TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University men's basketball team opens its Northwest Conference home slate this weekend with Oregon rivals Linfield College and George Fox University coming to Olson Gymnasium.
 
These will be the first home conference games of the season for the Lutes (4-7, 0-2 NWC). The Lutes came up short in back to back games on the road against Whitman College and Whitworth University last weekend. Jordan Thomas and Seth Hall led the team in scoring against Whitworth each putting up 13 points with Thomas one rebound shy of a double-double. Against Whitman, Hall had a team high 18 points and Leighton Kingma had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. 
 
Junior Seth Hall has stepped up in the early part of the season for the Lutes. Hall is a first year transfer from Lower Columbia College where he averaged 15.7 points per game. He hails from Vancouver, Washington and intends to major in history with plans of becoming a teacher. The Lutes have added some crucial pieces, including Hall, to compliment the slew of high impact players that the Lutes brought back for the 2019-2020 season.
 
Through the opening 11 games of the year, the Lutes have proven to be one of the toughest defensive teams in the league. The Lutes pace the NWC in defensive rebounds per game (29.6), fewest fouls (167), fewest turnovers (161), rebounding margin (+6.8), and scoring defense (66.1). 
 
The Lutes look to bounce back after competitive games against two of the tougher opponents in the NWC last weekend. Tip off against the Wildcats will be at 8 p.m. on Friday night. The Lutes will begin action against the Bruins at 6 p.m. on Saturday night. 
 
Camper Night: Friday night the Lutes celebrate camper night. Children who attended any Lute sport camp receive free admission to the game. 

Jan. 10: PLU vs. Linfield inside Olson Gymnasium (8 p.m.)

Series History: The Lutes and Wildcats rivalry dates back to the 1939-1940 season with PLU owning a 77-60 edge in the all-time series. Linfield had the upper hand in the rivalry in 2018-19, winning both encounters. 
 
About the Wildcats: Linfield (8-3, 2-0 NWC) opened conference play with a bang last weekend, running past Pacific 93-91 before securing a 107-83 victory over George Fox.
 
Dempsey Roggenbuck is one of four Wildcats averaging in double figures, leading the charge with a 17.2 points per game average. Will Burghardt and Grant Gibb check in at 13.3 ppg with Tanner Autencio netting an even 10.0 ppg.
 
Jan. 11: PLU vs. George Fox inside Olson Gymnasium (6 p.m.)

Series History: The Lutes and Bruins have battled 49 times since the series began in 1985-1986 with scales tilted 28-21 in favor of the Lutes. The two teams split the season series in 2018-2019.
 
About the Bruins: George Fox (6-6, 2-1 NWC) struggled closing out its non-league slate, dropping its final four non-conference games before opening league play by winning two of three.
 
The Bruins opened league action last Friday by rolling Willamette University 87-56 to snap a four-game slide before ending on the wrong side of a 107-83 affair against Linfield. GFU rebounded on Tuesday, piling on the points in a 115-85 romp of Pacific University. 
 
Ryan Lacey paces the GFU scoring efforts, averaging 15.3 points per game while Jackson Januik and Kalu Stricklin contribute 12.7 ppg and 10.9 ppg, respectively.