Islanders Open Conference Play

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi gets back to work after the holiday break, facing Central Arkansas and Lamar at home. The Islanders meet up with the Sugar Bears inside of Dugan, before facing the Cardinals in the first leg of a Saturday doubleheader at the American Bank Center.

WHAT TO KNOW
Who: Central Arkansas
When: Thursday, 1 PM
Where: Dugan Wellness Center | Corpus Christi, Texas
Watch: Islanders Digital Network, Powered by AEP Texas

WHAT TO KNOW
Who: Lamar
When: Saturday, 5 PM
Where: American Bank Center | Corpus Christi, Texas
Watch: Islanders Digital Network, Powered by AEP Texas

SERIES HISTORY

• The Islanders are 6-8 against Central Arkansas all-time, losing the pair's last matchup in the 2017 SLC Championship Semifinals
• The Lamar Cardinals hold a 9-13 record against the Blue and Green, as the two teams matchup inside the American Bank Center for a second consecutive year
• Brittany Mbamalu is averaging 5.8 points and 3.8 rebounds over the five games she has participated in against the Sugar Bears, with an unreal average of 18.25 and 4.75 in four contests with the Cardinals
• The last time the Islanders beat the Cardinals and the Sugar Bears in the same season was during the 2008-09 season
• The Islanders have won their past four home SLC matchups, dropping Incarnate Word, Houston Baptist and McNeese

ISLANDER NOTES

• The Islander defense has held opponents to the 15th best average in all of D-I women's basketball. As sides are scoring just 54.1 points against the Blue and Green
• Brittany Mbamalu's 2.82 three-pointers per game and 31 threes total rank 59th and 68th respectively, her 241 career threes are a program record, and rank 11th among active Division I players
• With 68 wins, Head Coach Royce Chadwick and his staff are just six victories away from becoming the winningest Islanders coaching staff in program history, in just their sixth year on the Island
•  After playing five straight games away from home, the Islanders returned to the Dugan at the end of November, and have gone 3-1 over their active six-game home stand
• Since returning to the Island, the Blue and Green has outscored opponents by an average of 17 points per game
• Multiple Islanders set career-highs against St. Thomas in the team's last contest before the holidays, with sophomore Tiara Matthews producing her first career double-double on 14 points and 10 rebounds
• In just her second game as an Islander Laderica Paul posted 14 points and three boards against St. Thomas last week
• Emma Young has been the Islanders rebounding leader in three of her team's last four contests, averaging 8.5 boards per game during that span
• Corpus Christi is averaging 12 more points per contest when playing inside of Dugan Wellness Center this year (66.8) than when competing on the road (54.3), while tallying 65 points per game at neutral sites
• The Islanders have a scoring margin of plus-20 when playing in Corpus Christi
• Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's best home record all-time sits at 12-2 (2009-10). That 2009-10 campaign marks the last time the Islanders won three straight at home to open the season, the same year they moved on to the WBI finals

HOW THEY MATCHUP

•  The Islanders enter this weeks' contests after splitting decisions against Rice and St. Thomas, facing a UCA side that beat Clemson and North Dakota State by a combined 29 points at the FIU Holiday Tournament in Miami, Florida
• The Islanders have kept opponents to under 50 points four times this season, while Lamar has surrendered 80 or more on four occasions during the current campaign
• While the Cardinals average more than both UCA and the Islanders in the rebound department (42.1/game), the Blue and Green has a big advantage in the rebounding margin department, keeping other teams to just 32.8 boards per contest (+9.2)
• Lamar's 224 three-point attempts this year dwarfs the total attempts from the Islanders (177) and UCA (175). The Cards shoot only 29.2% from beyond the arc however, twice shooting under 25% in 2017
• UCA's 50.3 points against per game is the only average in the SLC lower than the Islanders' 54.1, as the Sugar Bears' scoring defense is the second-lowest in the country
• The Cardinals have a scoring margin of +11.2 this season to sit third in the SLC. That difference plummets to -17.3 when facing teams at the Division I level

COMING UP NEXT
The Islanders get back on the road for the first time since November, after playing six straight games in Corpus Christi, participating in their first away SLC contest of the season against Northwestern State. The Blue and Green is 9-5 against the Demons all-time, beating NSU in the pair's previous meeting in the 2017 Southland Conference Tournament.

STAY SOCIAL
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