ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team begins the second half of its four-game stretch away from home to begin the 2020 calendar year this weekend as it travels north for a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference contests.

The Miners begin the week with a trip to Kirksville, Mo., on Thursday to take on Truman State at 7:30 p.m., then moves down the road to Quincy, Ill., for a Saturday contest at Quincy University that will get underway at 3:15 p.m.

S&T opened 2020 by dropping a pair of games in the St. Louis area last week, as it fell 78-73 at Lindenwood and 76-57 to Missouri-St. Louis – who moved into the national top 25 on Tuesday – to drop to 3-6 overall and 1-2 in the GLVC.  The Miners overcame a 13-point first half deficit at Lindenwood to tie the contest early in the second half, but couldn't over the Lions' run that followed in the five-point setback.

Jordan Newt (San Francisco, CA/Malibu) and Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) were the Miners' top two scorers in the two games a week ago, with Newt tallying 16 points at Lindenwood and Scott leading S&T with 16 on Saturday at UMSL, where the Miners led for a good portion of the game's first 10 minutes.  Scott leads the Miners in scoring on the season with an average of 14.7 points per game, while CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) is averaging 11 points a game and Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) is at 10.9 per contest.

Hedgepeth and Fairless are tied for the team lead with 23 assists apiece and Fairless is also second on the team in rebounding with 6.6 per game, trailing only Chima Oduocha's (Hoffman Estates, IL/Conant) mark of 6.9 per game.  Hedgepeth and Newt have hit 21 three-pointers apiece, with Newt connecting on 47.7 percent of his long-range attempts, the fifth-best mark in the GLVC.

ABOUT TRUMAN STATE: The Bulldogs enter Thursday's game with a 6-5 record and are 2-1 in the GLVC following a 56-53 loss Saturday at Rockhurst.  Truman never led in the contest, despite forcing ties on three occasions in the second half and had a three-point attempt by Hunter Strait that was off the mark just before the final buzzer.

Brodric Thomas, the second-leading scorer with an average of 22.4 points per game, led Truman with 16 points in the loss and has led the Bulldogs in scoring in every game this year.  Thomas is the only player in the GLVC to lead his team in scoring in all of his team's games and earlier in the season, hit a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer in a win over a nationally-ranked Missouri Southern team.

Thomas is also the Bulldogs' top rebounder with 6.8 per game as Truman has two others scoring in double figures in Cade McKnight at 12.5 points per game and Strait at 10.7 per outing.  Turner Scott, who is scoring 8.1 points per game, leads the Bulldogs with 49 assists and 16 steals.

ABOUT QUINCY: The Hawks currently stand at 6-5 overall, but are 0-3 in the GLVC following a pair of losses last week at Rockhurst and William Jewell.  Quincy has played all three of its GLVC games to date on the road and will host Maryville Thursday before the Miners come to town for the Saturday contest.

Tanner Stuckman ranks third in the conference in scoring with an average of 19 points per game, as he is shooting 54.6 percent from the field and 47.5 percent from three-point range with a team-high 19 three-point baskets.  Stuckman led the Hawks in scoring in seven of the team's first nine games this season and also leads his team in rebounding with 6.5 per contest.

Quincy has three other double figure scorers in Austin Downing, who is scoring 11.8 points per game with a team-high 57 assists, Charles Callier, who is averaging 10.9 points a game while blocking 10 shots and Aziz Fadika, who is acoring 10.2 points per game while making 60.5 percent of his field goal attempts.