HICKORY, N.C. – For the first time since Dec. 16, 2020, the second-ranked Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team will play away from the friendly confines of B. Frank "Tex" Turner Arena Saturday afternoon at Lenoir-Rhyne in Hickory, North Carolina. Tip-off between the Railsplitters (7-0, 5-0 SAC) and the Bears (2-1, 2-1 SAC) is slated for 4:30 p.m. from inside Shuford Memorial Gymnasium. Seeking its 15th-straight road win, LMU will be going for its 40th consecutive overall victory and 28th-straight South Atlantic Conference triumph.
 
How to Follow
Saturday afternoon's tilt will be streamed live via SAC Live on Stretch Internet and live statistics of the game can be followed by visiting LRBears.com. As usual, in-game updates will be available on LMU Railsplitter athletics' official Twitter account, @LMURailsplitter.
 
Railsplitters on the Road
Since head coach Josh Schertz has been at the helm, the Railsplitters have gone 116-35 (.768) in true road games and completed three undefeated seasons at opposing team's venues. Last year, LMU was a perfect 12-0 in true road games after owning that same record on the road in 2017-18 and 2014-15. It's been 678 days since the Railsplitters' last true road defeat, a two-point setback (85-83) at Lenoir-Rhyne on March 2, 2019.
 
Near the Top
LMU remains ranked second in the nation with the fourth National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Top 25 regular season poll of 2020-21 announced this past Tuesday. The Railsplitters have held the No. 2 spot in the NABC Top 25 since Jan. 28, 2020, and were also ranked second in the preseason D2SIDA Media Poll. After earning the top seed and being selected as the host of the 2020 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Southeast Regional Championship, LMU was picked as the unanimous No. 1 team in the preseason D2SIDA Southeast Region Poll. With the challenges of the COVID-19 global pandemic, three of the nation's top 25 programs still have 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 Division II Basketball Championship due to delayed season starts. The Railsplitters have spent a total of 140 weeks in the national polls since December of 2010.
 
Defensive Effort
Following a 14-day holiday break from game action, LMU returned to the hardwood Wednesday night and appeared to be as fined-tuned defensively as the Railsplitters have been all season. Holding visiting Anderson University to just 30 percent shooting, LMU earned an 87-58 victory behind a balanced offensive attack and very sound defense. Despite shooting under 60 percent for the first time in four outings, the Railsplitters still managed to rack up 87 points, score 46 points in the paint and assist on 23 of their 33 made field goals inside Tex Turner Arena. Recording a season-high 51 rebounds, LMU got 15 second-chance points and outscored the Trojans 21-5 off of the fast break. The Railsplitters also capitalized on Anderson's 14 miscues, which led to 21 LMU points. Holding the Trojans to 29.9 percent shooting, a season low in terms of opponent field goal percentage, the Railsplitters connected on 10 of their 23 three-point attempts (43.5 percent) and shot 46.5 percent overall from the floor and 73.3 percent at the free-throw line. Redshirt senior guard Devin Whitfield led all scorers with 20 points and collected his first double-double of 2020-21 with a season-best 11 rebounds. He was one of four LMU players to reach double figures as true freshman guard/forward Jordan Walters made his first career start and made the most of it, reaching a career-high 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting and grabbing a career-best six boards. Senior guard Alex Dahling finished with 13 points and a season-high seven rebounds, while redshirt junior guard Cameron Henry posted 11 points, five rebounds and four assists.
 
Recent Dominance
The Railsplitter offense has been nearly unstoppable over LMU's last five games, averaging 100.2 points on 58.1 percent shooting. Going 66-for-142 (46.5 percent) from beyond the arc, the Railsplitters have averaged 25.8 assists by assisting on 129 of LMU's 183 made field goals (70.5 percent). The five-game stretch has also showcased the Railsplitters' effort on the boards and on defense. LMU is averaging 40 rebounds over its last five contests and holding opposing teams to 38.6 percent shooting, including just 25.2 percent from three-point range. With a plus-10 margin on the glass, the Railsplitters have outscored their last five opponents by an average of 31 points.
 
Whitfield Continues to Impress
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 has recorded five consecutive 20-point games behind a ridiculous 62.2 percent shooting clip. Earlier this week, Whitfield collected his second-straight SAC AstorTurf Player of the Week honor after scoring 20 of his game-high 28 points in the second half of a 103-82 rout of 24th-ranked Tusculum over the weekend. He went 10-for-14 from the field against the visiting Pioneers Saturday afternoon, was a perfect 10-for-10 from two-point range and connected on all five of his free-throw attempts. Wednesday night Whitfield stuffed the stat sheet with season-highs in both assists (4) and steals (3) to go along with his 20-point, 11-rebound double-double effort. Over his last five performances, Whitfield has averaged 25.2 points while shooting 42.5 percent from deep and going 17-for-19 (89.5 percent) at the foul line.
 
All LMU Does is Win
Coming off its best season in terms of winning percentage (.970), LMU pushed its longest win streak in program history to 39 Wednesday night with the victory over Anderson. The 39-straight victories are also the most consecutive by a SAC team and represent the longest active winning streak in all of college basketball. The Railsplitters have won 27-straight conference games after going an unblemished 22-0 in 2019-20 for their third undefeated league season in the last five years. Finishing 32-1 overall last year, LMU has dropped just one game in the last 673 days and 434 days have passed since the Railsplitters' last loss.
 
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 1,671 points in his collegiate career and currently leads LMU in scoring (21.7 PPG), while Henry led the conference in steals (71) and was second in rebounding (8.0 RPG) in 2019-20. Henry leads the Railsplitters in steals (2.4 SPG) this season and is second in both scoring (13.1 PPG) and assists (5.0 APG).
 
Versus the Bears
Lenoir-Rhyne handed LMU its last regular season SAC loss on March 2, 2019, but the Railsplitters hold a 23-9 advantage in the all-time series. LMU has gone 10-6 versus the Bears in Hickory, North Carolina, which includes a memorable 123-22 quadruple overtime thriller on Dec. 2, 2015. A short floater from Gerel Simmons in the waning seconds lifted the Railsplitters after two-and-a-half hours of drama inside a hostile Shuford Memorial Gym. It was the first and only four-overtime game in LMU men's basketball history. Lenoir-Rhyne's win over the Railsplitters at the end of the 2018-19 regular season was the Bears' lone defeat of LMU since 2010 and snapped an 18-game losing streak to the the Blue and Gray. Coach Schertz is 22-3 against Lenoir-Rhyne.
 
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 157-11 (.935). The 157 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 325-65 record over 13 seasons. Schertz' career winning percentage of .833 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 (.831) 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 205-36 (.851) league record.
 
About Lenoir-Rhyne
Led by fifth-year head coach Everick Sullivan, the Bears are off to a 2-1 start in 2020-21. Having only played SAC contests, Lenoir-Rhyne is coming off a 20-point, 88-68 road loss to 19th-ranked Queens University of Charlotte last Saturday. Due to COVID-19 circumstances, the Bears' campaign didn't get underway until Dec. 12 when they defeated Catawba 93-86 at home. The following week on Dec. 16, Lenoir-Rhyne picked up a 69-65 win at Mars Hill. The Bears feature two preseason All-SAC First Team picks in 6-foot-7 senior guard/forward R.J. Gunn and 5-foot-11 redshirt senior guard Darius Simmons, both of whom were All-SAC selections in 2019-20. Lenoir-Rhyne also returns 2020 SAC All-Freshman Team members Zim Fields and Cooper Fowler. Simmons is averaging a team-best 18.3 points through three games, while Gunn (12.7 PPG), who leads the team in rebounding (5.3 RPG), 6-foot-4 guard Fields (11.0 PPG) and 6-foot senior guard Mason Hawks (10.7 PPG) are also averaging double-figure scoring. Going 14-14 overall last season, the Bears posted a 10-12 league mark en route to earning the No. 7 seed for the SAC Pilot Flying J Tournament. Lenoir-Rhyne was picked third in this year's SAC preseason poll with one first-place vote.
 
Looking Ahead
LMU remains on the road next week when the Railsplitters travel to Gaffney, South Carolina, to take on first-year conference member Limestone University in an 8 p.m. tip Wednesday night. Next Saturday's scheduled matchup with Mars Hill (Jan. 16) has been postponed due to COVID-19 circumstances within the Lions' program.
 
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.