PREVIEW: Men's Basketball back in action against Anderson

SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba College men's basketball team comes off a week-long break from competition to face Anderson at Goodman Arena on Saturday afternoon.

The Twins

- Carson Daniel drained his first career three-pointer, dished out six assists, and swiped two steals to help defeat Tusculum last Saturday

- Carson shared the team lead in plus/minus with Kris Robinson, logging a +18 point differential

- Chase Daniel handed out three assists in the victory which gave the Daniel twins nine of Catawba's 14 total assists

- A consistent off-the-bench presence throughout his freshman year, Chase boasts the league's 12th-best marks in steals per game (1.58) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1)

Following Walker's Lead

- Nick Walker has led the blue and white in scoring in each of the last five games and topped the roster in rebounds in four of those five

- The Hattiesburg, Miss. product chalked up double-doubles on the last two Saturdays as his 19-point, 10-board affair against Tusculum going down as his fourth of the campaign

- Walker is also appears at the top of Catawba's standings in total field goals (125), offensive rebounds (60), defensive rebounds (86), and blocks (16, tied with Justin Banks)

- Efficiency-wise, Walker holds the ninth-highest field goal percentage in Division II at 66.5% – he has shot 50% or better in every matchup since winter break

SAC Situation

- Lincoln Memorial sits atop conference standings at 15-2 as the No. 1 team in the Southeast Region per D2CSC rankings and takes the No. 8 spot in the NABC national poll

- Lenoir-Rhyne has also recorded 15 wins but holds one more loss; both LMU and LR are locked into the South Atlantic Conference playoffs and could clinch a top-four seed as early as next week

- Carson-Newman trails the Bears by three games at 12-6 but has a lighter load the rest of the way, except for a much-anticipated meeting at LMU on Feb. 26

- The fourth spot in the league is split between 10-7 teams Catawba, Coker, and UVA Wise; the blue and white have already beaten the other two programs, and will face them on home court where Catawba happens to have a 9-2 record this year

All-Time Series

- Anderson drew closer in the all-time series thanks to its 76-71 win in the programs' conference opener back in November, cutting Catawba's lead to 19-18

- However, the Catawba Indians are back in friendly confines where they possess a 12-6 advantage over the Trojans

- AU has fallen in four straight trips to Goodman Arena and seeks its first triumph since Jan. 22, 2020 when the Trojans pulled out a narrow 92-91 win

Scouting the Trojans

- Anderson comes into Salisbury with a 12-9 overall record and an 8-9 in-league leader

- The Trojans have had a tough last four weeks, facing five top-half SAC teams in a 2-4 span that featured a 95-90 victory at Coker on Jan. 29

- Austin Webb and Cole Middleton pace the Trojans in scoring with 15.3 and 15.2 points per game, respectively, while hitting over 50% of their field goal attempts

- Andre Wright Jr. leads the conference and ranks sixth in the country in both per-game assists (6.4) and steals (2.76)

Follow Along

The matchup will be live streamed on FloCollege ($) with real-time stats on CatawbaAthletics.com.