Men's Basketball | 11/9/2016 3:53:00 PM

Braves Open 2016-17 Campaign Friday at Loyola-Chicago on ESPN3

Alcorn Game Notes | Watch on ESPN3

CHICAGO – Kicking off its 71st season of men's basketball, Alcorn State University will head north to face Loyola-Chicago at 7:30 p.m. Friday on a nationally televised ESPN3 contest at Gentile Arena.
 
The Braves (0-0) are coming off a second-place season in the Southwestern Conference after finishing 13-5 in league play. They were picked to finish fifth in this year's SWAC Preseason Poll.
 
Head coach Montez Robinson enters his second season at the helm. He inherited a squad that went 6-26, 4-14 SWAC in 2014-15 and more-than tripled the team's win total last season. Robinson was a finalist for both the 2016 Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year and 2016 Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year awards.
 
Senior Marquis Vance headlines this year's roster as he was named to the Preseason All-Conference Second-Team. With 953 career points, Vance is 47 away from 1,000.
 
Vance is one of two student-athletes returning for the Braves that started at least 15 games last season along with fellow senior forward DeAndre Davis. Over the last two years, Vance has started 55 of 58 games.
 
The Ramblers (0-0) are coming off a 15-17 (7-11 MVC) season and were picked seventh in the Preseason Missouri Valley Poll. They return three starters including Milton Doyle who averaged 11.2 points per game last year. Doyle was named to the Preseason All-MVC Second-Team.
 
PRESEASON NOTES
- Friday marks the first-ever meeting between the Braves and the Ramblers.
 
- Alcorn is looking for its first non-conference win over a Division I school since Nov. 22, 2012 when it defeated Samford 69-65. Prior to that, the Braves beat Jacksonville State 70-68 on Dec. 13, 2003 and UTEP 67-53 on Nov. 26, 2002.
 
- Robinson coached Alcorn to its first winning SWAC season (13-5) last year since 2006-07 when it went 10-8. The 13 conference wins were the most since 2001-02 when the Braves finished 20-10, 16-2 SWAC and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
 
- Vance has recorded six double-doubles over the last two seasons with 33 double-figure scoring games. His career-high is 30 points against Grambling State on Feb. 9, 2015. He's also scored at least 24 points two other times.
 
- Davis finished third in the SWAC in both field goal percentage (.584) and offensive rebounding (2.5 orpg) last season.
 
- Alcorn brought in eight newcomers this season including five freshmen and three transfers.
 
- The Braves will play a loaded 2016-17 non-conference schedule with eight of their 11 games on the road against bigger schools. Road games include at Loyola-Chicago, Evansville, Colorado State, San Francisco, California, Louisiana Tech, Georgia Tech and Grand Canyon. Alcorn will have a six-game road swing over the course of 30 days.
 
- Robinson brought in three new assistant coaches for the 2016-17 season. They included the 2004 SWAC Newcomer of the Year and All-Conference First-Team honoree Delvin Thompson who played at Alcorn, Derek Thompson who has over 10 years of collegiate coaching experience and Frank Popieski who spent three years at Florida State before helping coach numerous All-Atlantic Sun performers at Stetson.
 
- The legendary Larry Smith became the first Alcorn basketball player to ever be inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in July, 2016. In four years at Alcorn, Smith averaged a double-double with 16.7 points and 11 rebounds per game, totaling 1,852 career points and 1,234 rebounds. As a senior, the 6-8 forward/center scored 20.1 points per outing and led NCAA Division I with 15.1 rebounds per contest.
 
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