Men's Basketball 2/21/2020 7:09:00 PM

MEN’S BASKETBALL LOOKS TO MAKE IT NINE IN A ROW ON SATURDAY

RADFORD, Va. – The Radford men's basketball team looks to push its winning streak to nine games on Saturday as USC Upstate comes to the Dedmon Center for a 4:30 p.m., tip.

If the Highlanders (18-9, 13-2 Big South) can win on Saturday it will be their first nine-game winning streak in Big South games since the 2008-09 season. Carlik Jones has been Radford's top scorer in 10 of the 15 Big South games this season and is averaging 22.9 points in conference games.

Jones is knocking on the door of averaging 20 points, 5.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds this season. He's got 19.6 points, 5.4 assists and 5.0 rebounds through 27 games this year. A few of the notable players that averaged 20 points, five assists and five rebounds in a year since the 1992-93 season are Ja Morant, Markelle Fultz, Evan Turner and Penny Hardaway.

Travis Fields, Jr., poured in a season-high 22 points on Thursday night in the 79-64 win over UNC Asheville. He made five 3-pointers, just one shy of tying a career-high. Radford used an 18-2 run to claim its final lead of the contest en route to the victory.

Radford has surpassed 50 percent from the floor in six of the eight games during the winning streak. The high field goal percentage has given them the league-leading shooting percentage at 46.6 percent as a team. The Highlanders are now shooting the best in the Big South, while holding opponents to the lowest shooting percentage in the Big South at 41.4 percent.

Donald Hicks has been on fire from beyond the arc in recent games. He's hit 14 3-pointers through the last six games and has multiple 3-pointers in 11 games this season. The Chesapeake, Va., native is nine points shy of becoming the 33rd player in Radford history to record 1,000 career points.

The Spartans (11-17, 6-9 Big South) enter the matchup having lost four of their last five games. Upstate is looking to avoid its second Big South road defeat. Tommy Brunner has led Upstate in scoring in six Big South games (23.7 average in those contests). USC Upstate is averaging 11.3 offensive rebounds in its last six games, compared to allowing 7.3 in that same span.

This will be the third meeting between the two schools. Radford won the first meeting, 63-5,9 on Jan. 16 behind Jones' 23 points along with eight rebounds from Devonnte Holland. The Highlanders are looking for their fourth sweep of the season.

Saturday's game can be seen on ESPN3. The game can also be heard live online through Stretch Internet or radio outlets, WRAD 101.7 FM and WVRU 89.9 FM.

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To follow the Radford men's basketball team, visit RadfordAthletics.com, follow @RadfordMBB on Twitter, 'radfordmbb' Instagram or Radford Men's Basketball on Facebook.

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