CONWAY — Heading into Saturday, there are three teams with 3-0 Southland Conference records. Two of them will meet in the Farris Center.
The Sugar Bears (10-4, 3-0 Southland) clash with the Southland preseason favorite Lamar Cardinals (8-5, 3-0) at 1:00pm in the Farris Center in the lone meeting of the league's top two teams.
In the Southland preseason poll, the Cardinals garnered 18 first-place votes while the Sugar Bears, picked second, received 6.
The matchup pits the Southland's top offense in Lamar (82.3 points per game) against the league's top defense in the Sugar Bears (49.6), with LU's offense ranking 21st nationally and the Sugar Bears' defense coming in 2nd in the country.
Though the Sugar Bears have the top scoring defense, the Cardinals lead the country in steals with 17.2 per game, paced by national leader Chastadie Barrs at 6.5 per game. Barrs has recorded at least one steal in 74 consecutive games and is just nine away from equaling the Southland career record midway through her junior season.
The Cardinals are also tops in the country in turnover margin (+14.2) and second in turnovers forced with their opponents committing 27.9 per game. The Sugar Bears are among the nation's best at not turning it over, committing just 12.4 per game – 17th in the country.
The Sugar Bears will look to extend a few streaks as they have won their last five, 20 against Southland teams and last 15 at home. They'll also be looking to avenge their last loss in the Farris Center, as Lamar was the last visiting team to leave Conway with a win, defeating the Sugar Bears 70-56 last season.
The Sugar Bears and Cardinals have played two common opponents this season in Baylor and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Both teams beat the Islanders – the Sugar Bears 58-50 and the Cardinals 70-31, while both lost at Baylor – the Sugar Bears by a score of 86-55 and the Cardinals 121-62.
FOLLOW
• Watch on the
Bear Nation Network
• Radio broadcast on The Bear 91.3 and
streaming online with pregame beginning at 12:40
•
Live Stats
• Follow
@ucasports,
@ucascoreboard and
@ucawbb on Twitter
NOTES
• In the win over Sam Houston State, Kierra Jordan recorded her third consecutive double-double, giving her the Sugar Bears' longest double-double streak since Courtney Duever had four straight from Jan. 18-30, 2014
• Lamar is one of only two Southland programs with a winning record against the Sugar Bears, with the Cardinals leading the series 10-7, though the Sugar Bears lead 5-4 in the Farris Center
• The Sugar Bears have dropped 4 of the last 5 against the Cardinals with losses by an average of 19 points
• The Sugar Bears have held 10 of their 14 opponents to 60 points or less this season. Lamar has been held under 60 just once, getting only 58 in a 32-point loss at New Mexico
