BATON ROUGE, La. | Alabama State ends its two-game road swing through Louisiana with a Monday night matchup with Southern at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.
The game is scheduled to tip at 8 pm.
Alabama State (6-16, 5-5 SWAC) enters the contest off an eight-point win over Grambling State led by freshman Juan Reyna (San Antonio, Texas) and his 25-point performance. Reigning Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Player of the Week Trace Young (Owensboro, Ky.) continues to lead Alabama State in scoring at 12.6 points per game, while Gerald Liddell (Cibolo, Texas) returns to the lineup and is averaging 10.2 points per game.
- Alabama State and Southern split the season series last season, each winning on their own floor. The Hornets made the Top 10 on SportsCenter for their win at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome with the buzzer-beater by Kenny Strawbridge (Rockford, Ill.).
- The Hornets come into the game off one of their best offensive performances of the season in which they went up 25 points on Grambling State in the second half and got 25 points from Juan Reyna (San Antonio, Texas) in the win.
- The official halfway point of the season began on Saturday and Alabama State finds itself at 5-5 overall and if the season ended today would likely face Florida A&M or Grambling State in the opening round.
- The Hornets have dropped three conference games at the buzzer this season, each time with the ball in their hands for the final shot — falling by a combined six points.
- Alabama State has just four games remaining on the season including a pair coming up next week and two more in the first week of March.
- The Hornets have started 15 different lineups this season and have had their fill squad for just one game in conference play. They are currently tied with Memphis with the most lineups in the country.
- The Hornets were picked to finish eighth in the preseason poll on a vote from the league’s head coaches and sports information directors with 125 total votes. They were just behind Alcorn State (128) in seventh and Florida A&M (138) in sixth. The top five included Texas Southern (237), Prairie View A&M (204), Jackson State (202), Grambling State (168), and Southern (167).