Above photo by Olivia Champion/@byoliviarayn
Saturday’s game
3 p.m., Mayborn Campus Center, Belton
Watch: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/umhb/
UMHB (11-1, 6-1 ASC)
UMHB Projected Starting Five
| # | Pos. | Name | Ht. | Class | Pts | Reb |
| 4 | G | Josiah Johnson | 6'1 | Jr. | 25.9 | 6.2 |
| 30 | G | Kyle Wright | 5'10 | Jr. | 6.3 | 2.4 |
| 10 | G | Carson Hammond | 6'2 | Sr. | 7.7 | 3.4 |
| 1 | F | Ty Prince | 6'5 | Sr. | 16.6 | 6.8 |
| 25 | F | Luke Feely | 6'4 | So. | 11.2 | 6.5 |
Head Coach: Clif Carroll (2nd Season)
About the Cru: Clif Carroll’s squad continues to roll, pulling away from a decent Sul Ross State team late in the first half of Thursday’s 94-81 win in Belton. This marks the Cru’s third game in a week, but the depth of the roster has paid dividends, and Carroll has a number of reliable scorers he can turn to. Nathan Stolz emerged on Thursday with a season-high 18 points and will look to play a similar role against HPU, with Ty Prince expected to be unavailable, and Stolz improving from a confidence standpoint, according to Carroll. UMHB plays a brand of team basketball that is hard to defend, tied for the conference lead in assists, at 19.1 per game.
Howard Payne (3-10, 2-6 ASC)
Howard Payne Projected Starting Five
| # | Pos | Name | Ht | Class | Pts | Reb |
| 10 | G | Reese Ridder | 6'5 | So. | 2.5 | 3.0 |
| 20 | G | Myles Brown | 6'3 | So. | 12.7 | 4.3 |
| 4 | G | Jaylan Balou | 6'0 | Sr. | 11.9 | 4.5 |
| 35 | G | Frederick Watts | 6'4 | Gr. | 14.6 | 9.5 |
| 11 | G | Jerren Godfrey | 6'3 | So. | 9.2 | 2.3 |
Head Coach: Nadir Dalleh (1st Season)
About the Yellow Jackets: Set back with leading scorer Michael House unavailable since early December, HPU has made the most of its opportunities, but struggled on defense and in the paint, without much height and four guards typically on the floor. The Yellow Jackets are ninth in scoring defense, allowing 84.6 points per game, and opponents have made 36.7 of their three-point attempts against HPU, the second-highest percentage in the ASC. One benefit of playing with more guards on the floor is the quickness of the defenders on the perimeter, who have posted a conference-best 10.4 steals per game. HPU is the only team in the ASC averaging over 10 steals per contest.
