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| Saturday’s game against Jackson State may be Grambling’s best hope for a win. (CBS photo). |
It seems like football just ended a few weeks ago, but it’s already midway through the college basketball season. Conference basketball play is just heating up, and there are some big games in the HBCU basketball world this Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Here are a few we think you should watch.
SWAC
Jackson State (1-14) at Grambling State (0-15): This may be Grambling’s best shot to get a win. Until they play 1-14 Mississippi Valley State. It would be a somewhat positive ending to a week where a Deadspin article made the case that Grambling State could be the worst Divison I basketball team of all time. Should be a fun one, in a car-wreck kind of way.
Texas Southern (5-13) at Arkansas Pine-Bluff (5-12): Both teams are 4-1 in conference play, and the winner will be just one game back of Southern.
MEAC
Morgan State (4-9) at Hampton (5-10): After getting off to a 2-10 start, Hampton will look to pick up its fourth straight win on Saturday. Morgan will try to stay above .500 in conference play as things start to heat up.
Howard (4-14) at North Carolina Central (10-7): After heading to Greensboro to take on a tough North Carolina A&T team on Saturday, Howard will find itself facing the league’s hottest team on MLK Day. NCCU has won four in a row, including a Florida sweep last week.
Howard women (8-7) at North Carolina A&T (10-6) women: Both teams enter Saturday’s contest with one loss. With Hampton on a war path, though, neither team can afford to fall too far behind.
CIAA
Lincoln (9-6) at Bowie: This matchup could go a long way into deciding the winner of the Northern Division. Bowie comes in with three conference losses, all of which came to the top teams in the CIAA’s Southern Division (Livingstone, Shaw and WSSU). After a hot 8-2 start, Lincoln has suffered four conference defeats, losing to the three teams that beat Bowie and St. Aug. This televised game is a very important one.
#11 Winston-Salem State (13-2) at St. Aug (10-6): This matchup has the makings of a classic “trap game” for Winston-Salem State. WSSU has won 12 in a row, and currently sits in a tie for first place in the conference with Shaw. WSSU’s Bobby Collins will have to make sure his team doesn’t take St. Aug too lightly.
SIAC
Ft. Valley State (9-6) women at Paine College (6-9) women: Fort Valley State is looking to keep its three game win-streak alive, but will have to do so on the road against a Paine team that is just one game behind it in the conference standings.