ABOUT THE MARAUDERS
• Millersville has played the top two and bottom two teams in the PSAC East standings and now enters a stretch of games against three PSAC East teams battling to separate from the pack. With 12 regular season games remaining, the Marauders have already matched their win total from 2016-17 and are one win from last season's total of 10. Millersville's nine wins through 15 games is its best 15-game start since 2012-13.
• Saturday's game is the 212th all-time meeting between the programs. The series dates back to 1903-04, making Kutztown Millersville's oldest and most familiar rival. Aside from a six year span during the World War II era, Millersville and Kutztown have played each season since 1908-09. The Golden Bears have had the upperhand of late, winning seven in a row since 2014. Kutztown has scored at least 81 points in each of the last four, winning each of those four by at least 10 points. Millersville's last win at Kutztown came by a 65-62 score on Feb. 15, 2014.
• Saturday's game features a match-up of two of the PSAC's top shooters over the last two seasons: Millersville's
Marcus Adkison and Kutztown's Anthony Lee. Adkison ranks seventh in the league in scoring (18.5), has made 81.8 percent of his free throws and ranks fifth in 3-point percentage (.431). Lee is the PSAC's top scorer (27.9) and ranks first in free throw percentage (.914) and fourth from three (.433). Last season, Adkison posted games of 27 and 29 points against Kutztown and he has not missed a free throw in his last three games against Kutztown, making all 20 attempts. Lee posted games of 20 and 24 points against the Marauders last year, doing almost all his damaage at the line, making 20-of-21.
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Jaden Faulkner has set a career high for points scored in back-to-back games (23 vs. Mansfield and 24 at Bloomsburg) and has scored 18 or more in five of the last six games. Over the last seven games, Faulkner has led the team in scoring four times, led in assists six times and in steals five times. Since Dec. 18, he is averaging a team-high 18.0 points (on 58.1 percent shooting), 5.2 assists and 3.4 steals per game.
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Caden Najdawi recorded a career-high 12 rebounds at Bloomsburg and posted his second-consecutive double-double and fifth of the season. Four of those double-doubles have come in the last seven games.
• Millersville's defense, which ranks fifth in the PSAC in scoring, is among the most active in the league, ranking fourth in blocked shots (3.75 per game) and second in steals (10.19 per game). Najdawi is blocking 1.5 per game--good for fourth in the PSAC. Adkison,
Jamal Washington and Faulkner rank seventh, eighth and ninth in steals per game.
SERIES AT A GLANCE
Series vs. KU: 131-80
Series Streak: KU, 8
First Meeting: 1904 (W, 54-14)
Last Meeting: 2018 (L, 81-95)
Last 10 Meetings: 2-8
Casey Stitzel vs. KU: 0-4
Bernie Driscoll vs. Millersville: 22-16
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS
• Anthony Lee leads the PSAC in scoring and does it with deadly 3-point shooting and an ability to get to the free throw line. His 134 3-pointer attempts is second-most in the league, and his 128 free throw attempts are 27 more than Slippery Rock's Micah Till, who is a center. Lee has led KU in scoring in all but one game this season, has scored 30 or more seven times including 37 and 39 in his last two. He also scored a school record 50 in a loss to Pitt-Johnstown, taking 33 shots and making 15-of-16 foul shots. Kutztown owns the No. 2 scoring offense in the league (83.9), and Millersville better be ready to rebound. Kutztown averages 40.0 rebounds per game--out-rebounding teams by 4.7 per game.
THE LAST MEETING (Feb. 14, 2018 - Kutztown 95, Ville 81)
• Millersville played right with Kutztown for the first 27 minutes of action, but that's when the Marauders' offense went cold. Over the final 13 minutes, the Marauders shot just 6 of 20, resulting in a 95-81 loss. After shooting 56.7 percent from the field and making 6 of 8 threes in the first half, Millersville shot just 12 of 30 and made only 4 of 12 threes in the second. And while the Marauders' offense struggled, the Kutztown offense clicked. The Golden Bears made 64.0 percent of their second-half shots. Moe Williams (9.2) and Josh Townsend (7.2) are among the PSAC's best rebounders.
