbreaks. Scoring 58 points in the paint, LMU got 35 points from its bench. With the Lions not playing in 37 days due to COVID-19 circumstances within the Mars Hill program, the Railsplitters took full advantage of their rust and scored the first 17 points of the contest. Never looking back, LMU led by as much as 41 in the second have before being outscored 27-19 down the stretch. Redshirt junior guard Cameron Henry led the way for the Railsplitters with a game-high 20 points on 9-for-14 shooting, seven assists and seven rebounds. Junior starting point guard Julius Brown was just one point shy of his season high with 17 points on 7-for-12 shooting, while redshirt senior guard Devin Whitfield recorded his second double-double of the season with 14 points, 10 boards and a season-high five assists. True freshman guard/forward Jordan Walters made his fourth career start and finished with a near double-double of 10 points and career-high seven rebounds as redshirt freshman point guard Jeremiah Keene scored 10 and handed out four assists. Senior guard Alex Dahling recorded a career-best 14 boards and redshirt freshman forward Simon Wilbar reached a career-high eight points on 4-for-5 shooting in six minutes off the bench.
 
Cam Can
Over the last five games Henry has been on an absolute tear. The Chesterfield, Virginia (Lloyd C. Bird HS), native has averaged 20.2 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists in his last five outings. Shooting 63.8 percent from the field, 42.3 percent (11-of-26) from three-point range and 88.9 percent (16-of-18) at the free-throw line, Henry has made 11 steals and five blocks. He earned his first SAC AstroTurf Men's Basketball Player of the Week award of his career on Monday, Jan. 18 after leading a quartet of double-figure scorers with 25 points and 12 rebounds in LMU's 100-76 road win at Limestone on Wednesday, Jan. 13. Over the weekend in the 117-64 home blowout of Limestone, Henry nearly registered a triple-double when he scored 14 points, grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, and dished out a game-best seven assists in only 25-and-a-half minutes of action.
 
Willing Whitfield
Despite missing the season opener and playing a limited role at Coker (Nov. 24) in his first game of 2020-21, Whitfield has been awe-inspiring. The Lipscomb, Alabama (McAdory HS), native posted 10 consecutive 20-point performances from Dec. 13 – Jan. 23 and has reached double figures in all but one game this season. Whitfield has already collected back-to-back SAC AstroTurf Player of the Week honors on Dec. 21 and Jan. 4 and was named Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) Men's Basketball Player of the Week on Dec. 22. Scoring 264 points through 12 games played, Whitfield is averaging 22 points and five rebounds while shooting 58.2 percent from the floor and 44.9 percent from beyond the arc. He ranks 14th nationally and is second in the SAC in scoring as his 44 made three pointers on 98 attempts are both national bests.
 
All LMU Does is Win
Coming off their best season in terms of winning percentage (.970), the Railsplitters have won 44 of their last 45 games. LMU's 39-straight victories from Nov. 2, 2019 – Jan. 6, 2021 set both a program and SAC record for consecutive wins. Having won 32 of their last 33 conference outings, the Railsplitters went an unblemished 22-0 in SAC play in 2019-20 for their third undefeated league season in the last five years. Finishing 32-1 overall last year, LMU has dropped just two games in the last 691 days.
 
A Nice Response
Following their first defeat in 435 days, the Railsplitters have responded by putting up some stunning numbers. With an average margin of victory of 34.6 over its last five wins, LMU has outscored its opponents by 173 points. Scoring 104.4 points per game, the Railsplitters have shot 54.7 percent from the field and 41.1 percent from deep with 14.4 made threes and 27 assists per contest. Owning the glass, LMU has averaged 48.4 rebounds per game and outrebounded its last five opponents by an 18.6 margin. The Railsplitters have assisted on 135 of their 192 made field goals (70.3 percent) during the five-game stretch.
 
Preseason Accolades
Both 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 features two of the top returning players in all of Division II basketball. Whitfield has scored 1,805 points in his collegiate career and currently leads LMU in scoring (22.0 PPG), while Henry led the conference in steals (71) and was second in rebounding (8.0 RPG) in 2019-20. Henry's 2.2 steals per game this season lead the 13-team SAC and he is tops on the team in rebounding (6.5 RPG) while second in scoring (15.5 PPG) and assists (5.1 APG).
 
1K Scorers
Whitfield reached 1,000 career points a season ago and needs just 195 more points to get to 2,000, while Henry is only 71 points away from becoming the program's 31st 1,000-point scorer. With 907 of his 1,805 career points coming during his two seasons at fellow Division II Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Whitfield is just 102 points shy of becoming the Railsplitters' 32nd (or 31st) 1,000-point scorer. Dahling (693) and Julius Brown (580) are also within reach of the coveted 1,000-point mark for their LMU careers.
 
Versus the Eagles
Wednesday will be the 212th all-time meeting between the Railsplitters and Carson-Newman with LMU owning a slight 108-103 advantage in the series. The Railsplitters have gone 61-40 against the Eagles in Harrogate and have not lost to Carson-Newman inside Tex Turner Arena since Feb. 14, 2015. After splitting with Eagles in 2018-19, LMU won both of last season's matchups. Narrowly escaping Jefferson City, Tennessee, with a 93-88 victory in late November, the Railsplitters defeated Carson-Newman 87-65 at home on Jan. 29, 2020. LMU has gone 9-2 versus the Eagles since the start of the 2015-16 season and head coach Josh Schertz owns a 20-9 record when facing Carson-Newman.
 
About LMU Basketball
The second-winningest Division II program of the 2010's (.845), the Railsplitters have 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, LMU has 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, the Railsplitters are one of only four Division II programs to have recorded 20 wins or more for 11-straight seasons. LMU has notched at least 25 wins and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament nine of the last 10 seasons. Inside Tex Turner Arena the Railsplitters have registered the second-highest home court winning percentage in Division II basketball since 2010-11, going an impressive 160-11 (.936). The 160 home victories are the most among Division II programs in the last 11 years as LMU has posted three perfect seasons in Harrogate during that time.
 
About Coach Schertz
Since taking over the Railsplitter basketball program, coach Schertz has amassed an astonishing 330-66 record over 13 seasons. Schertz' career winning percentage of .833 is the second-highest of any head coach in men's college basketball history at any NCAA level (minimum 10 seasons). He is in second place just ahead of Gonzaga head coach Mark Few (.832) among active head coaches with at least 10 years at the helm – Jim Crutchfield, Nova Southeastern (.841). 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 210-37 (.850) league record.
 
About Carson-Newman
Led by 11th-year head coach Chuck Benson, the Eagles are off to a 5-4 start and sit in seventh place in the conference standings with a 4-4 SAC record. Highlighted by a 73-54 home triumph over then receiving-votes Lenoir-Rhyne (Jan. 16), Carson-Newman enters Wednesday on a three-game winning streak. Following a narrow, one-point 63-62 loss to then 15th-ranked Queens University of Charlotte on Wednesday, Jan. 13, the Eagles have defeated the likes of Lenoir-Rhyne, Bluefield State (70-59) in non-conference action, and Wingate (76-64) this past Saturday in Jefferson City. Coming off a four-game homestand, Wednesday will be Carson-Newman's first road affair since Saturday, Jan. 9. The Eagles are 2-2 on the road in 2020-21 with a season-opening loss at Coker (67-53) on Nov. 21 and an 82-72 setback at Tusculum on Jan. 6. Carson-Newman has defeated Wingate (78-71) and Anderson (72-66) away from home. Picked to finish ninth in the 13-team league, the Eagles feature a very balanced offensive attack with five double-figure scorers in 6-foot-4 freshman guard Ren Dyer (13.0 PPG), 6-foot-3 junior guard Luke Brenegan (11.9 PPG), 6-foot-5 senior forward EJ Bush (11.9 PPG), 6-foot-5 sophomore guard Kaleb Wallace (11.3 PPG) and 6-foot-5 senior guard Tripp Davis (10.0 PPG). Dyer also leads the team in rebounding (6.7 RPG), while Luke Brenegan (3.3 APG) leads Carson-Newman in assists (3.3 APG)
 
Looking Ahead
LMU wraps up its six-game stretch in 12 days this weekend in Wingate, North Carolina, where the Railsplitters take on Wingate Saturday at 4:30 p.m. inside Cuddy Arena. Next Wednesday, Feb. 3, LMU begins another three-game homestand with nationally-ranked Queens.
 
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.