CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The No. 4 Queens University of Charlotte men's basketball team will wrap up a two-game home stand inside Curry Arena on Wednesday as they welcome Tusculum (4-2, 4-0 SAC) to town for "Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night" at 7:30 pm.  After Wednesday's game, the Royals hit the road for a pair of conference match-ups against Mars Hill and Newberry, respectively.

Wednesday night will mark the 20^th all-time meeting between Queens and Tusculum, with the Royals holding a commanding 17-2 series lead.  Queens has won eight of the last nine games, including two straight.  The Royals have only lost one time in Charlotte, 67-61 in 2019-20 which snapped a six-game win streak for Queens against the Pioneers.  In their last meeting, the Royals handled business on the defensive end at home, stifling Tusculum by a final of 85-59.  Queens held the Pioneers to just 34.5 percent from the field and forced 18 turnovers on the night.  The Royals turned that defense to offense by shooting 48.3 percent from the floor and outrebounded Tusculum 43-33.  Gavin Rains finished racked up a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, hitting five of his nine shots on the evening.  Kenny Dye, Jamari Smith, and AJ McKee all finished in double figures as well with 14, 12, and 11 respectively.

Quick Facts (Game Notes)
Queens University of Charlotte (6-0; 3-0 South Atlantic Conference)

• In the season opener against Young Harris, the Royals set a new program record with 133 points scored as eight Royals finished with double figures.
• Head Coach Bart Lundy picked up his 400^th career victory in the dominant season opener. Lundy is in his 14^th season at Queens and 20^th season overall as a collegiate head coach.
• The Royals stayed perfect by fighting off Johnson C. Smith (CIAA) on Saturday afternoon, 85-83. Jamari Smith led the Royals in points, with 19, and rebounds with 8. Kenny Dye stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. BJ McLaurin and Josh Dilling provided key minutes off the bench, as McLaurin scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds, and Dilling scored 12 points while shooting 4-6 from three-point range.
• Queens has scored 82 or more points in each of their first six games of the season and is top 10 in the nation in this early season in offensive rebounds per game with 15.5.  Jamari Smith leads the team in scoring with 15.5 points and six rebounds per game, while shooting over 51 percent from the floor, making six of his 10 three-point attempts.  Kenny Dye facilitates the offense with over six assists per game to go along with his 12.5 points and 4.3 rebounds.  
• The Royals continue to display their depth as nine guys are averaging at least 14.8 minutes per game and five with over 20 minutes per game.  Those five guys are shooting over 47 percent and account for 55.1 points of their 92.0 points per game average.  
• Queens rest comfortably in the recent national rankings coming in at No. 4 in the NABC Week One Media Poll, No. 4 in the D2SIDA Week Two Poll, and No. 1 in the Southeast Region.
• Returning their top six scorers and top five rebounders, Queens was picked to finish atop the South Atlantic Conference's Preseason Poll, as voted on by the League's coaches. The Royals received over half the first-place votes and 150 total votes as the preseason favorites.
• Kenny Dye and Jamari Smith were each named to the SAC's First-Team Preseason All-Conference Team and Gavin Rains earned Second-Team honors.

 
Tusculum (4-2, 4-0 SAC)

• The Pioneers are undefeated in conference play so far this season, coming into to Wednesday with a 4-0 record and having won four straight games.  After dropping their first two games of the season against USC-Aiken (PBC) and Clayton State (PBC) at the 2021-22 PBC/SAC Challenge, they have rattled off wins against Carson-Newman, Catawba, Limestone, and UVA-Wise to find the right side of .500. 
• Tusculum knows how to play in tight games as three of their last four games have been decided by nine points or less, including a four-point win over UVA-Wise last time out, 80-76.  Their largest victory of the young season came against Catawba as they downed the Indians by a final of 86-74.  
• The Pioneers are paced by graduate senior guard, and defending SAC Player of the Year, Trenton Gibson, who drops in 19.8 points and six rebounds per game.  Gibson also leads the team in assists with just over three a game and averages 31.8 minutes per game as well.  The only other Pioneer averaging double figures is graduate-transfer forward, William Vedder.  Vedder is in his first year with Tusculum after a stellar career at Virginia State and is averaging 14.8 points per game while hitting over 60 percent of his shots and 43 percent from three-point range.  
• Head Coach J.T. Burton is in his fourth season as the Pioneers' head coach racking up 53 wins since he took over in 2018-19.  Burton reached his 200th career victory this season with their first win of the season over Carson-Newman and is 204-131 overall in his 11 years as a head coach.
• Tusculum was picked to finish 3rd in this season's SAC Preseason Poll after finishing the 2020-21 season 14-6 overall and 12-4 in conference play.  The Pioneers earned a bid to last season's NCAA Southeast Regional where they lost in the NCAA Regional semifinals to Linclon Memorial.  It was the third time in program history that Tusculum ever reached the NCAA Tournament.  

Fans can tune in to the game tomorrow afternoon on the Queens Sports Network starting at 7:30 p.m. Be sure to follow the Royals men's basketball program on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date on all the latest news and updates surrounding the team. Fans are also encouraged to follow Queens Athletics on social media @QueensAthletics to follow all of the Royals sports in action.