Men's Basketball 12/3/2021 5:00:00 PM

Royals Ready for Bounce Back at Mars Hill on Saturday

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The No. 4 Queens University of Charlotte men's basketball team will head on the road this weekend, looking to bounce back off their first loss of the season with a statement game against Mars Hill (4-4, 4-1 SAC) on Saturday at 4 pm. Both teams will be looking to keep pace at the top of the league in the early going of this 2021-22 season. This will start a two game road trip for the Royals as they will head to Newberry on Wednesday before returning home to play Coker next Saturday, December 11.

Saturday afternoon marks the 21^st all-time meeting between Queens and Mars Hill, with the Royals holding a 15-5 series lead. This matchup has been controlled by Queens dating back to 2015, as they have now won 11-straight vs. the Lions. The Royals have won five consecutive games in Mars Hill. In their lone game last season, Queens put on an offensive clinic on their way to a convincing, 95-70, win. Queens shot over 43-percent from the floor on the night and had ten guys score on the night, four in double figures. The Royals outrebounded the Lions by 13, 55-42, with 27 offensive boards that led to 37 second chance points. Queens forced 14 turnovers on the game, which resulted in 27 points on the offensive end. Jay'Den Turner led the way with a career-high 20 points, on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, to go along with five rebounds. AJ McKee finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists in the effort as well. Gavin Rains pulled down 11 rebounds, seven of which on the offensive end, and was one of seven royals with at least five rebounds a piece on the game. Jamari Smith and Quan McCluney were the other two royals in double figures with 14 and 12, respectively.

Quick Facts (Game Notes)
Queens University of Charlotte (6-1, 3-1 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 are looking to bounce back off a tough loss at home on Wednesday to a red-hot Tusculum (5-2, 5-0 SAC) team by a final of 81-74. Queens was paced offensively by Kenny Dye who dropped in 22 points, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, and dished out six assists on the night. Jamari Smith and BJ McLaurin were the other two Royals in double figures with 14 and 12, respectively, and combined nine rebounds. Despite out-rebounding the Pioneers by a margin of 44-36, they gave up 19 points off 13 offensive rebounds.
Queens has scored 80 or more points in five of their first six games of the season and is a top 10 team in the nation in this early season in offensive rebounds per game with over 16 a contest. Jamari Smith leads the team in scoring with 15.3 points per game, shooting just over 50-percent from the floor to go along with 56-percent from beyond the arc. Kenny Dye facilitates the offense with over six assists per game to go along with his 13.9 points and 6.0 rebounds.
The Royals continue to display their depth as nine guys are averaging at least 14.3 minutes per game and five with over 20 minutes per game. Those five guys are shooting over 50-percent and account for over 50 points of their 89.4 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.

Mars Hill (4-4, 4-1 SAC)

The Lions have just one loss in conference play so far this season and come into Saturday having won three of their previous four games. Mars Hill has seen their confidence rise in their last six games and have 85 or more points in those three wins. They have won three straight SAC games against UVA-Wise, Catawba and Anderson after their lone conference loss was suffered at the hands of Coker. The Lions are 0-3 against non-conference foes after losing to Converse and Belmont Abbey to start the season in the SAC/CC Challenge, and then falling at future SAC Opponent Emory & Henry on November 29.
Mars Hill has scored an average of 84.0 points per game against conference opponents coming into this weekend. They are shooting 48.5-percent from the floor, 31-percent from three-point range and are averaging over 40 rebounds and 10 assists per game in SAC play. They have turned the ball over a fair amount at 15.6 per game, compared to just 7.6 steals per game of their own. Opponents are shooting better than 47-percent from the floor against the Lions this season and they are allowing an average of 83.9 points per game through the first eight.
Mars Hiill is paced by senior forward, Isayah Johnson, who is dropping in 16.5 points per game to go along with his team-leading 8.5 rebounds per game, all the while shooting 58-percent from the field. Freshman guard, Kadyn Dawkins, has been a standout for the Lions as well putting up 15.9 points per game and is second on the team in made three-pointers with 14 on the young season. Junior guard, Trey Belin, is the biggest deep threat Mars Hill has as he has dropped in a team-high 15 shots from beyond the arc, but is shooting just 28-percent from deep overall.
Head Coach Vic Finora is in his fourth season as the Lions' head coach racking up 27 wins since he took over in 2018-19. They are still in search of their first winning season under Finora's watch with his best season coming back in 2019-20 when the Lions went 12-17. They are coming off a rough season a year ago finishing at the bottom of the conference and were just 2-16 overall.
Mars Hill was picked to finish 12^th in this season's SAC Preseason Poll after finishing the 2020-21 season 2-16 overall and 2-15 in conference play.

Fans can tune in to the game tomorrow afternoon on the Mars Hill Sports Network starting at 4 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.

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