Men's Basketball | 1/4/2019 2:01:00 PM

Braves Get Tough Test with TSU, PVAMU Coming to Davey L. Whitney Complex to Kick-Off SWAC Play

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LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University men's basketball program will host two of the top teams from the SWAC when Texas Southern enters the Davey L. Whitney Complex at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Prairie View A&M at 7:30 p.m. Monday.
 
TSU (5-8, 0-0 SWAC) has won four of the last five SWAC Championships, while PVAMU (2-11, 0-0 SWAC) finished second in the league last year and brought back its leading scorer Gary Blackston.
 
Additionally, TSU has wins over three Power Five Conference opponents this year including Baylor 72-69, Oregon 89-84 and Texas A&M 88-73.
 
The Braves (4-8, 0-0 SWAC) are looking to start 1-0 in conference for the first time since 2015-16, and 2-0 for the first time since 2005-06. Alcorn will attempt to snap a 23-game skid against TSU with the last win coming in 2007-08. The most notable match-up was in the finals of the 2016-17 SWAC Championship where the Tigers held on to a 53-50 decision.
 
The Braves can avenge an 87-71 defeat to PVAMU in last year's SWAC Championships. The seventh-seeded Braves traveled to the second-seeded Panthers in the quarterfinals.
 
Alcorn is 4-0 at home this year where it has outscored the opposition 366-211.
 
Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson hoists a 33-21 SWAC record. He was the 2016-17 SWAC Coach of the Year.
 
The sharp-shooting Braves lead the SWAC in three-pointers made per game with 8.1. Individually, junior Maurice Howard is first in the league with 3.3 threes per outing. Alcorn also leads the conference in steals (8.3 spg), and is second in scoring defense (71.7 ppg), three-point percentage defense (.312) and assists (12.9 apg)
 
Junior Deshaw Andrews ranks first in the league in steals with 1.8 per game. He averages 13.5 points and a team-high 5.9 rebounds per contest. Andrews tallied back-to-back 20-plus outings with 21 points and 10 rebounds against Savannah State, and a career-high 26 points and seven rebounds at Mississippi State.
 
Howard averages a team-leading 13.5 points per game. He ranks second in the SWAC in minutes per game (33.7 mpg), third in three-point percentage (.387) and fourth in assists (3.7 apg). Howard has scored at least 20 points three times this year including a career-high 26 against Rust College.
 
Alcorn completed a loaded non-conference schedule which includes trips to Tulsa, Vanderbilt, Kent State, Liberty, Mississippi State, UAB and South Florida.
 
TSU is under new leadership this season with first-year head coach Johnny Jones at the helm. He previously served as an associate head coach at Nevada and five years as head coach at LSU.
 
The Tigers are led by LSU transfer Jalyn Patterson who averages 14.6 points per game. Nearly averaging a double-double is 7-2 center Trayvon Reed with 14.2 points and 8.7 rebounds per outing.
 
PVAMU is paced by Gary Blackston for the second straight year. He averages 16.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per outing, while shooting .356 from long-range. Devonte Patterson also averages in double-figures with 11.9 points per game.
 
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