FULTON, Mo.—The William Woods men's basketball team will look to pull a huge upset on Saturday afternoon, as the Owls play host to No. 3-ranked Freed-Hardeman University. Tip-off will start at 4:00 p.m. presented by MFA Oil.
The Owls (6-13; 4-5 AMC), are coming off an impressive 62-38 victory over Hannibal-LaGrange University on Thursday evening. On offense, the team shot 45.2 percent from the floor, led by senior
Blake Burgess tying his career-high with 23 points (8-of-10 shooting) and added a game-high nine rebounds.
Defensively, WWU held HLGU to its lowest point total on the year and the Trojans were only able to hit 26.4 percent of its shots, including 13.3 percent from the three-point arc and had 12 turnovers against the Owls half-court press.
The victory snapped the Owls two-game skid and are now 2-2 in the past four games, scoring 69 points per game, while surrendering just 61.8 points. Offensively, WWU is shooting an impressive 47.2 percent the past four contests, led by Burgess scoring 14.8 points, hitting a team-high 58.1 percent of his shots from the floor, making 94.7 of his shots from the free-throw line and leads the team in rebounds with 24.
Senior
Jonathon Nutt is scoring 8.8 points, while
Seth Thomas (7.8 ppg) and
Patrick Lewis (7.7 ppg), are totaling just under 8.0 points per game. The defense has picked up its play as of late, holding its opponents to 36.9 percent shooting and have a rebounding advantage of 124-90.
On the year, the Owls are putting up 76.6 points and will need the likes of Nutt (14.9 ppg), Burgess (13.9 ppg), Lewis (9.5 ppg),
Nate Bitner (9.1 ppg) and Thomas (7.9 ppg), to pace the WWU offense against a strong Lion defense.
No. 3-ranked Freed-Hardeman (15-0; 9-0 AMC), is rolling in its first season in the American Midwest Conference, as the Lions defeated Williams Baptist College its last time out (93-77), which gave the team its 15
th straight win and has tied the program record for most consecutive victories.
FHU average margin of victory on the season has been just under 20 points, as the team is scoring 86.2 points per game, while only allowing teams to score 65.3 points against them.
"They are an above average size team, that has their big players on the inside move well, are athletic on the perimeter and a very complete solid team," said head coach
Nick Totta. "Statistics wise they are leading every category over their opponents, so not much margin for error on our end. We need to make them uncomfortable on offense and we have to reduce their field goal percentage on the inside," he added.
Two-time NAIA All-American Kyle Teichmann has been a dominant force for the Lions all year, averaging 17.3 points, shooting an astounding 62.7 percent from the field and has grabbed down a team-high 116 rebounds (7.7 rpg).
Coming on over to the AMC hasn't slowed down Teichmann's play, as the six feet six inch forward is scoring 18.3 points and averaging 8.0 rebounds. Junior guard Orlando Bass is another stellar player for the Lions, as he is second on the team in scoring (14.6 ppg) and has handed out 30 assists, while Reginald Gilmore is totaling 11.1 points per game
and is a threat from the floor, hitting 54.1 percent of his shots.
The Owls will need to win the battle on the boards against FHU, as the Lions are totaling 41.3 rebounds per game, while opponents are only getting 28.9 rebounds per contest.
Prior to the men's game, at halftime of the women's game, William Woods University will be inducting the 2014 Hall of Fame Class that includes, the 2002 men's volleyball team, Ashley Windmiller, Erin Jewell-Zamora and Patricia Wilderman-Miller.
Also, both teams along with other schools around the country, will be participating in the Coaches vs. Cancer and Sneakers Awareness Weekend, in an effort to fight cancer and raise funds and awareness for the American Cancer Society.
To learn more about the Coaches vs. Cancer and Sneakers Awareness Weekend, click
HERE.
