HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- Encouraged by clutch play down the stretch of last week's Southland Conference victory against Nicholls, and strengthened by grace of a midweek scheduling bye that afforded the opportunity to heal injuries, the University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball team takes on first-place Sam Houston on Saturday. Tipoff time is 5:30 p.m. (CT) in Johnson Coliseum on the SHSU campus.
 
The Cardinals, NCAA Division I leaders in free throw percentage, hit four key shots from the charity stripe in the final minute of last Saturday's 65-58 win over the Colonels, improving their overall record to 6-9 and squaring their conference mark at 1-1. Last week, the Bearkats (2-0, 7-8) celebrated a home win against Abilene Christian and a road victory over Central Arkansas.
 
MURRAY'S HALLMARK HOMESTAND
In UIW's conference home opener against McNeese on Jan. 2, freshman Dwight Murray Jr.  led the Cardinals with 18 points. He made six of 12 attempts from the floor, including two three-pointers.  Murray followed with eight points, seven assists and six rebounds against Nicholls on Jan. 5, but it was his play in the last two minutes that helped preserve UIW's victory.
 
With 1:46 remaining in the Nicholls game, Murray hit a layup that gave UIW a six-point advantage. At the time it was the Cardinals' largest lead in a second half that saw them trail by 12 points at the 18:20 mark, and then go on a 13-0 run that put them ahead by one point some four minutes later. Subsequently, the Cardinals and Colonels exchanged the lead five times before UIW opened up a small margin in the waning minutes. Then, after Murray's jumper established the six-point lead, he and teammate Charles Brown III each hit two key free throws to ice the win.
 
Murray has become a consistent starter in the Cardinals' lineup, taking the floor at the opening tip in each of the last seven games.
 
BROWN COMES OUT OF THE HOLIDAY BREAK BLAZING
UIW's only senior, Charles Brown III has enjoyed three consecutive stellar games.
 
In the Dec. 19 game against DePaul that closed out the non-conference schedule, he led the team in scoring with 27 points and shot five-for-seven from behind the three-point arc. Then, when the conference season began on Jan. 2, Charles hit six of nine shots from the field, including two threes, to score 14 points against McNeese. During these two games, he made 17 of 25 shots from the floor. Then, in last Saturday's win over Nicholls, Charles scored 17 points, hitting eight of 14 shots.
 
Brown now leads the team in field goal percentage, sinking 56.9 percent of his shots. He is also a solid performer from behind the three-point line, making more than four of every ten long-distance tries.
 
SMITH STARS FOR THE CARDINALS
 
Freshman Antoine Smith Jr., a 6-7 forward from Westerville, Ohio, is developing into a mainstay in the Cardinal lineup. Like teammate Charles Brown III, he scored 17 points in last Saturday's conference win over Nicholls. Smith is one of three UIW regulars who is sinking more than half of this shots from the floor, 51.6 percent, and has hit 15 of 17 shots from the foul line. He leads the team in rebounding with 62.
 
CARDINALS MAINTAIN LEAD AT THE LINE
Shooting nine-for-12 from the free charity stripe against McNeese, and a crucial eight-for-eight against Nicholls, the Cardinals maintained their national leadership in free throw shooting percentage. According to the latest NCAA statistics released Wednesday, UIW leads all Division I basketball teams with an 80.5 percent accuracy mark. UIW led the nation for three weeks earlier in the season, fell into second place after its mid-December trip to Chicago, and then resumed the lead two weeks ago.
 
Individually, sophomore Christian Peevy is the nation's 13th-ranked free throw shooter, having made 59 out of 66 shots for a percentage of 90.9. Four other Cardinals, Jorden Kite (100), Antoine Smith Jr. (88.2), Augustine Ene (85.0) and Charles Brown III (82.8) are hitting more than four of five three throws, but do not qualify for an individual ranking because they do not meet the required number of makes (2.5 times the number of games played). However, their totals combine to enhance the team's ranking.
 
INJURY BUG
Beginning their season with 10 games in 19 days, the Cardinals were challenged by a series of injuries that allowed the team to dress out only 10 of its 15 roster players. Approaching the end of the non-conference schedule that concluded with the Dec. 19 game against DePaul, UIW was able to put only eight healthy players on the floor. Fortunately, the Christmas season bestowed the gift of healing on the UIW hoops family, with several players approaching the threshold for returning to the lineup. The Cardinals were able to suit out nine players Wednesday night and more may play in the near future.

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