Game #28
ART U Urban Knights (11-16, 9-11 PacWest) vs. Point Loma Sea Lions (20-6, 16-4 PacWest)
Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.
San Francisco – Kezar Pavilion 
Live Stats and Live Video
 
Game #29
ART U Urban Knights (11-16, 9-11 PacWest) vs. Notre Dame de Namur Argonauts (3-23, 2-18 PacWest)
Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020 at 3 p.m.
Belmont, Calif. – Walter Gleason Gym
Live Stats | Live Video
 

WIN AND YOU'RE IN
A two-point win over Concordia last week has pushed the Urban Knights into a tie for sixth place in the Pacific West Conference standings. ART U can control its own destiny this week and punch their ticket with victories in the final two games of the 2019-20 campaign, with matchups against Point Loma on senior night and Notre Dame de Namur to finish the season.
 
TIP-OFF
Senior night against Point Loma is first up this week, as the battle with the No. 2 team in the PacWest begins at 7:30 p.m. The final regular-season game will be a road contest at NDNU starting at 3 p.m. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights via the athletics app (Apple App Store, Google Play Store) and on Twitter & Instagram, as well as "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps. 

The contest hosting PLNU will be the Urban Knights' "Senior Night" game which will feature a pre-game ceremony to honor ART U's senior trio and will include a white rally towel for fans in attendance.
 
 
POSTSEASON PUSH
Battling with the Urban Knights for the sixth playoff spot is Hawai'i Hilo, as both teams sit with identical 9-11 records in conference play, with ART U holding the tiebreaker over the Vulcans due to winning the two head-to-head matchups. With two games remaining for each, the Urban Knights would advance should the teams finish the final two matchups with an identical record (both win, both lose, both split). The easiest road for ART U would be a win against Point Loma and a UH Hilo loss against Chaminade to clinch the spot for the Urban Knights. The two teams behind ART U and UH Hilo are Fresno Pacific and Hawai'i Pacific, both with 8-13 PacWest records, but neither can advance should a multi-team tie occur.
 
KNIGHT WATCH
It was a tough battle against the No. 6 team in the nation in Azusa Pacific, with the Cougars getting the double-digit win 98-69 despite the Urban Knights shooting 53.9 percent from the field in the second half and 50 percent from beyond the arc for the game. ART U was able to turn it around in the second of a two-game Southern California trip against the Eagles of Concordia, scoring the last six points at the free throw line to outlast CUI in the final minutes of a 70-68 victory. Two individual records were set in the win, as junior guard Stefan Milivojevic would finish with 23 points en route to setting the program record for scoring in a season with a total of 483 points. Junior forward Josh Hill would also break a record, as he now holds the program mark for rebounds in a single season with 216. Hill recorded double-doubles in both games, his third consecutive and 10th and 11th of the season, and he is now tied for 23rd in the nation in double-doubles. It was a new personal best in rebounds for Hill against the Cougars, pulling down 17 to beat his old mark of 14 that he had accomplished twice to that point, most recently in a 74-65 win over Fresno Pacific on Feb. 6.
 
Moving up one spot among the PacWest leaders is Milivojevic, with his average of 17.9 points per game putting him solely in third for scoring. Milivojevic is knocking down 54.2 percent of his looks, fifth in the PacWest, and remains in the top spot in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage at 47.7 percent. That clip makes Milivojevic tied for third in the nation in 3-point shooting. Other Urban Knights that find themselves on the PacWest leaderboards are Hill, senior guard Victor Ruiz de Carranza, and junior guard Joshua Bagley. Hill has vaulted up to second in the PacWest in rebounding average with 8 per game, up three spots from last week. Ruiz de Carranza is now tied for 10th iin rebounding, moving up one spot with an average of 6.2 per game. Bagley dips one spot and is tied for ninth in assists with an average of 2.8 per game.

RECORD CHASING
Some ART U records have already fallen and some are still in play to be beaten this season for the Urban Knights. Milivojevic, already the leader for 3-point field goals both in his career (139) and in a single season (73), is now the record holder for field goals in a single season with 167, beating the previous record of 162 set last season by Andrija Blatancic. Additionally, Milivojevic is now the program leader for single-season scoring, having tallied 483 points this year, topping Ameer Shamsud-din's previous ART U best of 466 points in 2011-12. A rebounding record also fell, as Hill is now the top rebounder in a single season in ART U history with 216, squashing the 202 set by Blatancic last year.
 
Still chasing the ART U career scoring record is Milivojevic, as he is only nine points behind the record of 876 points amassed by Shamsud-din (2011-13), a record he is expected to break during senior night on Thursday. A career scoring average of 11.1 points per game would make Milivojevic sixth in ART U history, just ahead of Chris Salas's 10.9 per game (2015-17) but behind the 12.8 of Kendall Brown (2016-18). Field goals made for a career is also within reach for Milivojevic, who sits at a total of 294, just three behind William Overton Jr. (297; 2010-12) for second place and eight behind the 302 from ART U program leader Shamsud-din (2011-13).
 
Two other single season records are still in play, beginning with scoring average. The 17.9 points per game that Milivojevic is averaging this season would have him first in ART U history, just ahead of the current record of 17.8 averaged by Blatancic during the 2018-19 season. The other record on the chopping block is 3-point field goal percentage (minimum 25 made), with senior guard Nemanja Kovacevic and Milivojevic in line to be first and second, respectively. This season, Kovacevic has drained 52.7 percent of his attempts from deep, while Milivojevic clocks in at 47.7 percent. The record currently belongs to Keith Davis with 42.9 percent, a clip he shot during the 2010-11 campaign.
 
Finding himself in second place for rebounds in a career is Ruiz de Carranza, as his total of 353 rebounds trails only Hunter Hayden's 612 (2008-12) in ART U history. Ruiz de Carranza is second to none in career rebounding average, as he is tops on the list with an average of 6.4 rebounds per game for his career (minimum 30 games played). He also appears on the single-season rebounding leaders list, as his 172 this season would be fifth-highest. He already appears on that list, having pulled down 181 boards last year, which is now the third-best mark for a single season. 

STELLAR SEA LIONS
Currently the No. 2 team in the PacWest, the Sea Lions have clinched their spot in the PacWest tournament with a conference record of 16-4. With two games up on Chaminade, a win by PLNU over the Urban Knights would clinch the second seed and a first round bye. Point Loma is 3-3 in its last six games, having won their last three times out to stop a three-game slide against Azusa Pacific, Chaminade, and Fresno Pacific. The offense for the Sea Lions is third-highest scoring in the conference, averaging 79.9 points per game, and matches its stifling defense that allows just the second fewest points in the PacWest at 70.4 per game. Kaden Anderson leads the way, as he is the top scorer and rebounder for the Sea Lions with 15.0 points (10th in the PacWest) and 7.2 boards per game (sixth in the PacWest). Just behind Anderson in rebounds is Darnell Robateau, sitting eighth in the conference in rebounds with 6.9 per game. Point Loma won the first matchup of the season 81-62 back on Jan. 13, and leads the all-time series with ART U 11-2.

BATTLING THE ARGOS
The final contest of the regular season will be against the Argonauts, a squad that has already been eliminated from postseason contention. NDNU limps into the matchup on a five-game losing streak, with its last win coming back on Jan. 30 against FPU. Most recently, the Argos lost by one point to UH Hilo, and followed that up with back-to-back double-digit losses to Concordia and Point Loma. The leading scorer for the Argos is Trevor Thompson with 14. 5 points per game, 11th in the PacWest, while just behind him at 14.3 points per game is Ajay Singh, 12th in the conference. Singh is also the leading rebounder with 5.3 per game. ART U holds the slight edge in the all-time series 12-11 thanks to a 74-60 win earlier this season on Dec. 21, 2019. NDNU will take on Dominican prior to meeting the Urban Knights.

LOOKING AHEAD
The PacWest Conference postseason tournament looms ahead should the Urban Knights be able to punch their ticket. As the sixth seed, they would be the first game of the tournament, taking on the No. 3 seed, which is currently Concordia. You can find all of the information for the PacWest Conference postseason tournament here.