Complete Game Notes in .pdf Format Here

• The Lions enter tonight's game with a record of 1-0. Lindenwood is coming off a 95-62 win over the Greenville Panthers.

• The Lions play their first three out of four games at Hyland Arena to start off the season.

• Tonight's game will be the first of the 2012-13 season for Westminster. Last season the Blue Jays finished the season with a record 17-11 overall and 11-5 in SLIAC play.

• Westminster College and Lindenwood have played each other 15 times. The Blue Jays have dominated the series. They have won 14-of-15 games played between the schools. The last time the teams matched-up  was in 1990-91. The Lions last win came in 1983-84 when they won 79-75.

• The game will be the second contest for the Lions against a NCAA Division III school.

Lindenwood Notes

• The Lions return seven of their top eight scorers from last season's squad. The only loss was Kramer Soderberg who averaged 17.9 points.  

• Lindenwood's first game of the season has ended in a win in six of the last seven years.Under Soderberg, the Lions have won their first game three out of four times.

• Last season, Lindenwood averaged over 85 points a game which was the most in school history. This season the Lions started off the first game scoring 95 points.  

• The offense from a year ago was so potent that it scored over 80 points 22 out of 31 games. The team was 20-2 in those games.

• Only one time last season did the Lions lose a game when leading with five minutes remaining. The team was 25-1 in those situations.

• The Hyland Arena floor has been very good to the Lions since Brad Soderberg took over. In his first four seasons, Lindenwood is 41-5 at home.  

• Dating back to last season Lindenwood has a current eight game home winning streak.

• The Lions free throw shooting has been one of the team's best aspects over the past two seasons. In 2011-12, the team set the school record with a mark of 77 percent. The previous season Lindenwood shot 75 percent.

• Senior point guard Alex Bazzell is creeping up the career lists at Lindenwood. He is just 111 points away from being the ninth player in school history to score 1,000 points. He is third in free throws made, fourth in assists, and second in free throw percentage.

• The first half was a friendly half to the Lions a season ago. The team outscored its opponents 1,298-969 in the opening half.

• Brett Thompson is making his return to the court in 2012-13. After red shirting in 2011-12 due to a knee injury he is back in the Lions lineup. In his two seasons of playing on the court for Lindenwood he is averaging 9.8 points and over six rebounds. In his first start back Thompson scored 14 points and grabbed four rebounds.  

• Unlike the 2011-12 team which had just two seniors, the 2012-13 team features six seniors. Alex Bazzell, Cody Sorenson, Tyler Harris, Brett Thompson, Richie Thompson, and Efkan Eren will be playing their final season in a Lions' uniform.

• After not playing a very good first half against Greenville, the Lions defense dominated. The Panthers only scored 19 points and shot just 19 percent.

• A Brad Soderberg team has always been known to have a stellar defense. Last season, that was definitely the case. Lindenwood held its opponents to just 65.4 points a game. In 18 games, their opponents shot less than 40%.

• In 2011-12, the Lions shot above 70 percent from the free throw line in every game. In 12 of those games, the team shot over 80 percent.

• Last year's squad lacked a true big man in the middle. But the blocked shots numbers did not falter. Richie Thompson led the team in blocks with 31 and led the team in blocks in 15 games.

• Not too often in 2011-12 did the Lions get outrebounded. Lindenwood outrebouned its opponents in 23 games, and in those 23 games the Lions were 22-1.

• After playing a season without a conference the Lions will play this year in the MIAA. Lindenwood will play 18 conference games.

• For the first time in school history the Lions have had three consecutive 20 win seasons. All three seasons have been under the watchful eye of Coach Soderberg.


Greenville Notes

• The Westminster Blue Jays come to Hyland Arena to take on the Lions. The Panthers finished the 2011-12 season with a 17-11 overall record and 11-5 record in the SLIAC.

• The Blue Jays return three out of five starters from a season ago. Joseph Prophert was the team leading scorer with 14.1 points a game and led the team in rebounds with 5.4. Skylar Tolson and Joseph James are the other two returning starters scoring 13.4 and 11.2 points respectivaly.

• Westminster's defense was one of the best in the conference a year ago. The Blue Jays held their opponents to just 64.7 points a game. Opponents shot just 43 percent from the field and just 35 percent from behind the arc.

• Matt Mitchell is the head coach of the Westminster Blue Jays and is in his 14th season. He has compiled a record of 188-171. He has had two seasons where his teams have won at least 20 games.