CINCINNATI, Ohio—The Alabama State men's basketball team pulled into Cincinnati to prepare for their second game of the season against the University of Cincinnati Bearcats.  The game is scheduled for Sunday with a 6 p.m. tip off.
 
After not playing well in the season-opener against Marshall, head coach Lewis Jackson is hoping the second game of the season brings around a lot of improvement on both the defensive end of the court and in taking care of the ball on offense.
 
“What we want to do is come out and play with a lot more intensity and be a lot more focused on what we are doing defensively as well as offensively,” Jackson said.  “We have had an opportunity to look at the film and we have made the corrections necessary that will allow us to come out and play more of Alabama State basketball.”
 
The Bearcats will present a large challenge for the Hornets as they have seven returners from last season's team that finished 26-9 and made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
 
The game is the season-opener for Cincinnati, but they will have the luxury of opening the season with their two leading scorers back from last season.  Yancy Gates averaged 12 points and seven rebounds per outing and Dion Dixon averaged 11.6 points per game.
 
“Playing in this type of environment does a couple of things for our team,” Jackson said.  “First, it gives our guys a chance to see how the measure up against one of the high major programs in the country and it also gives us an opportunity to continue to improve and hopefully when we get to tournament time in the post season will are able to perform at a level going into venues that we have played in where we played before a hostile environment and will allow us to stay focused on things we must do to win ballgames.”