Thursday's matchup between the Drury Panthers and Rockhurst Hawks in GLVC play in Kansas City, at a glance ...

*THE MATCHUP: Drury (10-5, 5-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference) will visit Rockhurst (9-6, 4-3 in the GLVC) for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff at Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse in Kansas City.

*RADIO/TV/INTERNET: The games can be heard on JOCK 98.7 FM, and online at www.radiospringfield.com. A free, live webcast is available at www.rockhursthawks.com/watch as part of the GLVC Sports Network (GLVCSN). 

*ABOUT THE PANTHERS: Drury has won five of its last six games after protecting home court last weekend with victories over No. 20 Indianapolis (77-65) and Saint Joseph's (79-70), but now heads back on the road with an expected stiff, opening challenge from a much-improved Rockhurst. The Panthers' surge, since a 5-4 start to the season has undoubtedly been the increase in production from the inside duo of junior forward Joshua Palmer and sophomore forward Drew Moore. Palmer has scored in double-figures in his last seven games after doing so just once in his first eight, averaging 14.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in his current hot stretch. Moore has averaged 10.6 points and 8.3 rebounds over that same seven game stretch with four points-rebounds double-doubles, the first four of his career. Senior preseason All-America guard Kameron Bundy leads the Panthers with his 18.1 points per game, but has averaged just 12.3 points per game over his last three. Sophomore guard Tevin Foster (14.2 points per game) has also picked it up in the scoring category, riding a streak of seven consecutive double-figure scoring efforts, including a team-high 18 points in the win over Saint Joseph's.

*SCOUTING ROCKHURST: First-year coach Drew Diener has the Hawks playing some solid basketball, as their 86-78 win at William Jewell on Monday marked a third straight victory for a Rockhurst team whose two losses prior to that - to perennial GLVC and national powers Southern Indiana and Bellarmine - both were by less than double-digits (79-71 to USI, 72-65 to Bellarmine). Dominique Washington, a 6-6, 270-pound senior, is averaging 19.3 points and 6.0 rebounds and is the reigning GLVC Player of the Week after going for 19, 25 and 22 points in the Hawks' wins over Illinois Springfield, McKendree and William Jewell. Malachi Nix, a 5-8 junior transfer from D-I Fairleigh Dickinson, adds 13.6 points and Austin LeVan, a 6-3 freshman, adds 13.5 points for the Hawks.

*THE SERIES: Drury leads the all-time series with Rockhurst 66-44, including nine straight victories by the Panthers since an 83-80 loss in Kansas City in January, 2011. That also includes a narrow DU escape in KC (77-73 in overtime) in 2014 before the Panthers won 74-50 at Mason-Halpin last season. 

*BUNDY CLIMBING THE CHARTS: With 272 points this season, Bundy now has scored 1,491 points in his Drury career, good for 17th on the Panthers' all-time scoring charts after he surpassed Jim McKnight (1,473 from 1953-56) last week. The senior from Nixa needs 16 points to move past former teammate Cameron Adams (1,506) for 16th place on the list. Bundy has scored in double-figures in 14 of 15 games this season and 19 of his last 20 dating back to last year after being held to nine at Parkside on January 9th. Bundy has reached double-digits in 64 of his 73 games since moving into the starting lineup for the Panthers at the beginning of his sophomore season, including 30 games of scoring 20 or more points. Interestingly, he has yet to have a 30-point game (career high of 28 points against Parkside in the GLVC tourney last season); although, Bundy did score 40 in an exhibition win over Missouri Baptist to begin this season.

*HESSER REACHES 250: Drury head coach Steve Hesser, now in his 12th season at the helm of the Panthers and the winningest coach in the program's history, secured career collegiate coaching victory No. 250 with the Tarleton State triumph in Las Vegas on December 19th, and now owns a 254-93 mark (.733 win percentage) in his DU and collegiate coaching career. That includes a 90-22 record dating back to the start of the 2012-13 season, when the Panthers went on to finish 31-4 and claim their first NCAA-II national championship. His DU squads have also captured two of the past three GLVC Championships and made three consecutive NCAA-II tourney appearances in that stretch. Hesser's Panthers are 4-1 this season in games decided by five points or less, continuing his outstanding trend in that regard: In 12 seasons, Hesser's Panthers are 64-27 (.701 win percentage) in that scenario, including 27-8 (.774) since the start of the 2012-13 campaign.

*ON DECK FOR THE PANTHERS: Drury will continue its two-game weekend road swing at William Jewell in Liberty on Saturday (3 p.m. start) before returning home to The O' for seven of its final nine games of the regular season, including showdowns with West contenders Quincy (Thursday) and Truman State (Saturday) next week and visits from East powers Southern Indiana (Feb. 4) and Bellarmine (Feb. 6) the following weekend. For tickets, call (417) 873-6389 ... kids 12-and-under always are admitted free to regular season games at The O'.