Lakeland/Illinois Tech MBB Game Notes   PDF

The Lakeland University men's basketball team (4-4 overall, 2-1 NACC) will look for its fourth straight win when it hosts Illinois Institute of Technology (1-6 overall, 1-3 NACC) Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

Broadcast Information: Live audio/video/statistics are all available to follow along with at http://www.lakelandmuskies.com/muskieslive. Andy Damp is again calling the playby-play for all home basketball games this year.

Series history: 8th meeting, Lakeland leads 4-3
The history between the Muskies and Scarlet Hawks has had seven previous meetings, including four in the past five years. Illinois Tech is on a winning streak in the series, winning the last three matchups. The Scarlet Hawks swept two meetings last year in their first year in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, including a 74-55 win in Chicago just under a year ago on Dec. 15, 2018, and most recently an 82-71 victory at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium Jan. 5, 2019. Lakeland's last win over IIT was a 92-45 blowout on Dec. 30, 2014, in the consolation game of the Defiance College Purple & Gold Tournament in Defiance, Ohio. The series dates back to 1973, when Lakeland won the first meeting 93-67 at the Armory in downtown Sheboygan.

Lakeland last time out: Won at Holy Family (Wis.) 84-78 on Tuesday
The Muskies traveled to Manitowoc Tuesday to face a frequent non-conference opponent with a new name, taking on the school formerly known as Silver Lake. The game was close throughout, as neither team led by more than seven points. Holy Family led for much of the first half and into the second half, but Lakeland took the lead for good on a Greg Barber basket with 10 minutes remaining and would never trail again. Trenton Nickel scored a career-high 19 points for his third straight game scoring in double figures. Sam Kaminski also recorded his first career double-double with career bests of 12 points and 15 rebounds.

Illinois Tech last time out: Lost at Dominican 65-59 on Wednesday
The Scarlet Hawks took a disappointing loss on the road in a game they led much of the way. IIT built a 12-point lead on two occasions in the first half and was up three with less than four minutes remaining in the game, but Dominican finished the game on a 14-5 run for its first NACC win of the season. The Stars made 16 of 19 free throws in the game, including nine straight down the stretch. Max Hisatake narrowly missed a double-double for Illinois Tech, scoring 20 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Miles Curry also added 14 points for Tech.

About the Scarlet Hawks: Illinois Tech comes in with a 1-6 mark including a 1-3 conference record with three losses by a total of 12 points. The Scarlet Hawks also have a win by 30 over defending NACC regular season champion and this year's preseason favorite MSOE, and three of its losses have come to teams currently ranked in the D3hoops.com NCAA Division III Top 25. Illinois Tech finished 16-12 last year and qualified for the NACC Tournament in its first year in the conference. IIT made some noise there, too, upsetting top-seeded MSOE in the semifinals before falling to Aurora in the championship game.

Nickel heats up: The Muskies have won three straight games, and a big part of their success has been a burst in production from junior guard Trenton Nickel. The Kiel native has set a career high in two of his last three games, including 14 against Con- cordia Chicago Dec. 4 before his career-best at Holy Family Tuesday. Nickel has scored 43 points over his last three games, shooting 61.5% from the field, and it came after he scored two points over his first three appearances of the season.