Follow @HCUHoops
HCU vs INCARNATE WORD
HCU vs. McNEESE
- Monday – January 13, 2025 (7 pm)
- Houston, Texas (Sharp Gymnasium)
- 📈 LIVE STATS
- 📺 ESPN+
- 🗒️ GAME NOTES (Updated Sunday)
- 🗒️ GAME PROGRAM (Updated Sunday)
Houston Christian University returns home for the first time in over a month as it begins a four-game
homestand over the next two weeks. HCU hosts longtime rival University of the Incarnate Word in the first game of the stint in Sharp Gym on Saturday afternoon followed by a Monday night tilt against defending
Southland champ and current league-leader
McNeese.
The Huskies are 5-10 on the season and 2-2 in the Southland Conference after a split of its first league road swing last weekend. HCU rebounded from a heartbreaking, 63-61 loss at the horn at Lamar last Saturday but then bounced back quickly and impressively on Monday night. In arguably its best overall effort of the season, the Huskies led from pillar to post in a convincing 83-73 win over Stephen. F. Austin, the first win ever in Nacogdoches.
The tone was set right off the bat at SFA, as the Huskies grabbed four offensive boards on the first offensive possession en route to a 7-0 run to start the game. The lead grew to double-digits by late in the first half and a
massive highlight-reel hammer from
Bryson Dawkins pushed the HCU lead to its largest at 18, 64-48 with 7:42 left in the game.
Julian Mackey led HCU with a game-high 22 points. Dawkins ended with 12 points while
Elijah Brooks and
Peyton Rogers added strong all-around efforts. Brooks went for 13 points and seven boards while establishing new career-bests with six assists and four steals. Rogers went for eight points and a season-high 11 caroms while matching his career-high with three blocks.
Trent Johnson matched his career-best with nine points.
HCU is led by first-year head coach
Craig Doty, who was hired as the ninth head coach in school history back in March as the program is now in its 59th season. Doty brings 12 years of head coaching experience to the HCU sidelines, having coached on the NJCAA, NAIA and NCAA Division II levels while capturing three national titles along the way.
Julian Mackey continues to pace the Huskies in scoring, sitting at 15.4 points overall as well as 17.8 through four games of conference play. Mackey, who had a career-best 32 at ULM, has seven 20-point games on the campaign while eclipsing his career-high three times this season. He ranks fourth in the SLC in scoring and in free throw percentage, knocking down 80.3% from the charity stripe.
Bryson Dawkins averages 12.2 points and 4.3 rebounds on the year, numbers that rise to 16.8 points and 7.3 boards in SLC action.
Elijah Brooks continues to check boxes, averaging 9.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.2 steals per on the season.
Peyton Rogers leads the club in rebounding at 5.2 per night, a bump up to eight per in conference play.
HCU and UIW meet for the 41st time in a series that dates back to 1991. The Cardinals hold a 25-15 lead in the series overall, but HCU claims a 14-10 advantage since the two clubs have been in the Southland with the Huskies having won 13 of the last 18. Of the 24 games in SLC play, 12 have been decided by seven points or fewer, including the season split last year when UIW won 79-75 in San Antonio with HCU returning serve in Sharp Gym, 86-83.
The Cardinals, 9-6 overall and 2-2 in the Southland, are led by Shane Heirman, now in his second season at the helm on Broadway Street. UIW places four players in double-digit scoring, led by 6'1 Ball State grad transfer guard Davion Bailey who averages 18.1 ppg on the year and 19 in SLC play, good for second in the league. He is also first in the league in three-point percentage at a 43.7% clip on the season, while shooting 46.9% from the floor, good for fifth in the conference.
Veteran 6'5 forward Dylan Hayman, now in his fourth season in the Alamo City, is posting career-bests of 13.8 points and 5.1 rebounds. He is ninth in scoring in the league and second in field goal percentage at 52.3% on the season. Jalin Anderson (13.3 ppg) and Jordan
Pyke (10.0) round out the double-digit quartet.
McNeese enters the weekend at 10-5 overall and a perfect 4-0 in the league, tied with Lamar for top of the table. The Cowboys are led by second-year head coach Will Wade, and host
Nicholls on Saturday before hitting Fondren Road on Monday night.
HCU and
McNeese will meet for the 35th time, with the Cowboys holding a 24-10 all-time lead, but just 12-8 in Southland play. HCU won three in a row starting with a 149-144 four-overtime thriller in the regular-season finale of the 2021-22 before the Pokes swept the season series last year.
The Pokes are paced by three players in double-digit scoring. Sincere Parker, a 6'3 junior transfer guard from St. Louis University, leads the team at 15 per game, sixth in the league, and ranks fourth in the conference in field goal percentage at 49% per night. 6'3 senior Javohn Garcia is second on the club in scoring at 13.1 points, while 6'5 senior forward Christian Shumate averages 10.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per night. 6'9 forward Joe Charles, a senior transfer from Louisiana-Lafayette, leads the team in rebounding at 6.4 per game, while 6'6 guard Quadir Copeland, a transfer from Syracuse, dishes out a team-best 3.9 assists, fifth in the league.
The Huskies are 7-5 all-time in games played on January 11. The Huskies last played on this date in 2020, falling to Lamar 102-92. The date does hold some historical significance as well, as the last victory came in 2014, a 98-97 win over Northwestern State in Sharp Gym, the Huskies first-ever Southland Conference victory.
HCU is 12-10 overall on January 13. The Huskies most recent outing on this date was last season, a 69-65 victory at then Texas A&M-Commerce.
The Huskies will finish off the homestand with games against UTRGV (January 18) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (January 20).
#DawgsUp
