Game Notes

Live Broadcast

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Houston Baptist hits the road after a successful homestand, which saw the Huskies go 3-0, to face future Southland Conference foe New Orleans Saturday at noon at Lakefront Arena.
 
The Huskies (8-14) have won four in a row overall and are led by senior forward Art Bernardi, who leads the team with 14.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. He has four double-doubles in the last five games and had a string of four-straight 20-point games broken Wednesday.  Freshman guard Caleb Crayton is averaging 6.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per game for the season, but 8.4 point and 4.8 rebounds in the 11 games he's started. Sophomore guard Marcel Smith also averages 6.0 points per game and leads the team with 60 assists.
 
New Orleans (7-13) is led by Lovell Cook, who averages 15.0 points per game. Rarlensee Nelson adds 9.6 points per game and leads the Privateers with 138 assists. Cory Dixon averages 8.1 points per game and leads the team with 4.9 rebounds per contest.
 
Saturday's game is the first leg of the home-and-home series between the two teams this year, as New Orleans will travel to Houston on Feb. 25. New Orleans leads the all-time series against HBU, 6-2, but this is the first meeting since the Privateers defeated the Huskies, 114-76, in 1971.
 
The Huskies return to action and Great West Conference play when they travel to face Texas-Pan American Saturday, Feb. 16 at 7:05 p.m. in Edinburg, Texas.
 
ART-I-FACTS...
Senior forward Art Bernardi scored 20 points or more in four-straight games from Jan. 19-Feb. 2 and has scored in double figures in seven-straight contests...He also has four double-doubles in the last five games and five for the season...Since not starting against UT-Pan American on Jan. 8, Bernardi has averaged 18.6 points, 9.3 rebounds, shot 54.3 percent from the field, 40.0 percent from 3-point range and 68.8 from the free-throw line and has 12 steals and nine blocked shots over the last seven games...Bernardi scored a career-high 25 points and five steals in a 63-61 win at Kansas City on Jan. 22, then 20 points and 11 rebounds on Jan. 26 against Ecclesia...He had 22 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's conference win over NJIT...He has been named Great West Conference Player of the Week each of the last two weeks and has four weekly honors for the season.
 
INSTANT IMPACT...
HBU has seven freshmen on its roster, with all seven seeing the floor this season. They have combined to average 32.1 points per game, 50 percent of the Huskies' offense, and are led by guard Caleb Crayton at 6.0 points per game. The group is also averaging 16.8 rebounds per game, 46 percent of the Huskies output, and are led by forward Dauson Womack, who averages 4.9 boards per contest. The Huskies' freshmen have played 44 percent of the team's total minutes this season. Over the last 13 games, the freshmen have played 50 percent of the team's total minutes, scored 49 percent of the team's points and grabbed 52 percent of the rebounds. They have combined to  average 32.3 points and 19.1 rebounds per game during that stretch.
 
CHRISTMAS GIFTS...
Since returning from the Christmas break, sophomore guard Marcel Smith and freshman guard Caleb Crayton have heated up. Over the last 10 games, Smith is averaging 8.2 points and 3.3 assists per game, after averaging 4.1 points and 2.3 assists per game during the first 12 games. Crayton has started the last 11 games and is averaging 8.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in those contests, after averaging 3.5 points and 3.2 rebounds per contest coming off the bench in the first 11 games. Smith had a career-high 19 points against Army on Dec. 31 and had a career-high seven assists at Texas A&M on Jan. 3. Crayton has scored in double figures in five of the last 11 games, including a career-high 14 points at UTEP on Jan. 14 and 11 points at LSU on Dec. 28 and a career-high nine rebounds against Kansas City on Feb. 6.
 
THAT SOUNDS BETTER...
HBU has won its last four games, matching the longest winning streak since Feb. 18-March 4, 2010...The last time there was a longer streak was when the Huskies won six in a row to end the season from Jan. 30-Feb. 18, 2008, winning 10 of their last 11 games...With its 66-45 win over Kansas City on Feb. 6, HBU recorded its largest margin of victory over a Division I opponent since a 106-84 win over Georgia State on Feb. 12, 1987.
 
DEEP THREAT...
Senior guard Anthony Hill has started the last seven games and has shot 40.6 percent from 3-point range, making 13-of-32...He made a career-high five treys against Ecclesia on Jan. 26 and made four, all in the first half, against Kansas City on Feb. 6...through his first 13 games, Hill had been shooting less than 30 percent from behind the arc, making 10-of-34 attempts.
 
SOMETHING TO “SNACK” ON...
The Huskies posted eight blocked shots against Kansas City on Jan. 22, then followed up with a season-high 10 against Ecclesia...Senior center Lamar Thomas has led the way with four blocked shots in each of his last two games.
 
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION...
On Nov. 12, the Huskies faced Hawai'i on ESPN as part of the network's “College Hoops Tipoff Marathon”, marking the first-ever national television appearance by any HBU athletic program…The Huskies have also had three additional regional television appearances at Oregon Dec. 22, at LSU Dec. 28 and at Texas A&M Jan. 3.