After two road games followed by the Thanksgiving holiday, the Northern Arizona University men's basketball team returns home this week to host Abilene Christian and Ottawa (AZ).
The Lumberjacks play the Wildcats on Sunday, Nov. 27 at 1 p.m. Mountain Standard time before taking on the Spirit on Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 6 p.m. MST. Both games will be in the Rolle Activity Center and broadcast on ESPN+.
Northern Arizona is 2-5 after falling to No. 4 Texas and UTRGV last week at the Leon Black Classic in Edinburg, Texas. The Lumberjacks are undefeated at home so far this season with wins over Benedictine Mesa and UC Santa Barbara.
Against Texas, NAU held the Longhorns to just 23 points in the second half and were led by
Xavier Fuller with a season-high 15 points, six rebounds and two steals. Fuller added 11 points against UTRGV, a game in which the Lumberjacks led 41-35 at the half. The game had 17 lead changes and eight ties and was decided by a 10-0 run by the Vaqueros with under three minutes to go.
Nik Mains scored 22 points in the win, moving up to ninth all-time on NAU's career three-pointer list.
NAU has two players that average in double figures in
Jalen Cone (11.7) and
Liam Lloyd (10.1).
Carson Towt leads the Lumberjacks in rebounds (9.0), assists (3.1), blocks (0.6) and steals (1.3) per game. As a team, Northern Arizona is averaging 69.6 points per game and shooting 40.6 from the field. The Lumberjacks are shooting 31.6 percent behind the arc and averaging 8.4 triples per game. They also pull down an average of 37.0 rebounds per game.
Sunday will be the first-ever meeting between NAU and Abilene Christian, who is a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and currently sit at 2-4 overall. The Wildcats have lost three-straight, all coming in the Vegas 4 tournament to Wright State, Weber State and UC Riverside. Cameron Steele is the lone Wildcat to average double figures with 11.3 points per game, a 48.9 percent shooter from the field with 12 triples so far this season. Tobias Cameron is the team leader in rebounds (5.2) and Ja'Sean Jackson paces the offense with 3.2 assists per game. Immanuel Allen leads the team with 1.0 blocks per contest and Damien Daniels adds 1.2 steals.
Ottawa is an NAIA member out of the Golden State Athletic Conference and currently sits at 5-2 overall. The Spirit also have a win over Benedictine Mesa, 78-70. This is the first-ever meeting between NAU and Ottawa, head coach
Shane Burcar's alma mater. Five players for the Spirit average double figures, led by Josiah De'laCerda with 17.3 points per game. He is shooting 61.4 percent from the field. Devin Collins pulls down 10.4 rebounds per game. The Spirit are averaging 86.1 points per game and are shooting 48.5 percent as a team. Just like NAU, Ottawa likes to shoot from three-point range, averaging 7.6 triples per game. It also averages 40.7 rebounds per contest.
The 'Jacks head to California next week for a pair of games against West Coast Conference opponents. First, Northern Arizona plays at Pepperdine on Dec. 3 before taking on Pacific on Dec. 6. Northern Arizona will be at home one final time during non-conference play against Utah Valley on Dec. 10.
To stay up to date with NAU men's basketball, follow the Lumberjacks on Twitter and Instagram.
