Game Notes

How the Hornets play over the next two games will go a long way in determining out if Alabama State has any chance to win the regular season championship of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).  With the Hornets tied at the top of the SWAC with Texas Southern and Southern University only a half of a game behind ASU will face both teams over the next six days and could either put some distance between them and the other two teams or could find themselves looking up at those teams.
 
The first test comes Monday Feb. 23 when ASU plays at Southern in and ESPNU nationally televised game at 8 p.m.  It is a return game after the Hornets defeated the Jaguars back on Jan. 26 63-59 in an overtime affair.  It is a game that could be that hotly contested again.
 
"We don't have a lot of time to get ready for Southern," Head Coach Lewis Jackson said.  "This is going to be a tough game for us to come over here and play on their court.  We can't play the way we played at Alcorn and expect to win this game.  We have a lot improving to do."
 
Southern (14-14/11-3 SWAC) is a lot like the Hornets as they don't have any of the top scorers in the conference but has several players that can lead the team in scoring in any game.  They are led by Adrian Rodgers who averages 13.3 points per game.  He is their top shooter from the field and from the free throw line.  Jared Sam leads Southern in rebounding averaging 5.5 per game.
 
ASU's (15-7/11-2 SWAC) Jamel Waters is averaging 13.5 points per game to lead a trio of Hornets in double digits.  After Saturday's 23-point performance DeMarcus Robinson has his average up to 11.1 points per game and Maurice Strong averages 10 points per outing.
 
Strong's 7.1 rebounds per game leads ASU while Waters leads the team in assists (112) and steals (44).
 
The game will feature ASU's top scoring offense (73.7) against Southern's top scoring defense which is only allowing 62.8 points per game.
 
"Southern does a good job with their defense of putting a lot of pressure on the ball," Jackson said.  "They get after you, force you into bad shots and then go and get the rebound so we have to be efficient on offense, be patient and take good shots.  We also have to do a good job of getting on the boards."
 
While the game can be seen on ESPNU, the game can also be heard live on bamastatesports.com.