ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's basketball team heads outside of the state of Missouri for the first time this season for its only game of the week, as the Miners will head to Lebanon, Ill., Saturday afternoon for a Great Lakes Valley Conference contest against McKendree University. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.

The Miners were left with one game on the schedule this week after their game at Missouri-St. Louis on Thursday was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols, so the focus now goes to a McKendree squad that beat S&T in overtime in December at Gibson Arena.  

S&T is looking to bounce back from back-to-back overtime losses last week, as the Miners fell 70-68 to Maryville when the Saints hit a last-second shot in the extra period to win and 89-77 to Lindenwood after rallying from an 11-point second half deficit to extend the contest.

Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) led the Miners with a career-high 32 points in Saturday's game – his second game with at least 30 points this season – and his team-leading scoring average of 18 points per game ranks seventh in the GLVC following Tuesday's action.  Smith has 45 three-point baskets to lead the Miners, the second-most in the conference behind the 48 made by Drury's Jason Montgomery and is shooting 42 percent from the field and 38.8 percent from beyond the arc.

S&T has three additional double figure scorers in Mitch Fairless (St. Charles, MO/Duchesne) with an average of 12.7 points per game, Kevin Legardy (Las Vegas, NV/Canyon Springs) at 10.9 per game and Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln), who is scoring 10.3 points per game and is coming off his first career double-double.  Froebe, who leads the Miners in rebounding with six per game, assists with 58 and steals with an NCAA Division II-best 42, had 14 points and 16 boards against the Lions on Saturday.

The Miners also have one of the top shot blockers in the nation in Mahamadou Kaba-Camera (Conakry, Guinea/Balboa City (San Diego, CA)), who has 23 blocks on the year and is also shooting 53.8 percent from the floor.

ABOUT McKENDREE: The Bearcats have had their season affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as they have had their season interrupted on a couple of occasions, but returned from a break of nearly two weeks by winning a pair or games on the road last week.  McKendree pulled out a 69-65 win at Rockhurst, then picked up an impressive 77-64 win at Southwest Baptist behind 19 points from Alijah Thomas and 18 from Bryson Bultman.  The Bearcats will host Drury Thursday before the Miners come to town Saturday afternoon.

Bultman currently leads the Bearcats, who are 6-5 on the year, in scoring with an average of 16.5 points per game, while Brendon Gooch is averaging 14.8 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds per contest which ranks third in the conference.  McKendree has two others that are scoring in double figures in Thomas at 13.9 points per game and Oliver Stephen at 11.3 per game.

Bultman also leads the team with 37 assists and 18 steals and is among a group of strong three-point shooters for the Bearcats, who rank third in the GLVC at 38.2 percent from beyond the arc.  Gooch leads the conference with an average of 3.1 treys per game is is tied for fifth in three-point percentage at 44.4 percent for a squad averaging a league-best 11.3 three-pointers per game.  The Bearcats made 14 shots from beyond the arc in their overtime win in Rolla in December.

McKendree topped the Miners 89-86 in overtime in the first meeting between the teams on Dec. 3 in Rolla.