KANSAS CITY, Mo. – After winning another pair of South Atlantic Conference road affairs last week, the Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team has moved up in both national polls with the third release of the 2019-20 regular season rankings Tuesday. The Railsplitters (8-1, 3-0 SAC), who have now won eight in a row and own six 30-plus point victories thus far this season, climbed two spots in the D2SIDA Media Poll to No. 7 in the nation and rose one spot to No. 8 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Top 25.
LMU owns a 27-point scoring margin, the eighth-best nationally, through nine games this season and has outscored its opponents by 243 points. With an efficient offense that is producing 94.3 points per game, ninth-highest in all of NCAA Division II basketball, the Railsplitters feature a stingy defense that is holding teams to a mere 35.6 percent clip, the fourth-lowest in the country.
With four players averaging double-figure scoring, LMU is the higher ranked of the two SAC squads who appear in the national rankings. Queens University of Charlotte, who boasts a 7-1 record and is 2-0 in league play, is ranked No. 11 in the D2SIDA Media Poll and 12th in the NABC Top 25.
Defending national champion Northwest Missouri State (7-0) is the top team in both national polls with all 16 first-place votes in the media poll. Nova Southeastern (4-0) and Bellarmine (5-0) are second and third, respectively, in both national polls while UC San Diego (8-0) is ranked fourth in the NABC Top 25 and fifth in the D2SIDA Media Poll. The Buffs of West Texas A&M (8-0), who the Railsplitters suffered their lone loss too in the season opener at the fourth annual Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Saint Joseph, Missouri, are No. 5 in the coaches poll and fourth in the media poll.
Indiana University of Pennsylvania (6-0) is ranked No. 6 in both national polls as the University of Alabama in Huntsville (6-0) is seventh in the NABC Top 25 and 10th in the media poll. Southern Indiana (5-0) and Ashland University (6-0) round out the top 10 of the coaches poll, while Daemen College (8-1) and Southern Indiana are eighth and ninth, respectively, in the D2SIDA Media Poll.
This Saturday, the Railsplitters host a top-15 matchup when No. 12/11 Queens enters the friendly confines of B. Frank "Tex" Turner Arena for a 4 p.m. tip-off in Harrogate. The game will mark the first top-25 matchup inside Tex Turner Arena since then top-ranked LMU hosted the then seventh-ranked Royals in the 2018 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional title game (March 13, 2018).
Presented by Edward Jones Investments - Marc Trantham, Saturday's Railsplitter and Lady Railsplitter basketball doubleheader is a white out with those who attend the games wearing white receiving FREE admission to the games. Additionally, 400 complimentary tickets courtesy of Edward Jones Investments - Marc Trantham are available by visiting the LMU athletics office on the first floor of Tex Turner Arena or Marc Trantham's Edward Jones Investments office in Harrogate.
LMU Athletics Photo
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