This month’s multi-state ice storm disrupted the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s men’s basketball schedule for the past week, but the Golden Lions are set to return to the court on Saturday.
UAPB will face Mississippi Valley State at 3:30 p.m. at the R.W. Harrison HPER Complex in Itta Bena, Miss.
This will be the first game in a week for UAPB (7-13, 4-3 SWAC) after the Golden Lions’ scheduled game at Grambling State was postponed multiple times. UAPB will now face the Tigers at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in Grambling, La., to wrap up a three-game road trip.
UAPB should be the more rested team in each game. Valley (1-20, 0-7) will be playing on two days’ rest on Saturday while UAPB will have had a week. UAPB will have three days to prepare for Grambling, while the Tigers will have just one day between a road game at Alcorn State and the makeup game with UAPB.
Valley enters Saturday’s game having lost 19 straight. The Delta Devils’ lone win came on Nov. 5 against the Mississippi University for Women, leaving Valley as the only SWAC men’s team still without a Division I victory this season.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Both teams are coming off road games against Southern. UAPB defeated the Jaguars 75-74 on Jan. 24, while Valley fell 80-69 on Wednesday in a game which had been postponed from Monday.
UAPB’s win ended a three-game losing streak, and the Golden Lions have an opportunity to start climbing back up the standings. UAPB currently sits in a three-way tie for fourth with teams it defeated, Southern and Alabama A&M. The Golden Lions are one game out of a tie for second and two games behind SWAC leader Bethune-Cookman.
Including Valley, UAPB’s next three games will be against teams currently in the bottom four of the SWAC standings. Grambling sits at 2-3, while UAPB’s next home opponent, Alcorn State, is 2-5.
The three-pointer could be a big weapon for UAPB in the next two games. Since the start of SWAC play, the Golden Lions have shot a league-leading 38.2% from beyond the arc and make 7.9 per game, which is tied for third.
Valley has allowed its SWAC opponents to shoot 39% from three, while Grambling allows 37.7% from three, making them the two bottom-ranked teams in three-point defense.
UAPB senior guard Alex Mirhosseini has shot 38.8% from three in conference play, the second-best percentage among qualified shooters. His 2.7 makes per game ranks third in the league.
Valley junior guard Michael James has scored 20.8 points per SWAC game, which ranks fourth in the league. He is coming off a 23-point game against Southern in which he made three 3-pointers. Three other Delta Devils are averaging 10 points or more in SWAC play.
The Golden Lions have won eight of their past 10 games against Valley, including the past two games in Itta Bena.