By: Mark Wasik
Thursday, March 5
9 p.m. (ET) – Kennesaw State (18-11, 10-8 CUSA) at UTEP (9-19, 6-12 CUSA)
Location: El Paso, Texas | Don Haskins Center (11,892)
TV: CBS Sports Network (Alex Del Barrio, Darren Collison)
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KENNESAW, Ga. – Kennesaw State men's basketball closes out the regular season with a pair of games in the Southwest, starting with Thursday night's nationally televised game at UTEP in El Paso. Tip is set for 9:05 pm (ET) on the CBS Sports Network.
A FEW NOTES
♦ This will be the last regular season contest between the two as members of Conference USA, as UTEP is leaving for the Mountain West this summer.
♦ A win over the Miners would move KSU's win streak to five, their longest win streak in conference play since an eight-game win streak in the Atlantic Sun in the 2022-23 season.
♦ Kennesaw State has won four consecutive games by less than 10 points – their longest of such wins since becoming a Division I team in 2005-06.
♦ The current Kennesaw State starting lineup is an oddity in today's college basketball world, as there is not a single senior or transfer player in the starting five, the only team in CUSA with such a lineup. KSU will start a pair of first-year players, two sophomores, and a junior, all recruited to the Black and Gold as freshmen.
♦ Star guard RJ Johnson has made at least five field goal attempts in nine consecutive games vs conference opponents, which is tied for the fourth-longest streak by an Owl in the D1 era.
♦ KSU ranks sixth in the nation in offensive rebounds at 14.1 ppg. Only one CUSA team has finished in the top six in offensive rebounds since 2013-14 (2022-23 UAB - 5th at 13.5 rpg).
♦ One sign of the Owls' improved defensive play has been inside the post, as KSU currently leads CUSA and is 11th in the nation in blocks per game at 5.5. Key to that has been Braedan Lue and Trey Simpson, one of just 18 duos in the nation with at least 37 total blocks each this season.
