As Solomon Bozeman prepares for his fifth season as the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff men’s basketball coach, he said practices have never been more competitive than with this season’s team.
“I thought our coaching staff did a really good job of putting this roster together,” Bozeman said. “We got size. We got length. We got guys that can score, inside presence this year. We got that, and then we got guards that can make plays, and it’s multiple guards. It’s just not one. So, extremely excited about this team. They’ve been working extremely hard.”
Bozeman spoke to the media on Wednesday during SWAC Media Day, held in Birmingham, Ala.
UAPB, which went 6-25 last year with a 3-15 SWAC record, has four returning players. Two of them, guards Trejon Ware and Anthony Sellars, missed last season with injury. Forwards Kyle Brown (6.9 points per game) and Dennis Asoro (3.5 points per game) are the only returners who played last year.
After narrowly missing the SWAC tournament last season, Bozeman said that team was one of the youngest in the nation, and the Golden Lions needed more experienced players.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Out of the 15 players on this year’s roster, all but two are 21 or older. UAPB has 12 players listed as upperclassmen, and freshman Milhan Charles from France is 21 with experience playing in Europe.
“We’re just more experienced, and I think that’s why our gym is way more competitive, because we got older guys,” Bozeman said. “A lot of these guys on their last ride that are hungry, and then we got some (Division II) guys that are hungry to prove themselves. Our gym has been really, really competitive, man.”
Two of the top newcomers Bozeman spoke about are Division II transfers.
Limestone University (S.C.) transfer Trevon Payton, a redshirt junior, is a 6-foot-5 point guard who averaged 13.3 points and six rebounds per game. West Virginia Wesleyan transfer Alex Mirhosseini led his team with 17.5 points and four assists per game. He is a 5-foot-10 senior guard from Arlington, Texas.
Bozeman said Payton has been UAPB’s leader in practice.
“He gets on the floor four or five times a day,” Bozeman said. “He’s always going to be first. I think he’s lost one loose ball since he’s been here. Every other loose ball, he’s got. … (Mirhosseini) can make tough shots. He’s one of those guys, man, late game, he makes tough shots. He makes your coaching look good.”
At forward, UAPB added Texas-San Antonio transfer Jaquan Scott. After two years of junior college, he transferred to Mississippi State, where he appeared in 11 games off the bench before transferring to UTSA.
As a Roadrunner last year, he played in six games with three starts and averaged 7.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. Bozeman said Scott could be the best forward in the SWAC.
A late addition to the roster was Jonesboro native Quion Williams, a senior guard who transferred from Abilene Christian. He was the Wildcats’ leading scorer with 13.5 points per game last year and their second-leading rebounder with 5.1 per game.
Williams began his career at Oklahoma State and averaged 7.5 points and 5.5 rebounds as a sophomore.
The ACU student newspaper, The Optimist, reported on Aug. 29 Williams had left Abilene Christian after an earlier arrest in Jonesboro. Court documents show he pleaded no contest to second-degree terroristic threatening, a Class A misdemeanor, in July.
Despite Williams’ legal troubles, Bozeman said UAPB was lucky to sign him.
“He’s another guy that’s a leader with Trevon,” Bozeman said. “They’ve changed our culture, because those guys are just dogs. It feels good stepping out there on that court when you got some real dogs that hate to lose, man. This is a player-led team, and anytime you got a player-led team, man, I think good things are going to happen, because those guys hold each other accountable every single day.”
UAPB faces a daunting start to the season. After playing UA-Little Rock in a preseason exhibition game in October, the Golden Lions will open the regular season on Nov. 3 at Washington in what will be the first of 11 straight road games. The Huskies will be one of four Power Four conference opponents UAPB will play.
That long road stretch will be followed by four straight at home. The home opener is scheduled for Dec. 15 against Ecclesia with a game against Champion Christian two days later. UAPB’s first two SWAC games will also be at H.O. Clemmons Arena.
Bozeman said he intentionally made the schedule this way to test this team.
“How do we respond to adversity? So, that’s why we have 11 road games to start the season,” Bozeman said. “How are we going to jell as a team? Are we going to be together when things get tough? … Most people might be scared of losing their team, because you got 11 straight on the road. Like I said, this is a time for our team to come together and face through adverse situations.”