THE HOME FOR LU SPORTS TALK

Lamar faces a tough task tonight and if they win then again tomorrow afternoon. The Cards face Nicholls for the third time this season having won the first two. Defeating a team that is very similar a third time is very difficult. For the Cards a win would put them in the championship game and also be the twentieth win for the year. Tipoff is 8:30 PM

Lamar women return to SLC action Thursday at 7PM versus UIW. Cards won their opening conference game in December before closing out the non-conference schedule and taking a long Christmas break.

Alvin Brooks Receives Ben Jobe Award Mid-Season Honors - Lamar University Athletics While I see progress, I don't see Brooks being anywhere close to this level.

Final game of the regular season for both teams and the winner gets the two seed in the conference tournament. Lamar is coming in off of a loss to McNeese and two straight losses. Nicholls is on a four-game win streak.

After a great pre-conference run Lamar travels to UTRGV to open conference action. Friday night starts good but ends in disaster. Cards got three runs in the top of the first but then gave up six in the bottom of the inning, six more runs in the bottom of the fifth and one in the sixth to get run limited 13-3.

Cards play tough in the first half finishing with a four-point lead 35-31. Lamar has hit five three-pointers compared to one for McNeese. Hamilton, Holifield and Dawsey all have two fouls while Shumate and Richards have two fouls for McNeese.

UIW off to a hot shooting start leading 28-11 with nine minutes left in the first half. UIW shooting 67% from the field including four of seven from the three-point line. Lamar also has four early turnovers. Lamar needs to clean this up fast or it is going to be a long evening and a missed opportunity.

Lamar makes it 5 straight with convincing win over hcu. With a win Monday over uiw Lamar would have a shot to get #20 against Mcneese next Saturday night !

At the end of the first half the Cards are down by six 35-29. Lamar started out with a quick three-pointer to take the opening lead, but then between turnovers and missed shots NWST went on an eleven-point run to go up eight points before Lamar scored again. Lamar got down by as much as eleven points before finally starting to get stops and scoring themselves to come all the way back and get out to a five point lead. Then the Cards' got sloppy again and went down by eight before closing out the half down by six. Lamar doing good on the offensive boards, but too many turnovers (11) and too many times giving up baskets in the paint.

Cards in a back-and-forth game with SLU trailing by four at the last media timeout of the first half. 36-32. Lamar has a trouble whenever the opponent has taller guards out front.

Cards taking on UTRGV for the second time this year. Cards won big at RGV in December. 7:25 left in the first half and the Cards are up 22-19.

Cards playing in Commerce this afternoon. Slow start for both teams with the game tied at three, four and a half minutes into the game.

Cards taking on the Islanders, trying for the regular season sweep. With 11:18 left in the first half the Cards are up by seven 17-10.

I was surprised at the way the former players were recognized at Saturday’s game. The players walked onto the floor during a time out, waved to the crowd, then left the court. In previous years, this recognition was done during half time with each individual player being introduced on the court with some background information about their career at Lamar. Some of us old timers could name some of the players on hand but I bet most in the crowd had no clue at all. I hope this is improved for upcoming years.

Men return to action at SFA Saturday with a 2 PM start. This is a chance for the Cards to revenge the home loss a couple of weeks ago. Since that game SFA has lost four more games and gotten one win against the worst team so far in the conference. SFA is still a dangerous team for the Cards as they haven't lost any players that I know of and they now have another reason to play hard in support of their former coach.

Passed away Tuesday in San Marcos. Prayers for family.

Lamar takes on NWST this evening at 7 PM. LU and NWST are currently tied with SLU and HCU for third in the conference at 6-3 so the winner will remain tied with either SLU or HCU as they are playing each other tonight and the loser will drop into a multiple tie for fifth. Additionally, the winner will either move into a tie for second as McNeese and Corpus play each other or will move to just one game back of first place. Hopefully the Cards come out strong early and play to the top of their ability.

Women and men take on East Texas A&M this afternoon and evening. Ladies look to keep their clean conference record going and men look to improve their record. Ladies tipoff at 3 PM.

I just saw in the news that SFA fired their MBB coach today after a 1-7 start in conference play. They are starting a national search for his replacement.

Early game start today, 1PM start time. Will Nicholls put on the pressure defense and can the Cards handle it? Looking back at the last three games, each opponent played really aggressive defense when they moved into the lead and Lamar committed turnovers. Lamar hasn't proved to have the players that can handle the pressure and especially handle the pressure and still score. No new news here.

Men fall at McNeese 75-64. Bottom line, Lamar doesn't take care of the ball. Three straight losses and one common thread, too many turnovers. Makes it frustrating to watch.

That had to be the worst half of basketball I’ve ever seen in my life. When will we finally send Brooks packing?? This is embarrassing!!

Need to win all of these if we are going to be a real contender. HCU tonight @ 6pm.

I looked up Terry Anderson who had transferred to High Point after a good junior year at Lamar. I hated to see him go, but he’s now on a team with minimal stats/minutes as a senior (he could be hurt). I think it says two things: 1) I’m confident in Coach Brooks’ ability to bring in talent who will fill in the holes left by the transfers and graduated. No offense to Anderson, but Holifield might be better. At worst, he’s a seamless transition. 2) If Anderson isn’t hurt, he’s riding the bench on a team that is 13-4 in a competitive Big South. If that’s the case, I think Lamar still has some unrealized potential when guys from last year who averaged 13.1 ppg are ex…