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The Lincoln Memorial men's basketball team returns home to host Tennessee Wesleyan at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night in Tex Turner Arena. This will be the first meeting between the two teams since 2019 when the Railsplitters beat the Bulldogs 122-62 on Dec. 15 in Harrogate.
 
The Railsplitters (9-1, 3-0 SAC) dominated Emory & Henry 89-69 on Saturday in Virginia to remain at No. 1 in the D2SIDA Southeast Region rankings riding an eight-game winning streak. The Bulldogs enter the game at 8-2, having lost 85-72 at common opponent Tusculum in an exhibition on Nov. 7.
 
Lincoln Memorial comes in at No. 8 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Poll and No. 7 in the D2SIDA Poll released on Dec. 13, which are the highest rankings for teams with a loss.
 
RAILSPLITTER STRIKES

• Lincoln Memorial leads the SAC in average assists (19.2) and defensive rebounds (32.9) per game and field goal percentage (52.7) so far this season. Across NCAA Division II nationally, the team's defensive rebounds average leads the country and its field goal percentage ranks third and assists per game fifth through Dec. 12.
• Chase Rankin leads the conference and ranks sixth in Division II in both assists per game (6.1) and total assists (61). The graduate guard's 2.44 assist to turnover ratio is fourth in the SAC.
• Martez Brown's 86 total rebounds leads the league and ranks No. 32 in the country.
• Along with being ranked No. 6 in the NABC Preseason Poll, the Railsplitters were picked to win the SAC with 143 points including 11 first place votes.
• Redshirt sophomore guard Me'Kell Burries, senior forward Jordan Guest and Rankin were all selected to the preseason All-SAC First Team.

SCOUTING TENNESSEE WESLEYAN: The Bulldogs have lost exhibition games at Tusculum on Nov. 7 and Tennessee Tech (82-48) on Nov. 10. They average 78.3 points while allowing 72.2 points per game and shoot 47.3 percent from the field with a +2.3 average rebounding margin.
 
Senior forward Ty Patterson's 15.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game leads the Bulldogs while senior guard Elisha Mayberry's 13.9 points and 7.0 rebounds per game rank second on the team.
 
SAC Men's Basketball Standings (as of Dec. 13)
 
Mountain Division                Overall           Conference
Lincoln Memorial                  9-1                   3-0
Carson-Newman                     7-2                   2-0
Tusculum                                5-1                   2-1
Limestone                               3-5                   1-1
Emory & Henry                       6-3                   0-2
UVA Wise                               6-3                   0-2
Mars Hill                                 2-5                   0-2
 
Piedmont Division                Overall           Conference
Catawba                                  6-3                   2-0
Wingate                                   5-3                   2-0
Newberry                                 7-3                   1-1
Lenoir-Rhyne                          4-3                   0-1
Anderson                                2-8                   0-1
Coker                                      5-5                   0-2
 
Up Next
The Railsplitters host Limestone on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the return to conference play.