ASU enters the game 11-7 overall and tied for second place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference with a 5-2 record.  The visitors are 6-14 overall and one game behind the Hornets in conference action at 4-3.
 
The game will feature two of the top four scoring offenses in the conference and the top shooting three-point team in the SWAC.  PVAMU is third in scoring averaging 71.1 points per game and first in the league averaging 7.5 made three point field goals per game.
 
ASU's 71.0 points per game scoring average is fourth in the conference and they will turn to their SWAC leading three point percentage defense against the Panthers three point shooting as the Hornets defense only allows .283 three point shooting percentage.
 
Against Southern there were some breakdowns on the defensive end of the court and that has the coaching staff worried going into the game against Prairie View.  So to prepare for the Panthers the Hornets spent the week of practice working on their defense and playing hard on the defensive side of the court during each possession.
 
"We are trying to focus in on our toughness," Head Coach Lewis Jackson said.  "Defensively I thought we did not do a real good job against Southern in trying to keep their bigs out of the lane and off the glass so we are spending a lot of time boxing out and getting into the lane and trying to make the offense take tough shots."
 
Offensively the Hornets have seen their shooting percentage go down in each of the last three games.  Even though they won two of those three games, the lack of shooting came back to haunt them at Southern when they only shot 31 percent from the field in the 68-55 loss.
 
"The last three games, and you can go all the way back to Pine Bluff where we made some shots down the stretch but we didn't shoot it well so now we are focusing on getting deep into our offensive sets and moving the ball around," Jackson said.  "We have been taking the first pass, jumping up and shooting it and not getting set in our offense.  So we are working on two, three or four passes in our offense and hopefully we can get some shots to go down."
 
The Panthers have four double-digit scorers led by Montrael Scott's 15.6 points per game.  John Brisco averages 11.4, Demondre Chapman 11.0 and Louis Munks 10.2.
 
It is the three point field goal Prairie View lives and dies by.  They are shooting .343 from beyond the three point line making 7.5 threes per game.  In conference action only they are even better shooting .375 and hitting 9.4 per game.
 
They have hit 142 three point field goals on the season with Scott leading the way with 45 and Brisco adding 29.  Munks has hit 23 and Hershey Robinson comes off the bench and has added 19.
 
The Hornets will counter with their big three hoping the shooting improves.  Jamel Waters, like most of his teammates has been off, but continues to score at a 14.1 points per game clip.  DeMarcus Robinson has seen his average drop from over 14 points per game to now 12.2 after his recent shooting slump and Bobby Brown continues to bring a push off the bench and is adding 10.4 points per game.
 
One player that has seen his shooting actually go up over the past three games has been Brandon Graham.  The junior wing player has hit 20 of his last 36 shots for a .556 shooting percentage.  He has seen his scoring average go up to 8.8 points per game while becoming the ninth best shooter in the conference with a .476 field goal percentage.
 
"I hope getting back home helps us," Jackson said.  "We have been pretty good at home this year so we need to come out and hopefully the crowd will get behind us and push these guys into a victory, but we have been playing decently at home."
 
Live in-game stats and video can be watched at bamastatesports.com while the game can be listened to live on WVAS FM 90.7.