Kearney, Neb. – A month-long, seven-game home stand comes to an end this Thursday for the Nebraska-Kearney men's basketball team when rival Fort Hays State comes to town.

This is the Lopers only game of the week.

UNK (11-4, 4-2) and Hays (9-5, 3-3) will be meeting for the 126th time when they tip off Thursday at around 7:30 p.m. Check the Loper schedule page for media links.

The home team has had the upper hand in this series of late. Kearney has won three straight over the Tigers in the Health & Sports Center while FHSU has won six in a row over the Lopers in Gross Memorial Coliseum.

Last March, the two met in a national tournament for the first time. In an NCAA first round game held in Sioux Falls, S.D., UNK led for 33 minutes en route to a 79-67 win. Senior forward Connor Beranek had 37 points and 14 boards to pace the Lopers.

While Beranek is now a professional player in Spain, junior Trey Lansman (Harlan, Ia.) is still around to haunt the Tigers. Averaging a healthy 18.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.8 blocks per game, Lansman has had efforts of 30 and 35 points, respectively, against Hays.

The 1,000-career point scorer has also been hot of late, scoring at least 22 points in each of the last three games. Lansman is now leading UNK in free throws made (76) and attempted (96) while shooting 44 percent from the floor.

Also a "stat suffer" is junior guard Yashua Trent (Chicago, Ill.). Despite being a guard, he continues to be one of the MIAA's most efficient shooters, currently connecting 62.7 percent of the time. That includes a 7 of 13 effort from behind the arc.

Trent (14.3 ppg) also is among the league leaders in assists (67), steals (26), free throws made (60) and attempted (89).

Hays has its own MIAA leader in 5-11 senior guard Rob Davis. Like UNK, the Tigers suffered some key graduation losses and Davis has really picked up the slack. Despite a season-low eight points in last Saturday's 56-54 loss to Southwest Baptist, he ranks first in the MIAA and is 12th nationally in scoring at 23.1 points per game.

Already going over 30 points five times this winter, Davis is shooting 89% at the line and 57% from the field (54% threes). He has made a team-best 39 threes and also ranks first in free throws made (58) and attempted (65).

Six-five, 225 pound junior Hadley Gillum (12.9) is the only other Tiger in double figures. He shoots 74% at the line and ranks second on Hays in rebounds (6.4 per game).
 
As a team, FHSU is second in the MIAA in 3-point percentage (42.1) and third in field goal percentage defense (42.0). Finally, the Tigers are 5-4 in games decided by 10 points or less; UNK is 5-3 in such contests.
 
Of UNK's final 12 games, eight will be on the road. The first road trip is next week to No. 1 Northwest Missouri State and Missouri Western State. Those are the only games against those squads this season.