Men's Basketball | 11/15/2018 8:48:00 AM

Braves Begin Road Trip at Vanderbilt, Kent State

Alcorn Game Notes | Watch ESPN 

LORMAN, Miss. – Kicking off a five-game road trip, the Alcorn State University men's basketball program will head to Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. Friday at Memorial Gymnasium, and Kent State at 3 p.m. (CT) Sunday at Memorial Athletic Center.
 
The road swing will also feature games at Liberty, Savannah State and Mississippi State. Alcorn (1-1), will go 21 days between home games before it returns to the Davey L. Whitney Complex to host Rust College at 11 a.m.
 
Both Vanderbilt and Kent State are undefeated this year at 2-0.
 
The Braves are coming off a 79-55 win over Blue Mountain. Junior Maurice Howard poured in a career-high 24 points on seven made three-pointers. Alcorn has won seven of its last eight home-openers.
 
Junior Reginal Johnson made his return to the court after sitting out for nearly 12 months. He etched 14 points off the bench in 21 minutes. Johnson, a 1000-point scorer, was the 2017-18 SWAC Preseason Player of the Year, but broke his leg in the non-conference against Tulane and missed the rest of the way. He was a 2016-17 HBCU All-American and led Alcorn in scoring as a junior with 15.6 points per outing.
 
Alcorn opened the season at Tulsa. The Braves trailed by one with 8:18 to go before the Hurricane ended the game on a 20-4 run. Junior Deshaw Andrews shined with a game-high 20 points to go along with five points and four steals in 29 minutes.
 
Through two games, Alcorn has four student-athletes averaging in double-figures. Howard leads the way with 16.0 points per game, Andrews 14.5 points and 7.0 rebounds, Johnson 14.0 points and junior Jonathan Floyd 11.5 points.
 
Vandy opened the season with victories over Winthrop 92-79 and USC 82-78. The Commodores brought back two starters and eight letterwinners from a team that went 12-20 overall and 6-12 in the SEC last year.
 
Darius Garland currently leads the squad with 21.5 points per game, while Simisola Shittu puts up 16.0 points and 12.5 rebounds per outing. The Commodores have been sticking to a nine-man rotation with starters logging heavy minutes through their first two matches.
 
Kent will host Liberty on Friday before welcoming the Braves. The Golden Flashes started the season with wins over Cleveland State 83-79 and Shawnee State 90-69. Kent returned three starters and six letterwinners from a 17-17 overall, 9-9 MAC squad last season.
 
Jaylin Walker is at the top of the team's stat sheet with 16.6 points per game. Adonis De La Rosa is also a big contributor with 11.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per outing.
 
Both games Friday and Sunday can be viewed on Watch ESPN or espn3.com.
 
NOTES
- It's just the second-ever meeting against the Commodores as Vandy finished on top 91-52 last year.
 
- The Braves are 2-1 all-time against Kent, with the last meeting coming in 2011-12. Alcorn won 82-75 in 1979-79 en route to an undefeated season, and 84-74 in 1980-81.
 
- The Braves were picked to finish seventh in the SWAC Preseason Poll. They return one starter and seven letterwinners from a year ago.
 
- Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson is in his fourth season at the helm. He hoists a 33-21 record in the league and was the 2016-17 SWAC Coach of the Year.
 
- Howard comes back as the highest returning scorer for the Braves, averaging 10.3 points from a year ago. Howard broke the program's single-season record for most three-pointers made with 74. He shot at a .357 mark from three-point range, and .368 in conference play.
 
- Sophomore Troymain Crosby returns after finishing the 2017-18 season strong. He netted at least 15 points in each of the last four games including a 20-point outing against Texas Southern. At the SWAC Championships against Prairie View A&M, Crosby started and registered a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds.
 
- Alcorn's lone returning starter is junior Devon Brewer. He made 24 starts last year and averaged 5.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Brewer led the team in field goal percentage with a .555 (76-137) clip.
 
- The Braves reloaded with five JUCO transfers this year including a seven-footer Alonzo Campbell. Alcorn also brought Andrews who was an NJCAA Division I All-American.
 
- Alcorn will get healthy bodies back after battling an injury-plagued season a year ago. Three student-athletes were on the team last year but redshirted including junior Khari Jabriel Allen, junior Harold Givens and sophomore Noah Plain.
 
- Alcorn is in the midst of a loaded non-conference schedule which includes trips to Tulsa, Vanderbilt, Kent State, Liberty, Mississippi State, UAB and South Florida.
 
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