🆚 Bellarmine University
📆 Tuesday, November 25, 2025
⏰ 6 pm CT
🏟️ McAlister Field House – Charleston, South Carolina
📈 LIVE STATS
🆚 The Citadel
📆 Wednesday, November 26, 2025
⏰ 6 pm CT
🏟️ McAlister Field House – Charleston, South Carolina
📈 LIVE STATS
📺 ESPN+
Houston Christian University begins a five-game stretch away from home when it travels to the Palmetto State for a pair of pre-Thanksgiving games in Charleston, South Carolina at The Citadel MTE. The Huskies will face Bellarmine University on Tuesday evening before a Wednesday night tilt with the host Bulldogs.
Tip-off for both contests inside McAlister Fieldhouse are slated for 6 pm CT. The game with Bellarmine will only be available via Live Stats, while the Thanksgiving Eve matchup with The Citadel will be streamed on ESPN+.
HCU is coming off its second straight win, an 85-67 victory over College of Biblical Studies last Thursday night in Sharp Gym. The Huskies raced out to a 22-point halftime lead and coasted from there, leading wire-to-wire and by as many as 33 with four players recording double-digit scoring efforts in the contest. The win ran HCU's record to 3-1 on the season for the first time since 2012-13 campaign, when the Huskies won two of three at the Rainbow Classic in Hawai'i followed by a home-opening rout of Dallas Christian College.
A dunk by
Trent Johnson pushed HCU in front by 16, 25-9 with eight to play in the first frame, and he would later give the Huskies a 20-point cushion following a three-pointer and two free throws.
Kylin Green scored on a fastbreak layup and three ball that were immediately followed by a
Demari Williams jam on a fastbreak, as the Huskies headed to the intermission ahead 45-23 and HCU would cruised to the finish line from there.
Johnson led a quartet in double-digits with 17 points, as he matched his career-high set just one game ago. He added five rebounds, three assists and a personal-best four steals.
Demarco Bethea set a career-high with his 13 points and matched a career-best with eight caroms. Green had 11 points, a career-best eight boards and five assists, while
D'Aundre Samuels closed out the group with 10 points, three boards and three assists. Williams had eight points and four boards.
Craig Doty, the ninth head coach in program history, is now in his second season at the helm after guiding HCU to a 12-20 overall mark and 9-11 ledger in Southland Conference action in 2024-25. The Huskies doubled their success rate from the previous season, going from six total wins to 12 and from four victories to nine in conference play, finishing seventh in the league after being picked to finish last. HCU advanced to the Southland Tournament and saw
Bryson Dawkins named All-Conference as just the second player in program history to pick up SLC First Team honors.
Through four games, the Huskies have two players in double-figure scoring in grad forward
Trent Johnson (12.3) and senior guard
Kylin Green (11.3) with two others, junior guard
D'Aundre Samuels and senior forward
Demarco Bethea just behind at nine points per game.
Green leads the club in assists at 7.0 per game which is good for 12th in the nation. He had a career-best 13 in the victory over ULM on November 13, the most in a game for HCU since Mike Moss had 13 against Chicago State in 2011. The Lewisville native is also averaging a team-best 5.8 rebounds.
Johnson is the leading three-point shooter at a 40.9 clip on 9-22 from long range. He has set and tied his career-high for scoring in consecutive games, scoring 17 against ULM and CBS-Houston. The jack-of-all-trades from Cambridge, Ontario, Canada is also averaging 4.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.0 blocks.
Mambourou Mara, a junior forward from Conakry, Guinea, is also turning solid all-around numbers for the Huskies, averaging 6.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.3 blocked shots.
As a team, the Huskies are currently 16th in the NCAA in blocks at six per game and 29th in steals per at 10.5.
A five-game road stretch, the longest of the season, begins on Tuesday night in Charleston, South Carolina. The Huskies will play a back-to-back against Bellarmine University and host The Citadel looking for their initial victory away from home this season.
The Huskies have played against Bellarmine just once in their history, with that coming 53 years ago in a 77-76 win on January 6, 1972 in Louisville. This will be just the third game ever against a team from Kentucky, with the other coming on the same trip in a loss to Kentucky Wesleyan two days prior.
Bellarmine is led by Doug Davenport, who is in his first season at the helm after replacing his father Scott, the coach of the Knights for 20 seasons. BU is 1-4 on the season, and will face The Citadel on Monday night prior to the matchup with HCU on Tuesday.
The Knights are paced by a quartet of double-digit scorers, highlighted by 6'7 senior forward Jack Karasinski at 20.3 per night. 6'7 senior forward Brian Waddell averages 15.2 points and 4.4 boards while junior forward Michael Wilson and sophomore guard Kenyon Goodin chip in 11 and 10.5 respectivley.
A quick turnaround follows the game with Bellarmine, as 24 hours later the Huskies take on host The Citadel in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. It is just the fifth game ever against a school from South Carolina, with the previous four all coming against Baptist College of Charleston, now known as Charleston Southern University.
Ed Conroy is in his second stint as head coach of his alma mater, where he played from 1985-89. He is now in his third season after serving four years in his initial time on the Bulldogs sideline. The Citadel is paced by 6'6 redshirt sophomore forwards Christian Moore, who averages 12.6 poings, while 6'3 freshman guard Marcos Gonzales chips in 11.2 points, 3.6 boards and 2.8 assists for the Bulldogs, who come into the week at 2-3 overall.
HCU is 5-8 all-time on November 25, with its last outing coming one year ago in a 74-73 home loss to Eastern Michigan. The last win on this date was a 72-69 victory over University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma at the Oklahoma City University Thanksgiving Classic. The Huskies hold a 3-13 mark on November 26 all-time, with the last time playing coming in a 105-69 loss at the University of Missouri in 2022. The last victory came in a 112-59 home drubbing of Concordia-Austin in 2002, part of a 31-3 overall record that saw HCU finish with the No. 1 final ranking in the NAIA. Wednesday night's matchup with The Citadel is also just the sixth time ever for HCU to play on Thanksgiving Eve. The Huskies have played just twice on Thanksgiving Day in 61 years of the program, in 1992 at Schreiner College and in 2010 vs. Arizona State in the Great Alaska Shootout.
The road travels will continue following the pair of games in Charleston, as the Huskies take a short jaunt across the state line to Statesboro, Georgia for a Saturday matchup with Georgia Southern University that closes out the month of November.
#DawgsUp
