CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Campbellsville men's basketball will hit the road Saturday to face No. 9 Georgetown College at the Davis-Reid Alumni Gym.
 
The game is slated to begin at 4 p.m. ET after the conclusion of the women's game that will start at 2 p.m. ET. The voice of Lady Tiger and Tiger basketball, Matt Payton will be on the call for both games on 88.7 FM The Tiger.
 
MSC PLAY UNDERWAY
Saturday will mark the beginning of the Mid-South Conference schedule, as every team in the conference will enter with a winning record. Both Tigers from Campbellsville and Georgetown only have one loss on the season with a 14-1 record and the other two ranked teams in Cumberlands and Pikeville each at 13-2. Life is 10-6, Cumberland is 6-4, Shawnee State is 7-5 and Lindsey Wilson is 8-6.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Tigers closed out non-conference play and the 2018 portion of the schedule in the same weekend at the Cumberlands Classic Dec. 29-30. In the first game of the weekend against Xavier University of Louisiana, CU suffered their first loss of the season 68-66 to the Gold Rush. The Tigers were able to bounce back the next day with a win against Freed-Hardeman by a score of 90-52.
 
SCOUTING GEORGETOWN
The Tigers, at No. 9 in the country in the most recent NAIA Coaches' Poll have been in the top-10 since the preseason poll. Their numbers compare very similarly to CU's as they average 94.9 points per game and allow 68.0 points per game as a team. Individually they are led by a pair of 19-point scorers in Murshid Randle and Troy Steward. Chris Coffey has been the only GC player to win a MSC Player of the Week this season when he did so on Dec. 17.
 
STRONG BOUNCE BACK
CU suffered their first loss of the season on Dec. 29 against Xavier and had the quickest of turnarounds to have to play Freed-Hardeman the next day. A day after their worst offensive performance of the season, the Tigers used a balanced attack to return to their winning ways over the Lions. Four players scored in double figures and the team shot over 50 percent from the field to take control of the game early and allowed the minutes to be spread fairly evenly.
 
RAINING THREES
Through their first 15 games, the Tigers have proven to be one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country. Beginning with their top ranked three-point field goal percentage (43.2%), CU ranks in the top-six in the NAIA in eight different categories either as a team or individually. As a team, Campbellsville is third in both total three-point field goals made and three-point field goals made per game. Individually, led by Hagen Tyler and Stephaun Adams, they each rank in the top-four in the country in total three-pointers made and three-pointers made per game with Tyler sixth in the NAIA in three-point field goal percentage.
 
SMITH'S FORCE IN THE MIDDLE
CU Center Andrew Smith didn't take long to get back into being a rebounding and shot blocking machine in the middle of the Tiger defense. Smith not only leads the Tigers in rebounding and shot blocking but he is also a NAIA leader ranking sixth in blocked shots per game (2.3) and seventh in rebounds per game (9.9) His 28 total blocks this year puts him at eighth in the country and a total of 85 in his career at Campbellsville, just 20 behind the all-time leader in program history. If he holds his 2.3 average in the remaining 14 games left in the regular season, Smith will pass the 105 set by Damontre Harris during the 2014-15 season alone.
 
VERNON REACHES 50 WINS
Tiger men's basketball head coach Brent Vernon reached 50 career coaching wins last Saturday with CU's 103-62 win over Central Penn. Vernon, the seventh head coach in program history, is fourth in all-time wins in just his third season as head coach and will move to third with just two more wins. Vernon trails Lou Cunningham (335), Keith Adkins (322) and Travis Ford (54) at the moment for all-time wins.
 
HOLDING IN THE TOP 10
Despite their two-point loss last Saturday, the NAIA Coaches' Poll still voted the Tigers as a top-10 program earning 174 points to place as the No. 7 team in the NAIA. They dropped slightly from the fifth spot they occupied after the first in-season poll was released and will face their toughest test of the 2018-19 season so far Saturday with fellow top-10 team Georgetown.
 
DEFENSE HITTING ITS STRIDE
Even with the fifth-best scoring offense in the NAIA (96.5 PPG), the CU defense continues to lower their points allowed per game to 67.9, which is good for 16th in the NAIA. Over the last five games, no team has reached the 70-point mark with the Tigers holding teams under 60 in three of those five games. The rim protection of Andrew Smith and ball pressure of Stephaun Adams combine to put pressure on opposing offenses. Adams ranks eighth in the NAIA in steals per game at 2.4 and fourth in the country in total steals at 36.
 
STARTERS CARRYING THE SCORING LOAD
The starting five combination of Jacob King, Stephaun Adams, Hagen Tyler, Deion Evans and Andrew Smith combine to average 76.2 points per game with the Tigers averaging 96.5 points per game as a team. That means the starters score 79 percent of the total points as four of the five average double figures. The Tigers may look for more scoring off of their bench as their highest bench scorer is Joan Duran at 9.1 points per game.
 
TYLER MOVING ON UP
Senior Guard Hagen Tyler currently has 1,665 points scored in his CU career, good for seventh place all time in program history and 11 points away from being sixth. 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
After the trip to Georgetown, CU will play their first home conference game against Cumberland University on Thursday Jan. 10. The Phoenix will come to Campbellsville after opening up against Lindsey Wilson at home on Saturday then hosting a non-conference game against Fisk.