The Lincoln Memorial men's basketball team will host Coker on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. in its second straight home game. The Railsplitters (23-2, 13-1 South Atlantic Conference) will be battling the Cobras (11-12, 5-8 SAC) for the first and only time of the regular season. Lincoln Memorial is a perfect 17-0 all-time against Coker, with all those games coming since 2013 in SAC play.
 
The Railsplitters won 95-81 over Emory & Henry Wednesday night at Tex Turner to sweep the regular season series with the Wasps. Luke Bartemes dropped a career-high 24 points while Chase Rankin went for a triple-double to lead Lincoln Memorial to victory.
 
The visiting Cobras are on a downturn having lost their last four in a row and 6 of their last 7 games. They did post a big 80-77 win at conference contender Catawba back on Dec. 14.
 
Lincoln Memorial was ranked No. 8 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches and D2SIDA polls released on Feb. 7.
 
RAILSPLITTER STRIKES (through games played Feb. 9)

• Lincoln Memorial leads the SAC in assists per game (20.2, fourth in Division II), field goal percentage (52.4, first), rebounding margin (+9.2, eighth), scoring margin (+19.7, second) and scoring offense (89.7 points per game, seventh) so far this season.
• Rankin stands at first in Division II in total assists (170) and second in assists per game (6.8). The graduate guard's 2.88 assist-to-turnover ratio leads the SAC.
• Martez Brown's 213 total rebounds leads the league and ranks No. 23 in the country.
• Matthew Sells has made 61 3-pointers this season, good for fifth in the conference.
• 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. Quay Kennedy most recently earned the honor on Feb. 6.
• 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 COKER: The Cobras are second in the SAC in both steals per game (8.0) and turnover margin (+3.1, 28^th in Division II).
 
Junior guard Jordan Jones is behind only Rankin in the SAC in total assists (156) and assists per game (6.8), ranking fifth and third in those categories, respectively, nationally. Fellow junior guard Tate Mulkey leads the league and jacks up the 17^th most 3-point attempts in Division II with 176 so far this season.
 
SAC Men's Basketball Standings (as of Feb. 11)
 
Mountain Division                Overall           Conference
Lincoln Memorial                  23-2                 13-1
UVA Wise                               14-9                 7-7
Tusculum                                10-10               6-7
Limestone                               11-12               6-7
Emory & Henry                        14-9                 6-8
Carson-Newman                     11-12               5-8
Mars Hill                                  8-15                 3-10
 
Piedmont Division                Overall           Conference
Catawba                                  16-6                 11-2
Wingate                                   14-9                 9-5
Newberry                                15-8                 8-5
Coker                                      11-12               5-8
Anderson                                 7-16                 4-9
Lenoir-Rhyne                           9-13                 4-10
 
Up Next
The Railsplitters play at Limestone on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Gaffney, S.C.