Islanders to face Bulldogs on Saturday

RUSTON, La. - The Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi men's basketball team will travel to Ruston, La., to take on Louisiana Tech on Saturday, Dec. 22, at the Thomas Assembly Center at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcasted live on the C-USA TV and fans can tune in to 1440 AM KEYS for the Islanders' radio broadcast.

Islanders at Louisiana Tech (9-3)
Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018  -  4 p.m.
Thomas Assembly Center - Ruston, La.
First Meeting  |  Game Notes
Live Stats: HERE
Live Video: C-USA TV
Radio: KEYS 1440 AM

HISTORY WITH LOUISIANA TECH & CONFERENCE USA
- This will be the first meeting between the two programs.
- The Bulldogs are the second opponent this season the Islanders have never faced prior. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi took on Tennessee back on Dec. 2 for the first time in school history.
- This will be the seventh Conference-USA opponent the Islanders have ever faced. A&M-Corpus Christi is 14-17 all time against North Texas, Old Dominion, Rice, UAB, UTEP and UTSA.
- In road games against Conference USA opponents, the Islanders are 6-9 with five wins coming against UTSA. The other road win came against UTEP back on Feb. 18, 2003 in El Paso.

BULLDOG (9-3) NOTABLES
- La. Tech enters Saturday's contest on a five-game winning streak, knocking off Louisiana-Lafayette, Mississippi Valley State, Stephen F. Austin, Prairie View A&M and Houston Baptist.
- The Bulldogs also have wins over Sam Houston State and on the road at Wichita State.
- DaQuan Bracey (13.1) leads five players who are averaging in double figures this season.
- Oliver Powell averages a team-best 6.8 rebounds per game and scores 10.6 per contest.
- Anthony Duruji is averaging over a block a game and is second on the team at 12.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest.
- Amorie Archibald leads the team with 20 made three pointers, 41 assists and 29.3 minutes played.

ISLANDERS LAST TIME OUT
- The Islanders fell to UTSA, 64-50, on Thursday, Dec. 20, at the American Bank Center in the team's final non-conference home game of the year.
- Kareem South tied a career-high with 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting. He also tied his career high with nine rebounds in 37 minutes of action. He hit three long range buckets, went 6-for-6 at the charity stripe, pulled down four offensive rebounds and had two steals.
- Texas A&M-Corpus Christi outrebounded UTSA, 44-34, and forced 17 turnovers.
- The Islanders outscored the Roadrunners, 35-34, in the second half.
- Elijah Schmidt set a season-high with 10 rebounds with four coming on the offensive glass. He scored seven points and picked up two steals defensively in 27 minutes.

WINNING TRENDS
- In the Islanders five victories this season, the team has gotten a balanced scoring attack from Kareem South (14.4), Myles Smith (12.6), Emmanuel Toney (10.2) and Tony Lewis (8.4).
- During those five wins, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi has outrebounded opponents 214-157 (42.8-31.5) and maintained a +5.8 turnover margin (10.0-15.8).

CONTRIBUTIONS A TEAM EFFORT
- Already this season, the Islanders have had multiple players step up during games. Six different players have led the team in scoring this season and six different players have led the team in rebounding.
- Myles Smith has four high-point totals to his credit while South, Tony Lewis and Jashawn Talton have led or tied for the team in rebounding three times.
- Nine players this year are averaging 10 or more minutes in games.

UP NEXT
- A&M-Corpus Christi will close out the 2018 calendar year with a trip to Oklahoma State on Saturday, Dec. 29, at 1 p.m. The final non-conference game of the season will be broadcasted live on Fox Sports Oklahoma from Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla. You can also listen to the game live on KEYS 1440 AM.

For all the latest on Islanders Men's Basketball, be sure to follow the team on Twitter (@IslandersMBB), Instagram (@IslandersMBB) and like the team's official Facebook page (IslandersMBB).