CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – After a heartbreaking loss Monday night, Campbellsville men's basketball will be back in the Powell Athletic Center Thursday night to face the No. 4 Tigers of Georgetown College.
 
Tip-off for the Tigers is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET but will begin approximately 20-30 minutes after the conclusion of the Lady Tigers game that starts at 6 p.m. ET. The voice of Tiger and Lady Tiger basketball, Matt Payton, will bring you all the action as Campbellsville basketball returns to WLCU-TV and the CU Sports Network along with their radio broadcast remaining on 88.7 FM The Tiger.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Campbellsville tasted the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat in the span of six games seconds on Monday night against No. 17 University of the Cumberlands. Trailing from the 12:55 mark in the first half until eight seconds left in the game, the Tigers erased a 17-point second half deficit to take a 64-63 lead after a Stephaun Adams three-pointer with under 10 seconds to go in the game. The Patriots ran the ball back up the floor, drawing a foul with 2.5 seconds left as Jordan Griggs hit both free throws as UC won the game by a 65-64 final score. Adams finished with a game-high 25 points on 9-of-19 shooting and 3-of-8 from distance. CU didn't shoot well from the floor with a 32.9 percent rate from the field int he game after shooting 22.2 percent from the field in the first half where they scored a season-low 20 first half points.
 
MSC REWIND
Last Saturday saw two home teams and two road teams win their Mid-South Conference games. No. 8 Georgetown was able to pull out a late victory over No. 17 Cumberlands with an 80-79 win, No. 16 Pikeville earned a nine-point win at Cumberland at 81-72 and Lindsey Wilson blew out Shawnee State by 24 with a 87-63 final score.
 
SCOUTING GEORGETOWN
The Tigers have been the class of the Mid-South Conference for most of the season, being in or around the NAIA top-10 all season long. Led by the conference's leading rebounder in Chris Coffey as he averages a double-double at 14.2 points and 11.3 rebounds per game.
 
TIGHT LOSSES
The Campbellsville Tigers have lost seven games this season with six of those games being decided by a single-digit margin. On the extreme end, both losses to Cumberlands came by the slimmest of margins at one point as CU also has another one-point loss to Shawnee State, a pair of two-point loss to Georgetown and Xavier then a six-point loss to Pikeville.
 
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A MONTH MAKES
Campbellsville and Georgetown met in the first game of the Mid-South Conference schedule with both team in the top-10 in the NAIA Coaches' Poll. Since that game, GC has risen up to the No. 4 team in the poll with CU as the first team outside of the poll in the Receiving Votes category with 44 points, two points behind the team holding the No. 25 spot. The longest winning streak Campbellsville has had in conference play has only been three games and Georgetown is currently in the middle of a six-game winning streak after an earlier three-game streak to start conference play.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING: JAN. 5
These two teams met in the first game of the conference season where Georgetown earned a late two-point victory over Campbellsville by a final score of 69-67. GC had five players in double figures led by 15 from Jacob Conway and a 12-point, 17 rebound game from Chris Coffey. The game-winning basket was scored with four seconds left by GC's Eljay Cowherd as they also forced a Campbellsville turnover on their final possession to put away the game.
 
MATCH-UP TO WATCH - SMITH  VS. COFFEY
It will be a battle between the best two big men in the Mid-South Conference Thursday night between Campbellsville's Andrew Smith and Georgetown's Chris Coffey. Both big men average a double-double with Smith holding the higher points average at 16.6 over Coffey's 14.2. They are the top-two rebounders in the conference as well with Coffey at 11.3 boards per game and Smith not far behind at 10.7. Coffey leads the conference with 19 double-doubles on the year with Smith in second at 12 on the season. Coffey's ability around the rim is more athletic and high flying compared to Smith who is more a skilled big man with good feet and good hands around the rim. On the defensive end, both are solid rim protectors with Smith second in the conference with 45 blocked shots and Coffey in the top-five at fifth with 34 blocks on the season.
 
CONFERENCE STATICAL LEADERS
At this point in the season, Campbellsville's big three of Stephaun Adams, Hagen Tyler and Andrew Smith are top-two among Mid-South Conference players in a number of different categories. Adams is the league's leader in steals per game (2.3) and assists per game (5.1) while his 19.3 points per game average is good for second in the conference. Tyler is the best three-point shooter in the conference percentage-wise at 49.2 percent and his 19.2 points per game average is third in the conference. Smith is second in three categories in terms of MSC players, rebounds per game (10.7), blocks per game (2.0) and double-doubles (12).
 
TYLER MOVING ON UP
Senior Guard Hagen Tyler currently has 1,858 points scored in his CU career, recently moving into fifth place all by himself on the all-time scoring list. By scoring 20 points against Life on Jan. 17, Tyler passed James Boulware, who had 1,723. Before that, Tyler moved into sixth against in the MSC opener against Georgetown as 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 moved up three more spots in non-conference play, 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
CU will have the weekend off after Thursday before the final week of the regular season starts with the home finale and senior night against Shawnee State next Thursday.