ROLLA, Mo. – With the 2023-24 regular season down to its final two weeks, Missouri S&T's basketball team is need of victories if it is going extend its season past the first weekend of March and will look to begin that quest with its final two home games of the season this weekend.

The Miners will host Drury in a 7:30 p.m. game Thursday at Gibson Arena before closing out the home slate Saturday by Southwest Baptist in a 3 p.m. tilt.  Thursday's game will be Missouri S&T Faculty & Staff Appreciation Night at Gibson Arena – with those employees of S&T being admitted free of charge – while Saturday will be Senior Day and also Military Appreciation Day as all military members, active or retired and their immediate families will receive free admission.

After dropping road games to the teams ranked second and third in the GLVC's point rating standings last week, the Miners find themselves in 11^th place in those standings where the top eight will earn a berth to the GLVC Tournament.  The Miners come into the game with Drury at 12-11 overall and 6-10 in conference play, but a strong finish to the campaign – that includes two road games next week – could push S&T into the top eight if other games fall in its favor.

The Miners have five players averaging in double figures on the season, led by Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) with an average of 14.8 points per game.  Okeke scored a season-high 25 points in Saturday's loss at Truman State and also comes into the week ranked second in rebounding with 5.9 per game, while also shooting 47.3 percent from the floor and 39.4 percent from three-point range.

Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove) is averaging 13.9 per game and last week became the second player in program history to reach 100 assists in multiple seasons at S&T; he has 106 on the season and his average of 5.3 per game leads the GLVC.  Julien Smith (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) has a team-high 40 three-point baskets and is scoring 11.6 per game, while Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) is at 11.2 per contest and Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) is averaging 10 per game.

Young also leads S&T with 6.7 rebounds per game and is third in the conference with 39 blocked shots.

ABOUT DRURY: The Panthers enter Saturday's contest tied with the Miners in the GLVC overall standings at 6-10 – Drury is 13-11 overall – but sits in 13^th place in the league's PRS rankings with four games remaining.  Drury has dropped three of its last four games, including a 20-point loss Saturday at home to McKendree.

Logan Applegate leads the Panthers with an average of 14.5 points per game and had 27 points in the Panthers' 89-82 win over the Miners in Springfield in January.  Applegate has connected 60 times from three-point range on the year which ranks second in the conference entering play this week.  Drury is also getting 13,1 points per game from Juak Riak and 8.1 per game from Adam Moore, who is also the team's top rebounder with 4.2 per contest.  The Panthers have won just once in nine true road games this season, which came earlier this month at Southwest Baptist.
 
ABOUT SOUTHWEST BAPTIST:  The Bearcats currently reside at the bottom of both the GLVC overall and PRS standings with records of 6-18 overall and 2-14 in conference play.  Playing nearly the entire season without All-GLVC point guard Mitch Ganote, the Bearcats have gone 1-12 since resuming conference play at the beginning of January, which includes a 78-59 loss to S&T in the previous meeting between the teams this season.

Drenin Dinkins comes into the week as the GLVC's sixth-leading scorer with an average of 17.2 points per game and is shooting 35.1 percent from three-point range with a team-leading 39 three-point baskets.  Drew McMillin has connected 36 times from long range and is scoring 11.1 points per contest, while David Hector leads SBU with 5.5 rebounds per game as well as in assists with 66 and steals with 31.  The Bearcats have also struggled away from their home court, as they are 1-8 and have lost their last five on the road since winning at Drury in mid-December.