CAMERON VS. MIDWESTERN STATE
Friday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 12 at 5 p.m.
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Game Notes
LAWTON -- The new look Aggie men's basketball team will open their 2020-21 season with the always entertaining Red River Showdown, hosting Midwestern State for two games this weekend.
ATTENDANCE AND COVERAGE:
Cameron University President John McArthur announced last week that their would be no spectators allowed at the December basketball games in the Aggie Gym. That decision affects just the two meetings against Midwestern State on Dec. 11 and 12. The decision about attendance at Cameron for the remainder of the basketball season will be decided at a later day. Fans can watch the games via the Lone Star Conference Digital Network either online or any smart device that allows OTT apps (Roku, Amazon Fire-TV, etc.). The conference is offering all basketball games via PPV through a $10 24-hour pass.
STARTING 5:
1. Due to the new scheduling format for the 2020-21 basketball season, Cameron and Midwestern State are competing in different divisions for the first time since the league expanded; CU is in the North Division with Oklahoma Christian, UAFS, Texas Woman's, and A&M-Commerce and MSU is in the West.
2. The Aggies are looking for a bounce back season as they went 9-19 last year, just missing out on the conference tournament, which was the first time since the 2009-10 season.
3. Cameron will lean on juniors
Kendall Scott and
Brock Schreiner once again, as Scott averaged 11.1 points and 6.1 rebounds and was named honorable mention All-LSC and Schreiner averaged 11.0 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists a year ago.
4. Midwestern State is under the direction of Justin Leslie, who went 8-21 in his debut season in Wichita Falls, prior to which he spent 13 seasons and racked up over 250 wins at Azusa Pacific.
5. The Mustangs relied a lot on the three-ball last season, making 10.0 per game while connecting on 35.1 percent of their shots from beyond the arc; MSU returns just two starters from last season in juniors Trae Jones, who averaged 8.9 points and made 68 treys, and Jalin Brown, who averaged 7.9 points and 5.8 rebounds as a sophomore.
ABOUT THE AGGIES
The 2020-21 Cameron men's basketball team returns three starters and six letter-winners from last year's squad. A squad that went 9-19 overall, 8-14 in league play, and 6-4 against divisional opponents. In his fifth year at the helm, head coach
Andrew Brown has reloaded with a group of six true freshman, one transfer, and three more joining the six returners.
Led by Scott, CU's strength last season came on the glass, where there ranked third in the league with 37 rebounds per game and second in offensive rebounding with 12.9 per outing. On the defensive end, the Aggies ranked near the bottom of the conference in most categories, giving up 79.3 points per game and a .470 field goal percentage to their opposition.
Juniors Scott and Schreiner were the only Aggies to average over 10 points a year ago, both pouring in right at 11 points per outing.
Darius Green broke-out to the tune of 7.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per contest, while
Andrew Nguyen and
Connor Slater also saw valuable time off the bench. However if this year's version of the Aggies want to be successful, they will need contributions from one or more of their six true freshmen or sophomore forward
Dalton Vinson, who is returning from an early season injury he suffered last fall.
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS:
Like the Aggies, it was a down year in 2019-20 for the Mustangs, as they finished with an 8-21 overall mark and an 8-14 league record, which earned them the final spot in the league tournament as they owned the tiebreaker over CU; they fell 79-61 to Lubbock Christian in the first round. MSU averaged just 70.2 points per game, but knocked down threes at a 10 per night clip and a percentage of .351. Defensively, the Mustangs gave up 74.4 points to their opponent last year, but held them to under-33 percent clip from deep. They also failed to limit transition offense, as teams scored 17.6 points off turnovers against them.
Back for the Mustangs are starters Trae Jones and Jalin Brown as well as sophomore Evan McCarthy. Jones made 68 threes and averaged 8.9 points while Brown chipped in 7.9 points and 5.8 rebounds for MSU. McCarthy averaged 6.0 points and made two starts for Leslie and the Mustangs during his debut season.
AGAINST MSU
Cameron and Midwestern State split their 79th and 80th meetings during the 2019-20 series. In the matchup in Wichita Falls, Texas, CU had one of their best shooting nights of the season, going 26-52 from the field on the way to a 76-73 win. Schreiner led the team with 20 points, four assists, and five rebounds, while
Hunter Quick chipped in 10 productive minutes off the bench with six points and four boards. Jones had nine points for MSU, but was just 1-7 from three. Just a few days later in Lawton, Midwestern State jumped out to a 46-28 lead at the break, and despite scoring 48 points in the second 20 minutes of action, CU's comeback fell just short, 80-76. Scott had a near double-double with 11 points, eight rebounds, and two blocks, while Nguyen and Green had 13 and 12 points off the bench respectively. Jones led all scorers with 19 points, this time going 6-11 from long range.
WHO HAS NEXT:
Next on the schedule for the Black and Gold is a trip to Odessa, Texas for a pair of battles with UT Permian Basin. The two games are scheduled for Friday, Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 19 at 5:30 p.m. UTPB has announced that only guests on the teams' pass lists will be allowed in the arena for the final two games of 2020.
