PREVIEW: Men’s Basketball takes on league leader No. 11 LMU

HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Catawba College men's basketball team hits the road to face South Atlantic Conference leader and 11th-ranked Lincoln Memorial on Saturday afternoon.

Solved the Snakes

- Catawba knocked off Coker, 93-86, on Wednesday night to collect its second win over a nationally-recognized program and improve to 10-6 overall, 7-5 in league play

- The Catawba Indians held Coker's high-powered offense (second in the country) 21 points below its season average and prevailed in the rebounding battle by eight boards

- Ibra Athie led the way with season highs of 23 points and 14 rebounds, followed in scoring by Nick Walker and Solomon Tucker with 18 points apiece

- Kris Robinson buried seven free throws, his career best against a South Atlantic Conference team, while adding two triples in a 13-point night

Double-Double Machine

- Athie's double-double at Coker marked his fifth of the season and fourth in SAC action

- The redshirt junior from Cincinnati, Ohio has broken into double figures on the scoring side eight times with five double-digit rebounding outputs; every time he grabs 10 or more boards, he also provides double-digit points

- Although Athie has averaged 11.3 points for the year, his last nine games have bred an excellent 14.2 points per contest

- 51 of Athie's 120 rebounds have been on the offensive glass as he contributes greatly to Catawba's team ranking of No. 10 among Division II programs for offensive boards per game

All-Time Series

- Lincoln Memorial boasts a 30-14 lead in the series that spans across five decades

- The programs matched up on Nov. 30 as LMU gave Catawba its first home loss of the season in 84-74 fashion

- Catawba has struggled immensely in Harrogate, posting a 2-18 record with 15 straight losses; 16 of the 20 competitions featured Splitter wins by double digits

- The blue and white are hunting for their first road victory against LMU since claiming a 70-67 triumph on Feb. 20, 2008

Scouting the Railsplitters

- Since LMU and Catawba last met in November, the Railsplitters have rattled off eight wins with the lone blemish coming against then-No. 21 Lenoir-Rhyne

- LMU stands atop SAC standings with a 10-1 record in the league, 12-2 including out-of-conference contests

- Wes Enis (12/16) and Elyjah Freeman (1/13) have garnered SAC Player of the Week awards as Freeman also took home NABC National Player of the Week honors on Tuesday after collecting 71 points and 23 rebounds in a 2-0 slate

- At 20.4 points per game, Enis is the league's third-best scorer while Freeman slots fifth with 18.6

- By efficiency standards, Freeman's 64.2 percent clip is good for fourth – the freshman is 12-for-25 (.480) from long range – while Osmar Garcia-Araujo stands a notch higher in third at 66.7 percent

Follow Along

Tune in to the broadcast on FloCollege or follow the live stats on lmurailsplitters.com.