HARROGATE, Tenn. – Potentially its final home game of the 2020-21 regular season, the Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team hosts Catawba College Monday night at 7 p.m. inside B. Frank "Tex" Turner Arena. Following a four-day break from game action, the fourth-ranked Railsplitters (15-1, 13-1 SAC) return to the hardwood seeking their 28th consecutive home victory and attempting to extend LMU's eight-game win streak.
 
Sitting atop the 13-team South Atlantic Conference by 3.5 games, no other NCAA Division II men's basketball team has won as many games as the Railsplitters this season. The Indians visit Harrogate in ninth place in the conference with a 4-7 league and overall record.
 
How to Follow
Monday night's contest 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 SAC 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 Commercial Bank, Monday's tilt was originally slated for Saturday, Jan. 23 but had to be postponed due to COVID-19 circumstances within the Catawba program. LMU's home matchup with Coker Saturday had to be canceled due to COVID-19 circumstances within the Cobra program. With the 2021 SAC Pilot Flying J Basketball Championships beginning Saturday, Feb. 27 at campus sites, rescheduling games within the allotted timeframe will become increasingly more difficult. Lenoir-Rhyne (7-2, 7-2 SAC), Newberry (5-2, 5-2 SAC), Anderson (3-5, 3-5 SAC) and Mars Hill (1-8, 1-8 SAC) have all yet to play 10 games thus far.
 
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
The Railsplitters are ranked among the nation's top five in both national polls. In the eighth National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Top 25 regular season poll of 2020-21 announced this past Tuesday, LMU is No. 4 for the second consecutive week. The Railsplitters received two first-place votes and are tied for second in the fourth D2SIDA Media Poll of 2021, which was also released last Tuesday. Receiving five first-place votes, LMU sits atop the fourth regular season D2SIDA Southeast Region Poll released this past Monday. Due to the difficulties of the COVID-19 global pandemic, many teams have played a very limited number of games 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. The Railsplitters have spent a program record 24-straight weeks ranked in the top 10 dating back to Nov. 19, 2019, and have held a top-five ranking a combined 60 weeks. LMU has been a top-10 team for 94 total weeks and has appeared in the national polls a total of 143 weeks since December of 2010.
 
Among National Leaders
Continually striving to be elite on both ends of the floor, the Railsplitters lead the nation or are near the top in several offensive and defensive statistical categories including ranking:

• First in total assists (373)
• First in assists per game (23.3)
• First in total three-point field goals made (201)
• First in three-point field goal attempts (487)
• First in total rebounds (675)
• First in scoring margin (25.9)
• First in three-point field goals per-game (12.6)
• First in defensive rebounds per game (33)
• Second in rebound margin (11.1)
• Second in assist-turnover ratio (1.68)
• Third in field-goal percentage (52.9 percent)
• Fourth in scoring offense (94.9)
• Fourth in total steals (123)
• Seventh in field-goal percentage defense (39.0)
• 12th in total rebounds per game (42.19)
• 12th in free throws made (222)

Not So Royal
Earning its third top-25 victory of 2020-21, LMU rallied past 16th-ranked Queens University of Charlotte 77-63 last Wednesday night inside Tex Turner Arena. The Railsplitters overcame a seven-point halftime deficit and outscored the visiting Royals 54-33 in the second half. After being held to a season-low 23 points in the opening 20 minutes, the lowest point total in any half of play since Feb. 9, 2019 (a 67-64 triumph at Wingate), LMU used a valiant second-half effort to keep its home court win streak intact. Uncharacteristically poor shooting and missed shots on would-be easy buckets added up in the first half, however, a determined response by the Railsplitters in the first four minutes of the second half changed the tide. After just 25 percent first-half shooting, LMU shot 55.9 percent from the field in the second half, including going 10-for-19 from three-point range and 6-for-6 at the free-throw line. Led by junior forward Jordan Guest's 18 points, all of which came in the second half behind four three pointers, the Railsplitters forced 14 Queens turnovers and scored 16 points off those miscues while turning the ball over a season-low seven times. LMU was particularly strong defensively in the second half, limiting the Royals to 38.2 percent shooting despite Queens going 9-for-18 from downtown for the night. A game-changing 16-7 run to start the second half gave the Railsplitters a 39-37 lead at the under-16 media timeout and LMU used an 18-8 run with under 10 minutes to go to build a convincing 11-point, 71-60 lead with only 2:47 remaining. Assisting on 24 of their 28 made baskets, the Railsplitters were perfect at the foul line for the third time of the season. Guest nearly had a double-double, hauling in nine rebounds while distributing a career-high four assists. Redshirt senior guard Devin Whitfield scored 14 points, dished out a career-high seven assists and grabbed six boards as both senior guard Alex Dahling and redshirt junior guard Cameron Henry notched 11 points. Redshirt sophomore guard/forward Xavier Bledson recorded seven points, five assists and two steals in 21 minutes of action off the bench. Head coach Josh Schertz improved to 17-5 against his former boss and LMU moved to 17-5 against the Royals since Queens joined the SAC in 2013.
 
Cam Can
Over the last eight games Henry has been on an absolute tear. The Chesterfield, Virginia (Lloyd C. Bird HS), native has averaged 17.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists in his last eight outings. Shooting 54.7 percent from the field and 82.1 percent (23-of-28) at the charity stripe, Henry has made 18 steals and nine 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 the Railsplitters' 100-76 road win at Limestone on Wednesday, Jan. 13. Henry ranks third nationally in both steals (35) and assists (75), while 10th in the country in rebounds (107), 12th in made field goals (89), 21st in points (242) and 31st in steals per game (2.2).
 
Willing Whitfield
Although he missed the season opener and played 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. With 11 20-point showings and two 30-point games, Whitfield has scored 321 points through 15 games played and is averaging 21.4 points and 5.2 rebounds while shooting 56.9 percent from the floor and 45.2 percent from beyond the arc. He ranks 19th in the nation and is tops in the league in scoring as his 57 made three pointers on 126 attempts are both national bests. The 6-foot-5 wing's 115 made field goals are the fourth-most in Division II basketball and he is third in the land in points, fifth in three pointers made per game (3.8) and 30th in three-point field goal percentage.
 
All LMU Does is Win
Coming off its best season in terms of winning percentage (.970), LMU has won 47 of its last 48 games. The Railsplitters' 39-straight victories from Nov. 2, 2019 – Jan. 6, 2021 set both a program and SAC record for consecutive wins. Having won 35 of its last 36 conference outings, LMU went an unblemished 22-0 in SAC play 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 two games in the last 703 days.
 
A Nice Response
Following its first defeat in 435 days at Lenoir-Rhyne (Jan. 9), LMU has responded by putting up some stunning numbers. With an average margin of victory of 28.4 over their last eight wins, the Railsplitters have outscored their opponents by 227 points. Scoring 97.1 points per game, LMU has shot 51.7 percent from the field and 41.4 percent from deep with 13.8 made threes and 24.8 assists per contest. Owning the glass, the Railsplitters have averaged 45.8 rebounds per game and outrebounded their last eight opponents by a 13.8 margin. LMU has assisted on 198 of its 284 made field goals (69.7 percent) during the eight-game stretch.
 
1K Scorers
Whitfield reached 1,000 career points a season ago and needs just 138 more points to get to 2,000, while Henry is only 31 points away from becoming the program's 31st 1,000-point scorer. With 907 of his 1,862 career points coming during his two seasons at fellow Division II Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Whitfield is just 45 points shy of becoming the Railsplitters' 32nd (or 31st) 1,000-point scorer. Dahling (716) and junior point guard Julius Brown (605) are also within reach of the coveted 1,000-point mark for their LMU careers.
 
Versus the Indians
Monday night is the 38th all-time meeting between the Railsplitters and Catawba with LMU holding a 25-12 advantage in the series. The Railsplitters have won 15 of the last 16 matchups with the Indians and are on a four-game winning streak in the series, which includes a 109-76 blowout of Catawba in Salisbury, North Carolina, on Dec. 16. Winning its 36th straight, LMU torched the nets with 65.5 percent shooting, its eighth-best shooting performance in program history in terms of field goal percentage, and knocked down 18 three pointers in the conference road victory. Behind six double-figure scorers, the Railsplitters rebounded from a slow start and quickly pulled away from the host Indians in the second part of the first half. LMU is 15-2 against Catawba at home and has not lost to the Indians in Harrogate since Feb. 20, 2008. Coach Schertz is 21-6 versus Catawba.  
 
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 162-11 (.936). The 162 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 333-66 record over 13 seasons. Schertz' career winning percentage of .835 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 (.833) 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 213-37 (.852) league record.
 
About Catawba
Led by seventh-year head coach Rob Perron, the Indians are off to a 4-7 start in SAC competition and have not played a non-conference game this season. After a 90-78 season-opening home win over Anderson (90-78), Catawba lost three straight with setbacks against Wingate (103-84), at Lenoir-Rhyne (93-86) and to LMU (109-76). The Indians earned an 83-81 overtime victory at Mars Hill on Dec. 19 but began 2021 with a 77-59 defeat at nationally-ranked Queens and a 74-72 home loss to Tusculum. After a  second 83-81 win over Mars Hill, this time in regulation in Salisbury, North Carolina, on Jan. 30, Catawba started the month of February by picking up its second overtime win of the season by getting past Coker (85-79) at home. Entering Monday having lost back-to-back road affairs, the Indians dropped an 85-73 decision at UVA Wise last Wednesday and were beat 81-62 at Carson-Newman Saturday afternoon. On New Year's Eve, Catawba played the ACC's Wake Forest in an exhibition contest and came within eight points (70-62) of the Demon Deacons. Earning the No. 3 seed for the 2020 SAC Pilot Flying J Men's Basketball Championship, the Indians went 14-8 in league play in 2019-20 and posted a 20-10 overall record. Catawba finished its campaign with a 104-95 loss to then 25th-ranked Queens in the SAC Tournament semifinals before earning an at-large bid to the Division II Southeast Regional Championship. The Indians were set to be the No. 6 seed in the regional championship in Harrogate before the COVID-19 global pandemic shut everything down. Picked to finish fifth in the 13-team SAC with 114 points in head coach voting, Catawba features four double-figure scorers led by Terrence Whitfield (14.0 PPG), a 6-foot-4 junior guard. Larry McLeod (12.4 PPG), a 6-foot-6 senior guard, leads the team in rebounding (6.0 RPG), while 6-foot-3 senior guard Marcus Burwell (11.8 PPG) is the squad's assist leader (5.0 APG). Despite playing and starting just the last four games, 6-foot-9 sophomore forward Tyrek Williams is averaging 10.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per outing.
 
Looking Ahead
LMU hits the road for a four-game road trip to close out the regular season beginning next Saturday, Feb. 13 at Newberry. Tip-off from inside Eleazer Arena in Newberry, South Carolina, is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. On Wednesday, Feb. 17, the Railsplitters take on local adversary Tusculum University at 8 p.m. in Greeneville, Tennessee.
 
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.