HOUSTON, Texas.—The Alabama State University men's basketball team will begin their annual Texas Road trip against Prairie View A&M University Saturday, Jan. 26 at 5 p.m.
The Panthers were the preseason pick to win the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) championship, but enter the contest with a 7-13 overall record and 2-5 in conference action.
“They have veteran guards and veteran bigs and your record does not always indicate the type of team that you have,” Head Coach
Lewis Jackson said. “They were picked to win the league and they have gone through a tough stretch, but they are a very good ball club.”
The Panthers are third in the conference in scoring (65.3 ppg) and third in the conference in scoring defense (65.8 ppg), and have several close games under their belt. They lost 44-39 at Texas Christian and 78-70 to Alabama-Birmingham and 80-75 to Houston.
They also have a couple of big wins defeating Houston 81-80 at home and also defeating Navy 42-40.
Jourdan DeMuynck leads the team in scoring at 14.3 points per game and in rebounding, grabbing six per game. Carl Baker is next in scoring at 10.5 points per contest while also leading the team with 99 assists.
“Anytime you have great guards like they do and the bigs they have you have a great chance of winning,” Jackson said. “The ball just hasn't fallen their way up to this point but we have to come ready to play.”
ASU is 5-3 in their last eight games and enters the game 6-14 overall and 4-3 in the conference. ASU has had a problem of not closing out several close games as they have lost five games by eight points or less.
Joshua Freelove is coming off an 18-point performance in the win over Alcorn State and leads ASU in scoring at 12.5 points per game.
Phillip Crawford is next at 9.1 points per contest and
Shawntez Patterson is averaging 7.8 points and a team-high 4.9 rebounds per game.
Rebounding may be the key to the game as PVAMU is the top overall rebounding team in the conference while the Hornets have shown steady improvement on the boards and is now ranked fourth in overall rebounding.
“We have to keep them off the offensive glass,” Jackson said. “They are in the top 20 or 25 in the nation in offensive rebounds and we must do a good job of keeping them off the glass and not letting them have second chances.”
ASU is looking to get back into the win column against the Panthers as PVAMU won two close contests last season; 64-57 in Prairie View and 62-59 at ASU.
