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The Lincoln Memorial men's basketball team travels to North Carolina on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. road contest at Mars Hill. This will be the second game of the season series between the two teams, as Lincoln Memorial defeated Mars Hill 80-56 on Nov. 26 in the South Atlantic Conference opener at Tex Turner Arena. The Railsplitters are 43-9 all-time against the Lions including 19-5 in road games, with Lincoln Memorial having won the last 27 games in a row between the two programs.
 
Lincoln Memorial (17-1, 7-0 South Atlantic Conference) increased its winning streak to 16 games with a 108-63 triumph at Anderson on Saturday afternoon in its first game against a Piedmont Division foe. Chase Rankin stuffed the stat sheet with 19 points, 14 assists, eight rebounds and two steals on his way to being named the SAC Player of the Week.
 
The host Lions enter the matchup with a 4-11 overall record (1-6 SAC) but won their most recent game on Saturday at Limestone 64-47 for their first league win of the season. Their other wins came on New Year's Eve against North Greenville (64-61) and in the first two games of the season vs Converse (76-67) and Belmont Abbey (81-76).
 
Lincoln Memorial was ranked No. 3 in both the National Association of Basketball Coaches and D2SIDA polls released on Jan. 17, which is the team's highest ranking in both polls this season.
 
RAILSPLITTER STRIKES (through games played Jan. 16)

• Lincoln Memorial leads the SAC in assists per game (20.7, fourth in Division II), field goal percentage (53.2, third), rebounding margin (+11.1, fifth), scoring margin (+22.5, third) and scoring offense (92.8 points per game, fifth) so far this season.
• Chase Rankin leads all of Division II in total assists at 119, while his 6.6 assists per game rank third nationally. The graduate guard's 2.83 assist-to-turnover ratio leads the SAC.
• Martez Brown's 156 total rebounds lead the league and rank No. 17 in the country.
• Matthew Sells has made 51 3-pointers this season, good for third in the conference and 14^th in Division II. The sophomore guard's 46.8 percent shooting from distance ranks second in the league and No. 14 nationally.
• Rankin earned the SAC Men's Basketball Player of the Week honor on Jan. 16, while redshirt sophomore guard Me'Kell Burries won it on Jan. 9.
• Rankin was named to the Top 100 Watch List for the Bevo Francis Award on Jan. 15, which is given to the player who had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball.

SCOUTING MARS HILL: The Lions are last in the Mountain Division and finished 6-21 (6-18 SAC) a season ago. Mars Hill forces 16.6 turnovers per game, which is third in the conference and No. 33 in Division II. The team is fourth in the league in steals per game (7.9) and 3-point percentage defense (32.5).
 
Freshman forward Kor Davis leads the SAC in free throws made (79) while ranking third in playing time (32 minutes, 52 seconds per game). Graduate forward Isaiah Jones is third in the league and No. 12 in Division II with 2.42 steals per game.
 
SAC Men's Basketball Standings (as of Jan. 18)
 
Mountain Division                Overall           Conference
Lincoln Memorial                  17-1                 7-0
Tusculum                                 9-6                   5-3
Carson-Newman                     10-7                 4-3
Emory & Henry                       10-6                 2-5
UVA Wise                                9-7                   2-5
Limestone                               6-9                   2-5
Mars Hill                                 4-11                 1-6
 
Piedmont Division                Overall           Conference
Catawba                                  11-4                 6-1
Wingate                                   11-5                 6-1
Coker                                      10-7                 4-3
Lenoir-Rhyne                           8-7                   3-4
Newberry                                 9-7                   2-4
Anderson                                4-12                 1-5
 
Up Next
The Railsplitters host Newberry on Saturday at 4 p.m. in their first home game since Jan. 11 against Salem.