ITTA BENA, Miss.—Alabama State men's basketball team will make its second stop on the current three game road swing when they play at Mississippi Valley State University Tuesday, Jan. 8 beginning at 7:30 p.m. The live action can be heard on WVAS Radio at
www.bamastatesports.com.
The Hornets (4-12/2-1 SWAC) are coming off of their first conference loss of the season, a 73-58 decision at Arkansas-Pine Bluff. It was ASU's fourth game in nine days and the team did not show the fast pace on either end of the court that the coaching staff is expecting from this team.
“We had low energy and did not move as quickly as we should have,” Head Coach
Lewis Jackson said. “We are going to try to minimize the time that the guys are playing on the court and keep guys moving in and out and try to keep them fresh so we can go out and compete at a high level.”
“Of course Pine Bluff was at a high energy level the entire game and we missed a lot of easy shots around the basket that we could have scored on. We also turned the ball over at bad times. So we have to improve on those things. We are still on the road and playing in a hostile environment and those are the two main things we have to improve on for tomorrow's game.”
MVSU lost not only their head coach from last season, but lost a lot of their starters from the 2011-12 SWAC Championship team. They are coming off of their first conference win, a 78-69 win over Alabama A&M. It was also MVSU's first win of the season as they enter the contest with a 1-11 overall record and stand 1-1 in conference action.
“They are playing the same style as last season, Coach Chico Potts was the head assistant last year and they are doing a lot of the same things they did last year,” Jackson said. “They look to score a lot so we have to get into our transition defense and we have to keep them out of the lane. They want to penetrate and kick, so we have to be on their guards and keep them out of the lane.”
Davon Usher leads the Delta Devils in scoring averaging 16.3 points per game. He is the lone MVSU player averaging in double digits. Matt Smith leads the team in rebounding averaging 6.6 per game.
Joshua Freelove only scored nine points in last night's game at Pine Bluff, but continues to lead ASU in scoring at over 12 points per game.
Stephawn Brown has become one of the most consistent players on the team and had 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds last night.
The game will be ASU's fifth game in 11 days as ASU came back from the holidays only to play six games in 15 days.
