BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff men’s basketball team will open play in the Cricket Wireless SWAC Basketball Tournament today at 2 p.m. against Jackson State.
The third meeting of the season between the No. 7-seed Golden Lions (4-20 overall, 3-12 SWAC) and No. 2-seed Tigers (11-5, 11-0) will be broadcast on radio beginning at 1:45 p.m. with Lions Roar Pregame on KPBA-FM 99.3 The Beat, online at uapblionsroar.com/live, on the free UAPB Athletics App, and on the Open Mic Broadcast Network. The game can also be viewed online on the ESPN App.
Today’s UAPB game against the SWAC regular season co-champions will be the first on a neutral court at UAB’s Bartow Arena after both closely contested matchups were played in Jackson. The Tigers won 63-55 on Feb. 1 and 64-58 in overtime on March 1 in a game that was relocated to JSU due to water pressure issues in Pine Bluff in the aftermath of February’s winter storms.
In the first meeting, neither team led in double-digits until JSU reach the margin with just over five minutes remaining in a game that features six lead changes and two ties in the second half. In last Monday’s rematch, neither team led by 10 or more points. UAPB limited JSU to 4-of-24 shooting from 3-point range in a game that featured 12 ties and 12 lead changes.
UAPB’s Shaun Doss Jr. was named as a first-team All-SWAC selection in honors announced Tuesday. Doss (6-5, 185; redshirt junior; Marion) ranks in the SWAC’s Top 15 in six categories: scoring (16.3 points per game/fourth), rebounding (6.5/tied for fifth), field-goal percentage (39.1/sixth), free throw percentage (68.6/eighth), blocks (0.7 per game/tied for 11th), and minutes (34.2 per game/fourth).
Doss, a two-time SWAC Player of the Week, was one of only two players in the SWAC this season (Alabama A&M’s Jalen Johnson) to rank in the top five in both scoring and rebounding.
Today’s game will showcase three of the league’s Top 10 players, according to this year’s All-SWAC team announcement. Jackson State, which shared the league’s regular season crown with Prairie View A&M, features SWAC Player of the Year and first-team All-SWAC selection in Tristen Jarrett (20.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game). The Tigers also has the SWAC Defensive Player of the Year and second-team All-SWAC selection Jayveous McKinnis (12.2 points and 13.1 rebounds per game).