Men's Basketball | 12/26/2022 11:39:00 AM

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Golden Eagles look to avenge a loss last time out before Christmas, competing in their final two games of the 2022 portion of the season against two local opponents. CU will travel to Grace Christian on Tuesday before traveling to Davenport on Saturday for contests with an NCCAA opponent and an NCAA DII opponent. For more information on this week's action check out the links below. 
 
Opponent: Grace Christian
Location: Wyoming, Mich. (Aldrich Athletic Center) 
Date: Tuesday, December 27
Time: 7 p.m. EST 
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Opponent: Davenport
Location: Grand Rapids, Mich. (DU Student Center)
Date: Friday, December 30
Time: 3 p.m. EST
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Live Stats
 
Last Week Recap
The Golden Eagles have been sitting on a frustrating loss for 12 days now as they last played on December 15 at home vs. WHAC foe Lourdes and lost 75-66. The game served as a rescheduled contest from November 19 when the weather postponed the contest. CU lost the game at the free throw line in the last test as the Gray Wolves went 24-29 at the line, while Cornerstone went 1-2 
 
Assists
The Golden Eagles continue to be one of the best teams in the country at moving the ball, ranking second in the NAIA with 20.3 assists per game. Despite the loss last game, CU had an assist on 25 of their 29 field goals, led by a career second best 11 assists from Eli Steffen. Steffen leads the team with 73 on the year for an average of 5.6 a game. Steffen currently has three more assists than the program's leading assist man Christian Rodriguez had through 14 games just a season ago. 
 
Home Dominance
The Golden Eagles lost a home game last time out, which is incredibly rare for the outstanding program in Mol Arena. CU is now 4-2 at home in 2022-23. In the last decade, Cornerstone has only lost more than three games at home once. Since Mol Arena opened in 2000, Cornerstone is an outstanding 277-53 at home with a recent stretch from 2013-14 to 2018-19 where they lost a total of just five games in the Hansen Athletic Center. 

Battle of the Beltline Returns
An exciting matchup is on hand this Friday as the Battle of the Beltline returns with Cornerstone traveling to Davenport. The former WHAC rivals will battle for the first time since February of 2017, when the state's all-time leading scorer and now assistant coach Kyle Steigenga led the team in a victory with 21 points. Part of what makes the rivalry so great, were the historic battles between Dominez Burnett and Kyle Steigenga, who to this day rank first and second all-time in scoring within the state of Michigan at any collegiate level. 
 
Second Round with GCU
Cornerstone and Grace Christian met in the Aldrich Athletic Center just a few weeks ago, where the Golden Eagles earned a 35-point road victory. For the second time in the last four seasons, Cornerstone and Grace Christian will meet twice within the regular season. 
 
About the Opponents
Grace Christian has gone 8-7 so far this season as a member of the NCCAA, but none of the losses come against NCCAA opponents. The Tigers have lost once to a DII, three times to DIII's, and three times to NAIA schools. 
 
Davenport on the other hand has had one of the toughest starts since 2005-06, sitting at 3-8 in NCAA DII. Despite the rough start, the Panthers have begun to find their stride winning two of their last four games, including an eight-point victory over Aquinas. 
 
Men's Basketball Contact: Jesse Campbell
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