Alcorn Game Notes
WACO, Texas – Completing a five-game road swing to open the season, the Alcorn State University men's basketball program will go toe-to-toe with a pair of Bears when they face 24th-ranked Baylor on Friday at 8 p.m. at the Ferrell Center, and Central Arkansas on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Farris Center.
Senior
Reginal Johnson is 33 points away from reaching 1,000 in his career. He'd be the 39th student-athlete from Alcorn (0-3) to reach that plateau. Johnson is the SWAC Preseason Player of the Year.
The Braves opened the season with a hectic three-game road trip in three different states in four days. They started at LSU and continued their expedition to Creighton in Nebraska and Northern Iowa. Alcorn is in the midst of a non-conference schedule that includes eight road contests.
Johnson and fellow senior
A.J. Mosby are both averaging in double-figures this season. Mosby leads the team with 12.7 points and seven assists on the year, while Johnson averages 11.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Mosby has started in every game at his career at Alcorn.
Other notable performances for the Braves came at Creighton where senior
Avery Patterson scored 12 points, and sophomore
Tyler Carter netted a career-high 10.
As a team, Alcorn is shooting over 70 percent from the free throw line. Patterson is 9-11, Mosby and Carter are both 6-7, and sophomore
Maurice Howard is 4-4.
Baylor is off to a 2-0 start with a pair of lopsided wins. It defeated Central Arkansas 107-66 to start the year, and Texas A&M Corpus Christi 70-46. Manu Lecomte scores 22.5 points per game, while Terry Maston averages a double-double with 13.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per outing.
UCA (1-2) shook off its loss to Baylor with a 99-51 win over the University of the Ozarks. UCA then went to No. 18 UCLA and gave the Bruins a scare but dropped a 106-101 thriller in overtime. UCA features one of the premier scorers in the nation with Jordan Howard who pours in 27.0 points per game.
NOTES
- 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. The last time Alcorn topped a school from a Power Five conference was in 1990-91 over Indiana 79-77.
- The Braves will take on Baylor for the fourth time in school history and the first since 2006-07. Alcorn is seeking its first win in the series.
- Alcorn is 1-0 all-time against Central Arkansas. The line meeting came in the NAIA Playoffs in 1974-75 as the Braves won 88-77 in the Round of 32. Alcorn made it to the semifinals that year.
- Sophomore forward
Yalen Reed was tabbed the SWAC Preseason Co-Defensive Player of the Year. Reed shot .558 from the field last season and started in seven games, but will be relied on heavier this year with the departure of forwards Marquis Vance and DeAndre Davis. Reed swatted away 18 blocks last season.
- Alcorn was picked to finish fourth in the SWAC Preseason Poll. It brings back two starters - Mosby and senior
Avery Patterson - from a team that played in the SWAC Championship game. The Braves have finished second in the regular season in back-to-back years.
- Head Coach
Montez Robinson is in his third season and was the 2016-17 SWAC Coach of the Year winner. He's coached Alcorn to consecutive 13-5 conference records, marking the first back-to-back winning seasons at Alcorn in 15 years. Robinson hoists a 26-10 career SWAC record.
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