It has been a short week of practice for the Hornets as they took a few days off this week to concentrate on their final exams before making the long drive.
 
"It has been a week since we have played and we really need to get another game in as we come to the end of the pre-conference season," Head Coach Lewis Jackson said.  "We did not play very well in our last outing even though we were able to come out with the win. We have a lot of improvement to do before we start play in the conference."
 
ASU enters the game 3-3 and will play a team that had a huge comeback win just Thursday night against Idaho.  WIU (3-5) trailed by 17 points at halftime but rallied in the second half for a 78-75 win.
 
The leathernecks own a 3-1 record at home this season and will be a strong test for the Hornets.  Garret Covington is their leading scorer averaging 16.4 points per game.  Mohamed Conde leads the team in rebounding averaging 4.8 per game and Jabari Sandifer's 4.3 assists per game leads the team.
 
"They are a very good team," Jackson said.  "It was a strong battle at our place last season (a 59-52 ASU win) and we expect it to be even stronger this season.  They have good size, especially at guard where their leading scorer is a match up problem since he is 6'-5". This will be a good challenge for us."
 
Maurice Strong is coming off a 16-point, eight-rebound effort which had him named the SWAC Player of the Week.  He averages almost nine points per game, but leads the team and is one of the SWAC's top rebounder averaging 6.5 per game.
 
ASU has three players averaging in double digits led by DeMarcus Robinson at 14.7 points per game.  Jamel Waters averages 12.7 points and a team and SWAC-high 5.6 assists per game.  Bobby Brown continues to shoot the ball well and is averaging 11.3 points.
 
ASU leads the SWAC averaging 80.8 points per game.  They are first in field goal percentage (.451) and first in three point field goal percentage (.444).  Even when the Hornets miss the basket they are hitting the boards hard and lead the conference in offensive rebounding averaging 14.3 per game.
 
"We have done some good things on the offensive end of the floor, but we still are not consistent enough to begin conference play," Jackson said.  "There are times when we get the ball up the court and do a good job of putting a lot of pressure on the defense, but there are times when we become stagnant.  We want to continually push the ball."
 
Defensively the Hornets are giving up 77.2 points per game and allowing the opponents a .433 shooting percentage.
 
"We are not doing what we need to do on the defensive end of the floor," Jackson said.  "There are times when we make a play or two, but just like on offense, we are searching for more consistency.  We understand when we push the ball on offense it means the opponents are going to get more chances, but that does not mean we can't play hard on defense each possession.  We expect to play good defense at all times and we are not getting that right now."
 
Check tomorrow's Game Day Central for all of the live action.