KENNESAW, Ga. – The Alabama State men's basketball team will hit the road and take to the air this week as the Hornets will play at Kennesaw State of the Atlantic Sun Conference on Tuesday with an opening tip scheduled for 5 p.m. CT and then catch a flight to Las Vegas to take part in the Global Sports Classic tournament held at UNLV's Thomas and Mack Center for games on Friday and Saturday.

The Hornets will play against Northern Arizona on Friday at 3:30 p.m. CT and then play either Jacksonville State or Cal State Fullerton in a Saturday game with a time to be determined based upon Friday's result. 

Upon their arrival at Kennesaw State's Convocation Center for a Monday night practice, Alabama State (0-3) set their sights on cutting down on turnovers and working a more efficient offense. 

ASU has averaged 20 turnovers and 61.3 points per game through their first three at Western Kentucky, at TCU and at Louisiana Tech.

"We played them [Kennesaw State] in a scrimmage last year and we know that they're a quality team," said ASU head men's basketball coach Lewis Jackson.

"They have an all-conference guy back and they wait until you make a mistake.  But, we are coming in with an attitude that if we can take care of the ball, score early, then we'll have a good chance to win the ball game.  We have to make sure that they make them take tough shots and get that first rebound."

Fewer turnovers will be one of the aspects that are atop of coach Jackson's agenda for this game.

"We're averaging about 20 turnovers per game and that's something that you're not going to be able to do to win Division I ball games.  We have to eliminate those mistakes where they are unforced whether it's a bad pass, or not catching the ball or having the ball goes through the hands.  I think if we can cut that number down to 12 or 13, then we'll give ourselves a chance to win the ball game." 

Junior transfer Rodney Simeon has been a bright spot for the Hornets thus far, averaging 14 points per game to rank tied for seventh in the conference in that category, and leads the SWAC in 3-pointers made (3.3 made per game).

Simeon has hit 10-of-23 from downtown, good for ninth in the SWAC in percentage (43.5 percent). 

"He's [Simeon] a good shooter," said coach Jackson.

"He just needs to learn how to prepare in practice for a game.  He has a lot of potential and I think he'll do OK.  People see that he had 25 points in his first ball game so now they're not letting him getting any easy shots.  He just needs to concentrate and be precise when he attacks the rim.  We will continue to work with him and continue to push him.  He's going to be a pretty good player." 

Tony Armstrong is ranked tied for fourth in the SWAC in rebounding with 7.3 boards per contest to go along with nine points and one block per game. 

The Owls (1-3) are coming off a 93-85 defeat at Maryland-Baltimore County this past Saturday.

Redshirt senior guard Kendrick Ray shot 11-of-21 from the field and scored a game-high 31 points for Kennesaw. 

Ray is leading the team in scoring by averaging 19.3 points per game.

The game can be followed through ESPN3 by entering your cable provider's information here: http://www.espn.com/watchespn/index/_/id/2919068/alabama-state-vs-kennesaw-state

Live stats may be followed here: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=151236

Northern Arizona (1-4) will play at UNLV on Tuesday night, but is coming off a 92-58 loss at Washington on Sunday. 

The Lumberjacks have dropped a pair of close games, losing at Santa Clara by three to open the season and also lost by just four at Tennessee State.

NAU has been led in scoring by guard Jaleni Neely, who is averaging 14 points per game. 

Neely has been a player to avoid fouling as the redshirt senior has made 24-of-28 from the line, good for 85.7 percent. 

The ASU-NAU can be heard with the play-by-play here: http://player.listenlive.co/36591

Jacksonville State (1-3) has already played two common opponents as ASU, losing at Western Kentucky by seven and at TCU by a margin of 19. 

Norbertas Giga leads the Gamecocks in scoring with 14 points per game on 53.2 percent shooting from the floor with a team-high 7.3 rebounds per game.

Cal-State Fullerton (2-2) won its' opening two games, defeating Cal Tech and Portland State, but have lost their last two at Washington and at UNLV. 

The Titans have sported a high-scoring offense thus far, averaging 84.8 points per contest.

Tre Coggins is averaging 23.7 points per game on 41 percent shooting 3-point range. 

#GOHORNETS#