Four teams that are likely to make the Centennial Conference playoffs will be at Memorial Hall for a huge basketball doubleheader that highlights the first weekend of February.
Women’s Basketball vs. McDaniel (Saturday, 2:00)
It will be just like old times for these two teams. From 2004, when the Centennial Conference went to one division, to 2010, a McDaniel-Muhlenberg matchup in February usually had great playoff implications. Both teams qualified for the CC playoffs in six of those seven years, and they met in the playoffs four times.
The Green Terror (14-4, 9-3) finished under .500 in the CC in each of the last three years, but now it is back in a big way, tied in the loss column for second place. The Mules (11-7, 8-4) are just a game back, and as the playoff teams start to separate themselves out, games like this one are huge.
McDaniel comes in with a six-game winning streak that includes back-to-back 70-41 blowouts of Johns Hopkins and Washington. Muhlenberg has won six of seven since suffering a 52-45 loss at McDaniel in early January.
It could be another low-scoring game. McDaniel is second in the CC in scoring defense (51.7 points per game) and leads the league in steals per game, turnover margin and three-point field-goal defense. Muhlenberg, meanwhile, has allowed opponents to shoot just 30.8 percent from the field (24.5 percent from three-point range) and average only51.1 points over its last eight games.
Following the game, one player on each team will receive the Aril Bryant Award in memory of a Mule player who lost her life to breast cancer last summer. Please visit the Muhlenberg team page to contribute to the Kay Yow Foundation, which supports those fighting breast cancer.
Men’s Basketball vs. McDaniel (Saturday, 4:00)
Four days after defeating first-place Dickinson, Muhlenberg returns home to face another first-place team in McDaniel. The Mules’ first home game in two weeks matches the hottest team in the Centennial Conference against the hottest scorer in the CC and the league’s top defense against its second-best offense.
The Green Terror (14-4, 9-2) is tied for first place in the CC and has won seven straight games. It entered the week ranked ninth in Division III in scoring defense, allowing only 60.2 points per game. The Mules (12-6, 7-4) are tied for fourth place with Johns Hopkins.
Defense won out when the two teams met in Maryland in early January. The Mules scored 30 points in the first 13:34 in opening up a 15-point lead but managed only 20 points the rest of the way as the Green Terror came back for a 57-50 win. Muhlenberg has won 14 of the last 16 series meetings in Memorial Hall.
Junior guard Malique Killing scored 38, 33 and 35 points in the Mules’ three road games, becoming only the second player in CC history to record three straight 30-point games. The seventh-leading scorer in Division III at the start of the week, he needs just 26 more points to set the CC record for points scored in the freshman, sophomore and junior years.
Indoor Track & Field at Lehigh’s John Covert Classic (Saturday, 10:00)
The indoor season is moving allowing rapidly for the Mule teams: this is only their third meet of the season, yet they’re just one month away from the CC Championships. They will get to compete against Division I athletes for the first time this season at Lehigh.
Wrestling at Gettysburg with New York University (Saturday, 1:00)
The shorthanded Mules wrestling team travels to Gettysburg to compete in its second straight CC trimatch.