Courtesy of Talladega College Athletics
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Talladega College men’s basketball is posting one of the best seasons in all of men’s college basketball with a 15-1 overall mark while riding a 13-game win streak into the second half of the season. With a .938 win percentage, the Tornadoes are the only one-loss men’s college basketball team in the State of Alabama among, NCAA, NAIA, and Junior College teams.
The Tornadoes are also first in the GCAC with a 5-0 conference record. Talladega has posted an undefeated record (5-0) at home while its only loss coming on the road (8-1) early this season. The team is 2-0 when playing on neutral sites.
Against NCAA Division II schools, Talladega this season is 9-1 while its only loss was by two points, 53-51, against Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) defending champion Miles College back on Nov. 11. Since then both teams met for a second time with the Tornadoes evening the series with a 55-53 win on Jan. 9.
“We are excited about our 15-1 start but understand we still have a lot of work to do,” said Talladega head coach Dannton Jackson. “It has been fun working with our scholar-athletes. They have fallen in love with the process and our culture“.
The 13-game winning streak is the only double-digit streak in Alabama. The next closest is Auburn’s nine-game streak and the rest are as follows: Wallace Hanceville (7), Birmingham Southern (6), Troy (6), Alabama (5), Mobile (5), and Stillman (4).
Among NAIA programs, Talladega had the third-longest active win streak behind Grace (Ind.) at 16-0 and fellow HBCU Langston (Okla.), which is 15-0. The Tornadoes are tied for the second-longest HBCU win streak with Benedict (13-0) among HBCUs at any level.
Talladega as a team has the highest win percentage in Alabama (.938) among 2-year and 4-year schools. While posting the third highest in the NAIA, second-best among HBCU programs, and tied with Ole Miss at 12th nationally among all 4-year college basketball programs through Jan. 13.
One of the key reasons for Talladega’s success this season is its defense. The Tornadoes have held opponents to 55.4 points per game, which ranks first in the NAIA. The only other team in the NAIA to hold opponents to less than 60 points per game is UC Merced (58.8 ppg). While keeping the opposition to less than 40 percent shooting from the floor (38.2%) and less than 30 percent from three (28.2%), both are first in the NAIA.
Talladega on the offensive side is first in the GCAC in field goal percentage shooting 49.1% and first in the NAIA shooting 47.8%. The Tornadoes also sit at the top of the conference (42.9%) and the NAIA (34.3) in three-point percentage.
D’Andre Boyd leads the team in points per game averaging 11.9 points on a team-high 61.7 field goal percentage. Teammate JaVonni Bickham leads the team in rebounding overall and in conference action. He is averaging 5.1 rebounds per game on the season while in conference play, he is averaging 7.2 boards. Bickham leads the team from the charity stripe as he is 59-of-83 (71.1%).
Talladega is home on Monday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. when it hosts GCAC rival Rust College. The Jan. 16 GCAC game against Wiley College was postponed due to inclement weather and hazardous travel
Winning Percentage at All Levels of College Basketball in Alabama
Talladega 15-1 .938
Bishop State 16-2 .889
Auburn 14-2 .875
Wallace State Hanceville 16-3 .842
Mobile 14-3 .824
Best Winning Percentage in the NAIA
Grace (Ind) 16-0
Langston (Okla.) 15-0
Cumberlands (Ky.) 16-1 (.941)
Point Park (Penn.) 16-1 (.941)
Talladega (Ala.) 15-1 (.938)
National Rankings
Grace (Ind) 16-0 – NAIA
St Vincent 16-0 – D3
Langston (Okla.) 15-0 – NAIA
MSU Moorhead 14-0 – D2
Minnesota State 14-0 – D2
Benedict 13-0 – D2
Grand Canyon 16-1(.941) – D1
Utah State 16-1 (.941) – D1
Cumberlands (Ky.) 16-1 (.941) – NAIA
Point Park (Penn.) 16-1 (.941) – NAIA
Trinity (Texas) 16-1 (.941) – NAIA
Ole Miss 15-1 (.938) – D1
Talladega (Ala.) 15-1 (.938) – NAIA