CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Campbellsville men's basketball will hit the road for the first time in a week when they travel to Waleska, Ga. to take on Life University Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET.
 
The game will be hosted at the James & Sis Brown Athletic Center on the campus of Reinhardt University in Waleska. Tipoff will begin approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Lady Tigers game against Life that will start at 6 p.m. ET.
 
CU was just voted No. 10 in the most recent NAIA Coaches' Poll in a three-way tie with Stillman and Tougaloo. Life has moved up to receiving votes as they earned four points in the poll to move back into the receiving votes category for the second time this season.
 
The game will be broadcast on the radio on 88.7 FM The Tiger as the voice of Lady Tiger and Tiger basketball, Matt Payton, will bring you all the action from Waleska.
 
LAST TIME OUT
After winning by the narrowest of margins against Cumberland, the Tigers cruised to an 18-point win over Lindsey Wilson last Saturday, 82-64. Behind an extremely efficient 25 points from Hagen Tyler and a strong 14-point effort off the bench from Joan Duran, CU was able to top the Blue Raiders. Tyler shot 10-for-14 from the field (71.4%) and Duran was an even 60 percent (6-for-10). Andrew Smith also recorded his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds on the day.
 
MSC REWIND
Of the three Mid-South games with ranked teams in them, the higher ranking team came away with victories as No. 7 Campbellsville, No. 9 Georgetown and No. 16 Pikeville all won at home last Saturday. Georgetown had to survive a push from Cumberland as the Phoenix took the Tigers into overtime where GC won going away 85-74 and Pikeville won a ranked match-up against No. 19 Cumberlands by a single point at 64-63.
 
SCOUTING LIFE
Life is one of four teams with a 2-1 conference record so far as they hold wins against Shawnee State and Cumberlands with their loss coming at Pikeville last Thursday. The Running Eagles average 84.7 points per game while allowing 77.7 points per game. Their leading scorer, Deven Dorsett averages 16.4 points per game with Evan Milligan owning the glass for LU averaging seven rebounds a game.
 
CONFERENCE'S FIRST DOUBLE-DIGIT WIN
CU's win over Lindsey Wilson last Saturday was the first win by any team in Mid-South Conference play. Georgetown was quick to follow with an 11-point win over Cumberland in overtime last Saturday but the Campbellsville game was final prior to the end of the game in Georgetown. The 82-64 win (18 points) is also the largest margin of victory by any team throughout the first three games of the conference schedule. The Tigers first two conference games were decided by a combined three points with their two-point loss to Georgetown and their one-point win over Cumberland.
 
NEUTRAL SUCCESS
The Tigers have played a majority of their games in the comfort of the Powell Athletic Center but second on that list has been neutral site games, having played five so far this season. With neutral site wins over Voorhees (Nov. 2), Point (Nov. 3), Carver (Dec. 7) and Freed-Hardeman (Dec. 30), CU is averaging 88.2 points in those neutral sites and a +20.4 scoring margin. The Tigers do have one of their losses in a neutral game against Xavier.
 
MATCH-UP TO WATCH – SMITH VS. MILLIGAN
This week's key match-up will be in the paint as Campbellsville's Andrew Smith will square off against Life's Evan Milligan. Both big men lead their respective teams in rebounding average, total rebounds, defensive rebounds, offensive rebounds and blocked shots. Milligan's standout stats include his free-throw percentage at 93.8 percent (60-for-64) and steals with a team-leading 37 takeaways. Smith, not leading the Tigers in these categories but has the advantage over Milligan in assists and three-point percentage with big Drew averaging 3.3 assists per game with a total of 49 on the season while he is shooting 45 percent from long range.
 
A TIE FOR 10TH
Tuesday marked another release of  the NAIA Top-25 Coaches' Poll and it saw Campbellsville slide for the second-straight poll to the No. 10 spot. The No. 10 spot is actually occupied by three teams as the Tigers, Stillman and Tougaloo all received 150 voting points in the most recent poll. That tie is not the only three-way tie in the poll as there is also a three-way tie for No. 24, meaning there are 26 teams in the top-25. Georgetown moved up to No. 6 after their win over CU on Jan. 5 and Pikeville moved up one spot from No. 16 to No. 15 after starting conference play 2-1.
 
VERNON ALONE IN THIRD
Saturday's win for CU was monumental for head coach Brent Vernon in a variety of ways. Vernon earned a victory over Keith Adkins, whom he had worked as an assistant under for three seasons while Adkins was the head coach of Campbellsville. Vernon also moved his career win total to 55, good for third all-time in program history for head coach as he now only trails Adkins  and Lou Cunningham. Both Cunningham and Adkins are above the 300-win total with Cunningham's record of 335 wins and Adkins behind him in second at 322.
 
SMITH NEARS 100 REJECTIONS
CU center Andrew Smith has been a force on both sides of the ball in his two seasons playing for the Tigers. Smith's biggest impact may be as a rim protector with 91 total blocks at this point in his career. Smith has 34 blocks this year after 57 last season as he is now alone in fifth place. Averaging 2.3 blocks per game and 11 games remaining, Smith projects to finish around 116 blocks in his career, which will be good for the all-time record. The current record is held by Damontre Harris, who was able to accumulate 105 blocked shots in one season when he did it in 2014-15 when the Tigers went to the NAIA tournament round of 16.
 
TYLER MOVING ON UP
Senior Guard Hagen Tyler currently has 1,711 points scored in his CU career, good for sixth place all time in program history and 12 points away from being fifth. Most recently Tyler moved into sixth against in the MSC opener against Georgetown when he scored 14 points, passing Cecil Eillis. Hagen entered the top-10 in scoring all-time in CU history in the season opener against Kentucky Christian. He has moved up three spots since then, two spots in two games as he passed Marcio Kardosh with his 20-point game on Nov. 23 then followed it up with 21 the next night to pass Ramont Smith.
 
UP NEXT
The Tigers will stay on the road this Saturday for a true road game at the University of the Cumberlands. The Patriots just dropped out of the NAIA Coaches' Poll to receiving votes after starting MSC play 0-3.