🆚 University of New Orleans
📆 Saturday – December 6, 2025
⏰ 5 pm CT
🏟️ Lakefront Arena – New Orleans, Louisiana
📈 LIVE STATS
📺 ESPN+
Houston Christian University finishes off a season-long five-game stretch away from home when it travels to the Big Easy on Saturday evening to take on University of New Orleans. The game marks the Southland Conference opener for both schools, with tip-off at Lakefront Arena slated for 5 pm.
The Huskies are coming off a tough 77-75 loss at University of North Texas on Tuesday evening in Denton. After leading early, the Huskies found themselves down by nine with just under five minutes to go before mounting a furious rally. HCU whittled the deficit all the way down to one with four seconds remaining before the Mean Green escaped in nail-biting fashion at The Super Pit.
HCU opened up with eight straight points and strong defense, holding the Mean Green to just two points over the first four minutes and led 12-5 with 15:04 on the clock. UNT would come back to take a six-point lead at the break, and threatened to pull away. A corner three-ball by
D'Aundre Samuels made it a one-point game, 47-46 with 11:40 to go, but four three-pointers over a five minute span by Cahmai Crosby pushed the Mean Green lead to nine, 65-56 as the final media beckoned.
The Huskies stormed back, and
Kylin Green scored four points before
Elijah Brooks converted a conventional three-point play with 4.3 seconds left to cut the lead to one. After two FT's by North Texas, HCU advanced the ball to halfcourt and called a timeout to set up a final play, but UNT fouled
Trent Johnson immediately to prevent a shot. Johnson converted the first free throw and missed the second, but Reese Robinson came out of the ensuing scrum to secure the rebound and the escape for the Mean Green.
Lewisville native
Kylin Green returned home to lead a balanced offense for the Huskies, scoring 13 points to go with four assists.
Elijah Brooks had 12 while
Nehikhare Igiehon contributed 10, Samuels nine and
Trent Johnson and
Ryan Bartley eight apiece.
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.
The Huskies now have a trio of players in double-digit scoring, bolstered by the return last week of
Elijah Brooks, who missed the first four games. He leads the charge at 13 points per night while also chipping in five boards, 2.8 assists and 1.5 steals.
Kylin Green is just behind him at 12.9 points while also grabbing 4.6 boards. He leads the team with 5.4 assists which leads the SLC, while also boasting a team-best 42.3% clip from the arc. He had a career-high 24 points in the loss to Bellarmine and has also registered a career-best 13 assists 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.
Trent Johnson rounds out the trio at 10 points per game. He sits right behind Green from long range at 41.7%, and is third on the club in and rebounding (3.9) and assists (2/5). He set and tied his career-high for scoring in consecutive games, scoring 17 against ULM and CBS-Houston.
Demarco Bethea and
Ryan Bartley have both put together solid road trips.
Bethea has averaged 8.8 points and three rebounds while shooting a team-best 69.6% from the floor over that four-game span, which included a career-best 14 points on 7-7 from the floor in the win over Citadel. After a slow start to the campaign. He now sits at 8.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and an assist on the season.
After starting the season slow,
Ryan Bartley posted three straight double-digit scoring efforts to kick off the road stretch and has averaged 10 points and 3.8 rebounds while knocking down 10-24 from the arc over the last four games. He is now averaging 7.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists.
The five-game road stretch, the longest of the 2025-26 campaign hits its conclusion with the Huskies now sitting at an even 4-4 mark overall and 1-3 on the trip. HCU will be facing a New Orleans team that has played a brutal non-conference schedule that ranks third in the nation.
Stacy Hollowell is in his second season at the helm of the Privateers. UNO is currently 2-6 after Wednesday night's 86-70 loss at University of Memphis. The schedule has also featured games at LSU, Pepperdine, Fresno State and No. 20 Texas Tech, with victories over TCU and Tulane highlighting the early travels. Saturday will be just the second home game for UNO, which hasn't played on the Lakefront sine a 115-73 win over SUNO on November 8.
HCU and UNO have met 25 times, with the Privateers leading the series 17-8. The Huskies swept the season series from New Orleans last year, winning 86-76 in Louisiana on January 25 before an 81-68 victory on February 8 in Sharp Gymnasium.
UNO is paced by a pair of senior transfers. Coleton Benson, a 6'2 guard from Texas State, is averaging 15.1 points and shooting 39.7% from the arc on nine attempts per game. Jakevion Buckley, a 6'2 guard, is on his third Southland team in three seasons, having previously played for Southeastern last year after transferring from Lamar. He is also averaging 15.1 points while chipping in 5.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists and two steals per game.
MJ Thomas, a 6'8 sophomore forward, averages 8.8 points and a team-high 7.5 rebounds per game, while Churchill Abass, a 6'10 junior center from Nigeria, is averaging 6.6 points and 5.3 boards.
HCU is 11-7 all-time on December 6, and has won three of its last four on this date. The Huskies last played on this date in 2023, a 95-58 win over Southwestern Adventist University.
Houston Christian University will return home for the first time in 23 days when it plays a pair of conference games next week. The Huskies will host Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday before taking on McNeese on Monday night.
#DawgsUp
