HCU at NEW ORLEANS
HCU at SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA
- Monday – January 27, 2025 (6 pm)
- University Center (Hammond, Louisiana)
- 📈 LIVE STATS
- 📺 ESPN+
- 🗒️ GAME NOTES (Updated Sunday)
Houston Christian University launches a four-game road swing this Saturday when it travels to the Big Easy to face the University of New Orleans. It will be the first road game for the Huskies since January 6 and follows a strong four-game homestand spanning the last two weeks.
Tip-off from Lakefront Arena against the Privateers is set for 5 pm as the second game of a double-header with the women. The game kicks off two weeks and four straight games away from Sharp Gym, with three of those contests coming in the Pelican State. HCU completes the first half of the Southland Conference regular season slate on Monday night in Hammond against Southeastern Louisiana University.
HCU is now 8-11 on the season after the 3-1 stay in Sharp Gym. The Huskies have improved to 5-3 in the Southland and stand tied with four others in third place in the league table after Monday night's 76-72 victory over Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
The Huskies raced out to a big lead in the first half then weathered a huge second-half storm. A 16-point lead was cut to three on four occasions in the final 1:25 but HCU would hold on, snapping the six-game winning streak for the second-place Islanders.
Elijah Brooks was 6-8 from the stripe to lead a 9-12 effort over that final stretch that held TAMUCC at bay and gave HCU its fourth win in its last five tries.
A quartet of Huskies finished in the double-digit scoring column, just the fourth time this year but second during the four-game stretch at home.
Julian Mackey led all scorers with 19 points while grabbing three boards and blocking a career-best three shots, followed by Brooks and his 16 points.
Trent Johnson registered the first double-digit game of his career with 13 points while
D'Aundre Samuels added a dozen as well.
Demari Williams had his second straight solid effort on both ends, scoring nine points to go with five boards and three pilfers.
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 15.2 points, 16.1 per in conference play. The senior transfer, who had a career-best 32 at ULM, nearly had his eighth 20-point night on the campaign in the Monday win over TAMUCC. He has eclipsed his career-high three times this season, and currently ranks fourth in the SLC in scoring and leads the league in free throw percentage, knocking down 80.5% from the charity stripe. He is shooting just under 40% from the arc in SLC play as well.
Bryson Dawkins is 15th in the SLC with his 11.9 points per game and also pulls down 4.6 rebounds, with those numbers rising to 13.9 points and 6.6 boards in league action.
Elijah Brooks continues to check boxes, averaging 9.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.3 steals per on the season.
Peyton Rogers leads the club in rebounding at 5.4 per night, a bump up to seven carom per game in conference play.
D'Aundre Samuels' recent surge has him at 7.2 points and 2.4 rebounds overall and 8.3 points per in the SLC.
HCU and New Orleans have met 23 times through the years with the Privateers holding a 17-6 lead in the overall series and an 8-5 margin in Southland action. The two teams split last year's series with each club winning on its own floor. UNO comes into Saturday's action at 4-15 overall and 2-6 in SLC action and is led by Stacy Hollowell, who is in his first year on the sidelines at Lakefront Arena.
James White, a 6'5 senior transfer guard from UAB, leads the Privateers in scoring (18.9) and rebounding (6.9). He is the only UNO player in double-figures, followed by 6'3 sophomore guard Jah Short (9.3 ppg / 4.6 rpg / 3.1 apg) and 6'8 freshman forward MJ Thomas (9.1 ppg / 6.4 rpg).
HCU is 10-6 all-time in games played on January 25. The Huskies last played on this date in 2020, falling at McNeese 102-89, with their last victory on this date coming in 2016 with a 109-84 rout of Hillsdale Baptist.
The game on Monday night at Southeastern Louisiana University has been moved back to a 7:30 pm tip-off to accommodate a change to the women's schedules around the league, as the winter storm, snow and inclement weather around southeast Texas and Louisiana caused the postponement of the Thursday night slate.
HCU and Southeastern have met 20 times with the Lions holding a 13-7 advantage in the overall ledger. SLU won in Houston and then again on a buzzer-beater in Hammond to complete a sweep of last year's pair of contests and take a 12-4 lead in the SLC meetings between the two schools.
The Lions head into the weekend on a roll, having won five straight to move to 11-8 overall. SLU is tied with HCU and three other schools in third place in the SLC standings at 5-3, and are led by David Kiefer, now in his sixth season at the helm. Southeastern plays host to Incarnate Word on Saturday afternoon.
Sam Hines Jr., a 6'6 senior guard who transferred from South Florida, leads the Lions in scoring (16.1 ppg) and rebounding (6.6 rpg) and is second in assists (2.1 apg). Jakevion Buckley, a 6'1 senior guard, averages 13.3 points and a team-high 4.1 assists per game after transferring to SLU following two seasons at conference foe Lamar. 6'10 junior post Brody Rowbury averages 7.8 points and 5.2 boards.
The Huskies have played 15 times on January 27 with a 5-10 overall mark. HCU last played on this date last year in a 79-75 loss in San Antonio to UIW and last won on this date two years ago in a 73-57 win in San Antonio over UIW.
A trek to San Antonio to face rival UIW for the second time this season starts the second half of the road stretch next week. That game will be followed by a quick return to Louisiana for a Monday night affair in Thibodaux against Nicholls State University.
#DawgsUp
