CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The No. 6/9 Queens University of Charlotte men's basketball team (23-3, 19-3 SAC) will go for their 11^th straight victory on Wednesday night when they travel to Lenoir-Rhyne University (10-15, 9-13 SAC) for a South Atlantic Conference midweek matinee beginning at 7:30 p.m. The Royals enter Wednesday night tied with Lincoln Memorial for the top of the South Atlantic Conference standings with just one game remaining after Wednesday night. Following the action, the Royals will close out the regular season by welcoming Wingate University on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 4:00 p.m.

Wednesday­ night marks the 30^th all-time meeting between Queens and Lenoir-Rhyne, with the Royals owning a 20-9 all-time advantage. The conference opponents matched up in the first game of the new year and the Royals won 71-56 behind a 17 point and 11 rebound double-double from Jamari Smith. Queens stingy defense was on full display outrebounding the Bears 43-27 and forcing LR into a 36-percent shooting night. The Royals have struggled recently inside Shuford Gym dropping their last two meetings by a combined seven points. Queens is averaging 77.3 points per game against the Bears which is slightly under their season average of 87.0 points per game.


Quick Facts (Game Notes)
Queens University of Charlotte (23-3, 19-3 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.
• Queens is in the midst of their longest winning streak of the season, ten-straight games, with a chance to win out in the regular season.  Over this ten-game stretch, the Royals are averaging 88.3 points per game on the strength of 49-percent from the floor and 39-percent from beyond the arc.  
• The Royals are coming off their tenth-straight victory against Limestone, 73-66. Queens has won at least eight straight games in their last eight seasons and they are currently riding their fifth longest winning streak at 10 games. In the win versus Limestone, Queens opened the second half on a 20-2 run to make up for the deficit heading into the break. Jamari Smith led all scorers with 21 points while pulling down 11 rebounds. Jay'Den Turner was a bucket shy of a double-double posting eight points and 13 rebounds. Despite turning the ball over 17 times, Queens was able to limit the Saints points off turnovers to just 17.
• Queens is a perfect 20-0 this season when leading at the half and 18-0 when dropping at least 80 points. When the Royals shoot better than 45-percent, they are 16-0 this year.
• Jamari Smith has led the Royals all season long, and is fourth in the conference, with 17.1 points per game and is top 10 with his 6.9 rebounds per game. Smith has collected eight double-doubles this season increasing his career total to 13. He is the only player in the conference given the honor of AstroTurf Player of the Week more than twice this season and is the first player since 2018 to be chosen three or more times.
• Queens has been efficient distributing the ball this season as seven Royals are averaging at least 7.0 points per game.  Veteran guard Kenny Dye facilitates the offense and sits second in the conference with 5.4 assists per game. He is also the conference's best three-point shooter, cashing in 51-percent of the time from deep with 43 total made three pointers on the season, helping him tally 13.9 points per game.
• Crashing the glass continues to be a priority for Bart Lundy's team as they are top 10 in the country in rebounding margin, outrebounding opponents by 8.0 per game, and total offensive rebounds with 358 on the season.  They are top ten with 13.77 offensive rebounds per game.  The Royals have had 40 or more rebounds in all but two games in this current ten-game win streak, and have done it 17 times this season. They have ripped down double-digit offensive rebounds in all but four games this season. Gavin Rains has been physical on the block pulling down 7.5 rebounds per contest, including a league-best 3.3 offensive boards.
• The Royals are No. 12 in the nation in scoring offense averaging 87.0 points per game.
• Queens has displayed their depth as nine Royals are averaging at least 13.0 minutes per game.  There are 11 total players on the roster who consistently get more than 8.0 minutes per game on the floor.
• Junior guard Kenny Dye notched his 1,000th career point in the 80-72 victory over Wingate on Dec. 15. Dye became the 19th player in program history to hit the 1K mark.
• Sophomore forward Jamari Smith scored his 1,000th career point in the 99-67 victory over UVA Wise on Jan. 31. Smith became the 20th player in program history to hit the 1K mark and second this season after Kenny Dye
• Jamari Smith and Kenny Dye were both named to the 2022 Bevo Francis Top 50 Watch List, as announced by Small College Basketball on Tuesday, Feb. 15. The award is presented to one player who had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball.

Lenoir-Rhyne (10-15, 9-13 South Atlantic Conference)

• Lenoir-Rhyne enters Wednesday night as winners of their last two games, and winners in six of their last seven games. The Bears managed to sweep last week defeating UVA Wise 85-70 and Mars Hill 92-71. In their last six victories, Lenoir-Rhyne has found their offensive rhythm averaging 84.2 points per game. The Bears have won their last three conference games inside Shuford Gym.
• This season, the Bears are averaging 73.0 points per game on 44.7-percent shooting from the field and 33.8-percent from behind the arc. Lenoir-Rhyne has struggled throughout the season on the glass losing the rebound margin by 6.2 per game as the Bears are only pulling down 30.9 rebounds per game which is second worst in the conference. Lenoir-Rhyne is giving up 74.4 points per game and allowing opponents to shoot 48-percent from the field and 37-percent from deep.
• The Bears have four players averaging double figures, including TJ Nesmith, Jalen Johnson, Kevin Kangu, and Nas Tyson. Nesmith leads the offense with 14.0 points per game on 62-percent shooting across 20 minutes on average. The junior is coming off a week in which he earned SAC Player of the Week honors for averaging 28 points with 6.5 rebounds and two assists. Nesmith posted a double-double of 29 points and 10 rebounds against UVA Wise and added 27 points and three rebounds against Mars Hill. Jalen Johnson is a player to watch as the guard is averaging 13.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game. Johnson notched 34 points on 8-for-14 shooting from deep against Young Harris on Nov. 13.
• Head Coach Everick Sullivan enters his sixth season with the Bears. Under his direction, Lenoir-Rhyne is 75-80 with an NCAA Tournament Appearance in 2018-19.
• Lenoir-Rhyne was picked to finish 9^th in the conference following a 9-7 overall season last year.

 
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