After spending the past two weeks rebuilding momentum on the road, the second-place University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff men’s basketball team returns home this weekend.
UAPB will host Alcorn State at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Jackson State at 5:30 p.m. Monday at H.O. Clemmons Arena, looking to extend its three-game winning streak.
The Golden Lions enter the week with a one-game lead on several teams, including Jackson State, tied for third in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
A second-place finish in the regular season would be UAPB’s best since tying for second in the 2017-18 season. That year’s team entered the SWAC tournament as the No. 1 seed thanks to regular season champion Grambling State being ineligible for postseason play that year.
Milhan Charles, a freshman guard from France, said this year’s team has made it personal to accomplish things which UAPB (9-13, 6-3 SWAC) hasn’t in years.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“(The other teams) are starting to know,” Charles said. “They started to figure it out, and that’s good for us. They want to beat us right now, so we gotta be ready. We’re working out every day, and we’re ready for that.”
The last time UAPB played at home, the Golden Lions dropped a pair of close games. Since then, UAPB has won three straight games by single-digit margins, two of them by one possession. Both Southern and Grambling had the ball with a chance to tie or win the game at the end of regulation, but UAPB forced missed three-pointers to secure important road wins.
The Golden Lions are now 5-4 in single-digit games. One of those three losses was an 83-74 loss in November at Portland (Ore.), a defeat which seems much more respectable after the Pilots upset No. 6 Gonzaga 87-80 on Wednesday.
UAPB Coach Solomon Bozeman said the Golden Lions have played with more focus lately.
“We’ve been working on it all year, but we really locked into it right before break coming into conference,” Bozeman said. “I think we just started, honestly, we started winning those situations in practice. Once we started winning them in practice, we took it over to the game, and now, we’ve been winning close games ever since.”
Protecting the basketball has been a key part of this three-game winning streak, UAPB’s second such streak in SWAC play this season. The Golden Lions averaged 14.7 turnovers per game in their three losses but cut that number to 12 on its current streak. UAPB also averaged 12 per game during its 3-0 start to conference play.
UAPB has turned the ball over 13 times or fewer in five of its six SWAC wins, with a 16-turnover performance against Alabama State being the lone exception.
The Golden Lions will enter the week on short rest. UAPB played a rare Wednesday conference game, defeating Grambling 67-64 on the road in a game which had been rescheduled due to winter weather.
The rescheduling left UAPB with two days off between facing Grambling and hosting Alcorn State (4-17, 3-6), which lost at home to Grambling 74-50 on Monday.
Bozeman downplayed the idea the short turnaround from Wednesday to Saturday would hinder UAPB against the Braves, but he did say the bench players would need to step up with another game coming up two days later.
“I think Dennis Asoro is a true testament of a guy who’s been playing limited minutes for us, but he’s been contributing, whether it’s rebounding, whether it’s finishing around the basket,” Bozeman said. “I look for some of those other guys, maybe Anthony Sellars, Ahmad Johnson to help out. I think those guys are more than capable.”
Alcorn has struggled this season. The Braves have yet to win consecutive games and are averaging 69.1 points per game in SWAC play, the second fewest in the league. Their conference opponents are shooting 49.5 percent from the field, the highest rate in the SWAC.
Junior guard Shane Lancaster leads Alcorn with 11.4 points per game, while junior forward Tycen McDaniels averages 10.2.
Jackson State (6-16, 5-4) was previously tied for second in the SWAC but has since lost back-to-back games. The Tigers will face Mississippi Valley State on Saturday ahead of Monday’s game in Pine Bluff.
In conference play, Jackson State has scored 78 points per game, the third most in the SWAC, but allowed a SWAC-leading 81.3 points per game. The Tigers lead the conference in made three-pointers per game with 8.3, though UAPB’s 37.9% behind the arc is the league’s best percentage.
Senior guard Daeshun Ruffin is averaging 30.3 points and 8.2 assists per SWAC game, both league highs by far. Bozeman said he is looking forward to seeing UAPB senior guard Quion Williams, who he called one of the SWAC’s best defenders, go head-to-head with Ruffin.
“Daeshun Ruffin has been having a big-time season,” Bozeman said. “You can’t deny that. The stuff that he’s doing, 30 points, 10 assists, he’s doing an unbelievable job. I look forward to that matchup. Actually, that’s going to be exciting. I think that might be one of the best matchups in the country that day, man, seeing him and Quion go at it.”
Alcorn and Jackson are the last two teams in the SWAC which UAPB has yet to play this season.