Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney men's basketball team will look to beat both Washburn and Emporia State again, this time on the road.

The Lopers (14-6, 6-4) are currently tied for third place in the MIAA standings. They swept the Ichabods 93-80, and Hornets, 69-59, back in early December at the Health & Sports Center.

The UNK-WU game is Thursday at 7:30 p.m. with the tilt against E-State Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Note the Emporia game was pushed back two hours from the original tip time; check the UNK schedule page for media links.

Washburn (14-6, 6-5) is tied with Emporia for sixth place in the conference race. They are playing for a bit more this year as head coach Bob Chipman is retiring after 38 seasons at the helm. He has won over 800 games as head 'Bod.

In Chipman's final go-around, WU is currently 6-2 in Topeka. They have gone 6-4, including a 76-72 loss to Peru State, since falling to the Lopers.
 
Fourth in the MIAA in scoring at 80.2 points per game, a balanced attack is led by double double machine Brady Skeens (13. 4 points & 10.6 rebounds per game).
 
The 6-7, 210 pound junior is shooting 69% from the field and also has blocked an MIAA-best 64 shots. He ranks third in Division II in field goal percentage and is fourth in blocks. Skeens made 11 of 13 shots to score a team-best 23 in the loss at the Health & Sports Center.
 
Also of note, 6-3 junior guard Cameron Wiggins (12.4 ppg) is shooting 46% from the 3-point line (50 of 109).
 
Playing a much more deliberate pace, Emporia is 7-1 at home heading into Wednesday night's game against Fort Hays State. The Hornet only loss in White Auditorium was a 69-58 setback to Lincoln in December.
 
Sophomore guard Brandon Hall (13.4) is the only ESU player in double digits. He is shooting 59% from the line and 38% from the field and also leads the team in assists (3.8).
 
Seven other Hornets are between 6.2-9.5 points per game. That large group includes 6-5, 250 pound junior Garin Vandiver (8.8 points & 5.1 rebounds per game). He is the son of E-State head coach Shaun Vandiver.
 
UNK had a 41-33 rebounding margin to beat E-State back in December. Hall was held to a 3 of 13 shooting effort; he had 19 points and seven assists in a win over the Lopers in December 2015.
 
The current MIAA Player of the Week, Loper junior Trey Lansman (Harlan, Ia.) continues to vault up the all-time scoring list. Thanks to the league's sixth highest scoring average (18.9), he is now 25th on that prestigious list with 1,210 points.
 
He is about to pass Brian Kissinger ('93/1,222), Max Froehlich (1,284/'12) and Sam Somerhalder ('91/1,292). Lansman ranks in the MIAA top 12 in several other categories, including second in both blocks (1.8) and rebounds (8.2).
 
Thanks to the five technical fouls assessed to Lincoln last Saturday afternoon, York junior guard Ty Danielson has made the second most free throws (109) in the conference. Lansman (100) is in third with Chicago junior guard Yashua Trent sixth (64).
 
The Lopers have now made for freebies (402) than their opponents have attempted (389) to score a quarter of its 80.1 points from the line.
 
Defensively, Kearney continues to be tough on the perimeter as the opposition averages only 6.4 made threes per game, fourth best in the MIAA. Lincoln (13 of 22), NW Missouri State (14 of 26) and Hastings (12 of 23) have been the only teams to light it up from downtown so far this winter.
 
UNK returns home next weekend to face Northeastern State and Central Oklahoma. These are the final regular season home games of the 2016-17 season.