Braves Ready for 2023-24 Season

LORMAN, Miss. – Alcorn State University men's basketball head coach Landon Bussie and his team are on the prowl for the Southwestern Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship.
              
    This season is a rebirth for the team as Coach Bussie and his staff have secured young talent from far and wide to replace Braves cagers such as Dominic Brewton and Keondre Montgomery. Byron Joshua and Jeremiah Kendall are returners Alcorn fans should remember from last season's run to Back-to-Back SWAC Regular Season title with an overall record of 18-14 and 15-3 in conference play. The team was also featured in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) where they played the University of North Texas and suffered a lost, 53-69.
              
    The team is looking forward to a new crop in helping them to a SWAC championship in players like Dhaji Binet of Nice, France and Alex Tsynkevich of Minsk, Belarus. Binet and Tsynkevich are forwards/centers that have split time in the paint in the preseason and shown their prowess as bigs with the ability to score. Each player nabbed four rebounds against Miles. Willie Anderson, Jr. dominated under the goal for Alcorn in the team's exhibition outing against the Golden Bears to the tune of a team high six rebounds.
              
    The team looks to point guard Byron Joshua to be a court general for the Braves and keep the offense moving. In the team's exhibition game against Miles, he went 7-of-14 from the field for 14 points and four assists. Last season, he played in 31 games while averaging 11 points and tallied 131 assists and 52 steals. All-SWAC Preseason First Team pick, Kendall, looks to improve on his performance last season when he recorded 11 points per game and average 6.8 rebounds per game. Newcomer Jalen Hawkins, of Bronx, N.Y., shows potential to pick up the offense as he recorded four steal and 13 points.
    
    Alcorn's season begins on Monday, Nov. 6, as they face the University of Arkansas on the road at 7 p.m.. The season then moves back home to the Davey L. Whitney Complex to host Xavier University of Louisiana on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. The Braves schedule features games against Arkansas State University (Nov. 14), University of Alabama-Birmingham (Nov. 16), Michigan State University (Nov. 19), Texas Christian University (Nov. 21), University of Texas-Arlington (Nov. 22), Clemson University (Nov. 24), Virginia Commonwealth University (Dec. 10), University of Maryland (Dec. 12), University of Northern Iowa (Dec. 17), Drake University (Dec. 19), and George Washington University (Dec. 21).
 
    The team will begin SWAC play on Jan. 6 as the Braves travel to Jackson State University. Alcorn's first conference weekend match will be against Alabama A&M University and Alabama State University on Jan. 13 and Jan. 15, respectively. The first home series will be on Jan. 20 and Jan. 22 as Texas Southern University and Prairie View A&M University visit "The Reservation". The Braves will go east for the Florida leg of their SWAC calendar against Florida A&M University (FAMU) on Jan. 27 and Bethune-Cookman University (BCU) on Jan. 29. After that, Alcorn will spend the first weekend of February in Louisiana facing off against Southern University (Feb. 3) and Grambling State University (Feb. 5). The team will then hit the Mid-South in action against the University of Arkansas-Pine Buff (Feb. 10) and then go to the Mississippi Delta to see Mississippi Valley State University (Feb. 12).

    The Braves return home for a three-game stretch hosting BCU (Feb. 17), FAMU (Feb. 19), and Jackson State (Feb. 24). Alcorn will then travel to the Lone Star State to face Prairie View A&M (March 2) and Texas Southern (March 4). The last home stand of the season will be against Mississippi Valley on March 7 and Arkansas-Pine Bluff on March 9.
 
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