After last month’s winter storm forced the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff to postpone its basketball games against Texas Southern, the two schools will finally meet up Tuesday night.
UAPB will host TSU in a doubleheader at H.O. Clemmons Arena, with a women’s game starting at 3 p.m. and a men’s game following at 5:30 p.m. The SWAC Digital Network will stream both games on YouTube.
The UAPB women (3-15, 1-7 SWAC) are coming off Saturday’s 68-39 home win against Mississippi Valley State, their first Division I win of the season and first with Erica Leak as head coach.
After Saturday’s game, Leak said turning one win into two comes from continuing to work hard every day in practice.
“Every day, it’s a grind,” Leak said. “Every day, it doesn’t stop. One thing about winning, it’s a domino. One thing about getting to Atlanta, it’s not far out, because we just tied Valley. We’re a game away from being probably in that top 10, so it creates excitement. It creates morale, and now, they see that their hard work, it’s paying off.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Leak referred to Atlanta, the new host site of the SWAC basketball tournaments which will feature an expanded 10-team field this season.
Texas Southern (9-10, 8-0) is a tough opponent to have standing in the way of starting a winning streak. The Lady Tigers have a 1.5-game lead at the top of the SWAC standings. TSU has the league’s top offense, averaging 73.1 points per SWAC game while shooting a league-high 44% from the field. TSU has also held conference foes to a league-low 31.7%.
Leak said going into this game against the Lady Tigers, who are winning SWAC games by a league-best 12.9 points per game, she wants her players to believe any team can be beaten, no matter how good that team is.
“So, you put your best foot forward,” Leak said. “You follow the game plan. We put a master game plan together. Follow it, limit our turnovers, and you’ll find yourself in the game. Granted, they have played tremendous basketball this season, and it is going to be a huge mountain to climb, but we’re gonna climb it.”
The UAPB men (3-18, 0-8) do not have the momentum of their counterparts entering Tuesday’s game. The Golden Lions dropped to last place in the SWAC after losing to MVSU, the only other team which was winless prior to Saturday.
The TSU men (10-11, 7-1) sit in second place. The Tigers lost their SWAC opener to Southern, the team now in first place, but have won seven straight games since.
The Tigers rank top four in the SWAC in both scoring offense and defense. They have held their opponents to a league-low 36.3% from the field, while the Golden Lions have allowed a league-high 47.6% from their opponents.
UAPB Coach Solomon Bozeman said the Golden Lions must put Saturday’s disappointing loss behind them with a team this good coming to Pine Bluff.
“We just gotta (have) instant amnesia,” Bozeman said. “You have to forget about it and just gotta find a way to come in and fight against Texas Southern. It’s that simple. We have to fight. We have to fight. It’s gotta personal to us.”