SE Louisiana faces UT Rio Grande Valley in conference matchup

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UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros (15-12, 11-7 Southland) at SE Louisiana Lions (8-19, 5-13 Southland)

Hammond, Louisiana; Saturday, 4:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Koree Cotton and UT Rio Grande Valley take on Isaiah Gaines and SE Louisiana in Southland action.

The Lions are 5-5 on their home court. SE Louisiana has a 1-4 record in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Vaqueros are 11-7 against Southland opponents. UT Rio Grande Valley averages 16.7 assists per game to lead the Southland, paced by Jaylen Washington with 4.0.

SE Louisiana scores 64.1 points per game, 5.3 fewer points than the 69.4 UT Rio Grande Valley gives up. UT Rio Grande Valley averages 9.2 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.2 more made shots on average than the 7.0 per game SE Louisiana allows.

The teams play for the second time in conference play this season. UT Rio Grande Valley won the last meeting 68-65 on Jan. 20. Marvin McGhee III scored 19 points to help lead the Vaqueros to the victory.

TOP PERFORMERS: Peter Hemschemeier averages 1.3 made 3-pointers per game for the Lions, scoring 6.7 points while shooting 29.0% from beyond the arc. Gaines is shooting 55.6% and averaging 10.8 points over the last 10 games.

Cotton is averaging 13.4 points for the Vaqueros. Filip Brankovic is averaging 13.4 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Lions: 3-7, averaging 61.4 points, 29.9 rebounds, 10.8 assists, 5.4 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 41.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.9 points per game.

Vaqueros: 9-1, averaging 77.3 points, 30.6 rebounds, 17.1 assists, 5.5 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 48.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.6 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.