SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball team will look to get back on track as they host Southland Conference rival Central Arkansas on Friday at 7:00 p.m. at the McDermott Center.

The Cardinals (12-9, 7-3) are coming off a 71-60 road loss to Nicholls, which snapped a three-game winning streak. That was their second lowest point total (60), second worst field goal percentage (31.5) and lowest number of field goals made (17) this season.

Despite a cold night, the Cardinals are still fourth in the Southland Conference and are second in three-point field goal percentage. They are averaging 73.5 points per game and as a team they shoot 36.3 percent from beyond the arc and 42.9 percent from the field. Their 75.9 percent from the charity stripe also ranks second in the conference.  Jontrell Walker (Aurora, IL/West Aurora HS) has been a big part of that as he leads the nation in free throw percentage with an incredible 93.2 percent (68-73).

Senior Kyle Hittle (New Braunfels/New Braunfels HS) leads UIW in scoring at 14.6 points per game.  Walker and Derail Green (Houston/Klein Forest HS) follow with 13.1 and 12.2 points per game, respectively.  Shawn Johnson (New Orleans, LA/Alief Hastings HS) is the team's best rebounder with 6.5 per game and Mitchell Badillo (Houston/Cy Falls HS) has done a great job running the point for the Cardinals averaging 5.0 assists, 9.8 points and 2.0 steals per game.

Central Arkansas comes into this game 5-15 overall and 4-6 in conference play. They are coming off their only back-to-back wins this season as they beat New Orleans, 112-77 and Southeastern Louisiana, 88-72.  They are averaging 75.1 points per game, but the defense allows 84.1 per game.  Their leading scorer is Jordan Howard, who is second in the conference with 20.4 points per game.  Derrek Brooks scores 12.5 per game while Jake Zuilhof leads the team in rebounds with 6.5 per game.

The game will be feature a live web stream at portal.stretchinternet.com/uiw/ and the audio broadcast is at http://tsrnsports.com/scoreboard/central-vs-uiw/.
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