MONTOGMERY—The Alabama State University Hornets will be out to break a three-game losing streak when they play host to Texas Southern University on Monday, Jan. 30 in the Dunn-Oliver Acadome.  The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU and is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.
 
Not a lot has gone right during the three game losing streak, including losing late leads at Alcorn State and against Prairie View A&M.  In fact, of the Hornets 13 losses this season, five of those games have been by seven points or less.
 
“We are certainly putting ourselves in position to win the games,” Jackson stated.  “We just have to play smarter down the stretch which we are not doing right now.  We have done everything in practice and we just have to go out and execute and we are not doing that now.”
 
The game against Texas Southern will not be an easy one as the Tigers come into Montgomery sporting a 6-2 conference record and has the Southwestern Athletic Conference's top scoring defense only allowing the opposition 64.4 points per game and also leads the conference in steals with 182, averaging a whopping 9.1 per game.
 
Meanwhile, the Hornets continue to struggle on offense, averaging 59 points per game and shooting 38 percent from the field.
 
With only one day to fix their problems and get ready for Texas Southern, head coach Lewis Jackson knows the Hornets have their work cut out for them.
 
“It doesn't get any easier with Texas Southern coming in here and you only have one day to prepare,” Jackson said.  “There is not a whole lot you can do but get in and look at some film and work on what we see.  They are going to play a big zone and we have to do things to get inside the zone.”
 
The Hornets have been fairly balanced in their scoring, playing without leading scorer Kenderek Washington.  Tramaine Butler is averaging 12.4 points per game followed by Ivory White's 9.7 points and Philip Crawford's 9.6 points per game.  White and Crawford are the leading rebounders at 5.8 and 5.9.
 
Like ASU, Texas Southern comes in with a balanced scoring attack with Omar Strong leading the team in scoring at 11 points per game.  Fred Sturdivant is averaging 8.7 and Lawrence Johnson-Danner is at 8.2 points per game.