CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – For the first time in a month, Tiger men's basketball with host a game in the Powell Athletic Center when they welcome Cumberland University Thursday night.
 
The Phoenix will come in for the first of back-to-back home games for the Tigers' first game since Dec. 10 when they hosted Simmons. The men's game is scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m. ET but will begin approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Lady Tigers game against Cumberland.
 
The start of Mid-South Conference home games means that all home games will be broadcast on WLCU TV, Comcast Channel 10, as well as campbellsvilletigers.com/watch with the radio broadcast remaining on 88.7 FM The Tiger. The voice of Lady Tiger and Tiger basketball, Matt Payton will be on the call along with the second all-time leading scorer in Campbellsville basketball history, Benji Kelly.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Last Saturday CU lost the Mid-South Conference season opener against No. 9 Georgetown on a late basket by GC's Eljay Cowherd. Georgetown won by a final of 69-67 as Campbellsville's late shot attempt was not able to be made as GC forced a turnover out of bounds with one second left. CU's Andrew Smith scored a game-high 21 points with 18 of his 21 coming in the second half. Stephaun Adams and Hagen Tyler were each in double figures with 17 and 14 respectively for Campbellsville.
 
MSC REWIND
Campbellsville was not the only ranked Mid-South Conference team to suffer a loss on Saturday as the other two ranked teams that were on the road in No. 16 Pikeville and No. 19 Cumberlands each lost in their MSC opener. Shawnee State took down Pikeville 95-86 and Life pulled off the upset against Cumberlands 74-68. Cumberland University was able to win their opener at home against Lindsey Wilson 77-70 in the only match-up of unranked teams.
 
SCOUTING CUMBERLAND
The Phoenix at 8-4will be coming off of back-to-back wins, one in conference and one in non-conference play, heading into the Powell Athletic Center Thursday night. Cumberland averages 80.3 points per game with four players averaging double figures led by Andrew Rogan averaging 16.8 points per game.
 
WINNING THE BOARD BATTLE
A statistic that has been a big factor as of late for the Tigers has been their rebounding numbers. During their 13-game winning streak to start the season, CU averaged 43.7 rebounds per game and a margin of plus 6.5. In their two losses against Xavier and Georgetown, the rebounding margins played key factors in the result as they flipped the script on the Tigers with the margin for CU being flipped to minus 6.5 in their two losses. The offensive glass was favorable for Georgetown last Saturday as they grabbed 13 overall and 10 in the first half with CU only grabbing five total in the game.
 
CARING ABOUT SHARING
During their 13-game winning streak to start the season, the Tigers averaged over 20 assists per game as they were in the top-five in the NAIA in that category. They are now down to 18.8 assists per game after averaging only 10.7 over the last three games where they have gone 1-2. 18.8 assists per game is still good for seventh in the NAIA but the assist number has shown to be key in the efficiency of the CU offense. In their wins, they have a 20.3 assist per game number while averaging 98.6 points per game and in their losses they average 8.5 assists and 66.5 points per game.
 
KEYING ON THE TURNOVER MARGIN
Though the turnover average for CU is lower in their last three games than in their season opening winning streak, their turnover margin is at an even zero in that span compared to a plus 5.3 in their first 13. It is a small sample size, but it seems that the drop in turnover margin has been less about the Tigers getting steals and more about the opponents turning the ball over less. CU is only averaging three less steals per game in the last three games but their opponents are averaging almost 10 less turnovers in that span.
 
RAINING THREES
Through their first 16 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 (43.0%), CU ranks in the top-seven in the NAIA in eight different categories either as a team or individually. As a team, Campbellsville is second 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 seventh 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.
 
TYLER MOVING ON UP
Senior Guard Hagen Tyler currently has 1,679 points scored in his CU career, good for sixth place all time in program history and 44 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 play host to Lindsey Wilson Saturday afternoon after the Blue Raiders will play Georgetown on the road Thursday night.