HAMMOND, La. -- The University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball team finishes a three-game road trip on Wednesday by playing a Southland Conference contest against Southeastern Louisiana University. Tipoff will be at 7 p.m. (CT) at SLU's University Center.
The Cardinals, 6-17 overall and 1-9 in conference play, fell to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 70-61, Saturday night. Southeastern, 11-13 and 7-4, defeated Central Arkansas, 75-67 in Hammond Saturday. The Lions are on a three-game winning streak and have won seven of their last eight games. Southeastern won last year's SLC regular-season championship.
SERIES HISTORY
UIW and SLU have met five times on the hardwood. SLU leads the series, 4-1. Last season, the Lions won, 86-68, in San Antonio on Feb. 7, 2018. The only UIW win occurred on Jan. 16, 2016, when the Cardinals prevailed, 75-71, in Hammond.
PEEVY CONTINUES TO LEAD THE CARDINALS
Sophomore
Christian Peevy continues to lead the Cardinals is both scoring and rebounding and is noted for the accuracy of his shots. Peevy has scored 286 points and is averaging 13.6 points per game. He is hitting 55 percent of his attempts from the floor. As a free throw shooter, he sinks 88.7 percent of his shots. The latter statistic ranks 19
th among all Division I basketball players.
Since fully recovering from an early-season injury, Peevy has flourished. He has scored in double figures during his last six games, scoring 26 against Lamar, 20 and 25 against New Orleans, 16 against Stephen F. Austin, 15 against HBU and 22 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
He has had two double-doubles this year. He scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds against Trinity. He bucketed 20 points and hauled down 11 rebounds against New Orleans.
CARDINALS RETAIN NO. 1 FREE THROW RANKING
Accustomed to hitting four of every five free throws, the Cardinals have shot an uncharacteristically low percentage from the foul line during the last two games. UIW made 70.3 percent of its free throws against New Orleans one week ago and sank 72 percent from the charity stripe against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday -- performances that some teams might covet.
Nevertheless, the Cardinals continue to lead all Division I men's basketball teams in shooting percentage from the foul line, according to the latest NCAA statistics released Monday.
Of 351 D1 teams, UIW ranks first in free throw accuracy, hitting 80 percent of its foul shots. That puts UIW 0.8 percent ahead of second-place Hofstra. As stated earlier, sophomore forward
Christian Peevy is the 19th-ranked free throw shooter in the land with regard to the percentage of shots made. Of 115 free throws taken this season, Peevy has missed only 13. That results in a percentage of 88.7
Three other Cardinals,
Augustine Ene (86.3),
Charles Brown III (87.2) and
Dwight Murray Jr. (85.0) are hitting more than four of five free throws, but do not qualify for an individual ranking because they do not have the required number of made shots (2.5 times the number of games played). However, their totals combine to enhance the team's ranking.
CARDINALS HAVE HAD 11 STARTERS THIS YEAR
Updating an ongoing story … the UIW men's basketball team is one of four D1 teams nationally to have started as many as 11 different players this season. The Cardinals join Harvard, Princeton and Eastern Washington in that select category. This information has been provided by Harvard University sports information director Zachary Reynolds, who also reports that three teams have had 10 different starters and five schools have started nine individuals. Although other coaches may have varying reasons for such diverse lineups, at UIW the motivation has been an unusually large number of injuries sustained by the Cardinals this year. Only a handful of UIW players have not missed games this season due to injury.
CARDINALS HOST MILITARY APPRECIATION DH SATURDAY
UIW's men's and women's basketball teams host Military Appreciation Day on Saturday, Feb. 16, when Cardinals take on Abilene Christian in a doubleheader at the McDermott Center on campus. The women's game tips of at 1 p.m. and the men's game begins at 3 p.m. A variety of service-connected activities will take place, including halftime swearing-in ceremonies for newly enlisted recruits. Active duty service members are admitted free of charge.
For the most up-to-date information on UIW Athletics, visit
uiwcardinals.com, follow the Cardinals on Twitter @UIWAthletics and like UIW Athletics on Facebook at UIW Athletics.
