Fort Hays State heads to Missouri this week for the final two games against teams from the east side of the MIAA. The Tigers face Lindenwood in St. Charles, Mo., on Thursday night at 7:30 pm inside Hyland Arena. FHSU enters at 8-5 overall, 2-3 in the MIAA, while Lindenwood enters at 8-6 overall, 4-2 in the MIAA.

The Tigers look to bounce back from a stunning two-point loss to Southwest Baptist at home on Monday night, falling on a buzzer-beating layup. Fort Hays State is 2-3 against teams from the east side of the MIAA so far this year, the same record it had through the first five games against the east last year. FHSU defeated Lindenwood by a score of 70-61 last year in Hays.

FHSU and Lindenwood have split the all-time series so far, 1-1. Lindenwood won the first-ever meeting between the teams two years ago in St. Charles, before FHSU took last year's meeting.

Despite the slow start in conference play, the Tigers are just two games back of first place in the loss column in the MIAA standings. Central Oklahoma and Northwest Missouri State, each at 4-1, lead the conference.

Craig Nicholson is nearing yet another milestone in his career at Fort Hays State, now just four assists shy of 500 for his career. He looks to become the third player in FHSU history to reach 500 assists, only accomplished by Raymond Lee (899) and Mark Wilson (556). He just passed 1,100 points for his career in the game against Southwest Baptist, now at 1,110, currently 15th on the all-time scoring list at FHSU. He leads the team at 15.8 points and 6.3 assists per game.

Dom Samac also averages double figures for the Tigers at 10.6 points per game, while Royce Williams is just shy of double figures at 9.9 per game. Achoki Moikobu is the top scorer off the bench at 9.4 points per game and leads the team in three-point field goal percentage (50 percent). Jake Stoppel is the top rebounder on the team at 6.3 per game, while adding 8.3 points per game.