CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (January 17, 2023) – The University of North Alabama men's basketball team will make its first road trip in Atlantic Sun Conference play on Thursday as the Lions take on Austin Peay at 7 p.m. in Clarksville, Tenn.
This game will begin a three-game road swing for North Alabama, who will swing over to Nashville on Saturday to take on Lipscomb. The road stretch ends next Wednesday with a trip to defending ASUN Champion Kennesaw State.
Fans can watch on ESPN+ or listen to the local broadcast on WLX Radio either on the app, on the web or on 98.3 and 103.5 FM in the Shoals. Live stats are also available on StatBroadcast, and tickets can be purchased through TicketMaster.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Game: North Alabama at Austin Peay
Date: Thursday, January 18
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Clarksville, Tenn.
Venue: F&M Bank Arena
Capacity: 6,000
TV:
ESPN+
Radio:
WLX — 98.3 / 103.5 FM
Live Stats:
StatBroadcast
Tickets:
Click here
Social Media:
@UNA_Basketball
NOTES
SCOUTING THE LIONS: UNA has a 7-10 overall record and a 1-2 record in ASUN games. Last week in Florence, the Lions defeated Bellarmine by a 69-53 final before falling 81-72 to EKU on Saturday — who remains unbeaten in conference play at 4-0. UNA has retained a positive scoring margin all season with 75.9 points per game to just 74.7 allowed. UNA is led by sophomore guard
Jacari Lane with 14.4 PPG and senior guard
KJ Johnson with 13.0 PPG.
SCOUTING THE GOVS: A similar season to UNA so far, Austin Peay is 8-10 overall and 1-2 in league play. The Govs began league play with a decisive 84-68 win over Bellarmine, but have since dropped the last two against EKU (69-59) and Lipscomb (91-77). APSU has the top scoring defense in the ASUN with just 67.2 PPG allowed. On the flipside, the offense ranks 11th in the league with 68.3 PPG — giving UNA and Austin Peay nearly the exact same margin with a 0.1 difference. Graduate guard Demarcus Sharp — a transfer from Northwestern State who won Southland Player of the Year last season — leads Austin Peay with 17.7 PPG, which is good enough for second in the ASUN.
SERIES HISTORY: The series between North Alabama and Austin Peay dates all the way back to 1935 with 28 meetings — but only one meeting at the Division I level. Austin Peay leads the series with a 21-6 record. UNA won the first meeting in 1935 by a 32-26 final under Coach Eddie Flowers — the namesake of Flowers Hall. The next meeting didn't come until 1949 — a 75-59 final under Coach Ed Billingham. Both Flowers and Billingham are members of the UNA Athletic Hall of Fame. Since 1962, the teams have only battled one time — last season's 70-59 win by UNA in Florence.
TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE: UNA's last meeting with Austin Peay witnessed a career-high 29 points from
Jacari Lane as a true freshman. Lane went 11-13 from the field in his first collegiate start, setting UNA's current Division I record for single-game individual field goal percentage on at least 10 attempts at 84.6. As has been the trend this season for UNA, the Lions overcame a deficit in the first half against APSU, outscoring the Govs 42-28 in the second half.
BACK TO CLARKSVILLE: Thursday's trip to Clarksville marks the first time in 62 years that UNA will play at Austin Peay. In the 1962-63 season, UNA won 98-95 in Florence but fell 89-85 in the return trip to Clarksville.
TALE OF TWO HALVES: The Lions have outscored their conference opponents in the second half of every game this season, but have been outscored each time in the first half. UNA is being outscored 118-84 in the first half of games, but answer that with a 138-100 advantage in the second half.
LANE AT THE LINE: Lane leads the ASUN and ranks among the top 100 free throw shooters in the nation with 70 made free throws on 86 attempts. This puts him fourth in the league with an 81.4 percentage. This is on pace with last season's numbers, where he shot 107-131 at the line for 81.7 percent.
LIFE IN 4K: UNA has four players with over 1,000 career points on its roster, including
KJ Johnson,
Tim Smith Jr.,
Marco Foster and
Damian Forrest. The latter three each achieved the feat this season, with Forrest doing it the most recently against Morehead State.
MOVING UP THE RANKS: Johnson enters the week with 1,423 career points over five seasons in the ASUN, including three at Lipscomb and the last two with North Alabama. He is the active leader among ASUN career scorers and ranks 57th all-time. He needs 54 points to enter the top-50 all-time league scorers.
CAREER GUYS: Last week, UNA had two fourth-year players compete in their 100th career game at UNA.
Will Soucie accomplished the feat on Thursday against Bellarmine, while
Detalian Brown did it on Saturday against EKU. They are just the second and third players to play in 100 games for UNA in the Division I era (since 2018). They join Jamari Blackmon with 113 career games.
ADDED DEPTH: A statistic UNA prides itself on is bench scoring, as the Lions rank 56th in the nation and second in the ASUN behind North Florida in bench points per game. The Lions are averaging 26.53 points off the bench, while UNF leads at 27.7 bench PPG.
IN OUR DEFENSE: Last week against Bellarmine, UNA allowed just 53 points to mark the lowest offensive output by a Division I opponent since 2021 against Alabama A&M, who scored just 45 points. Last season, UNA limited Austin Peay to just 57 points to tie Bellarmine for the lowest by a D1 opponent that season.
HUNTING ANOTHER POSTSEASON RUN: Last season, UNA played in the 2023 College Basketball Invitational (CBI) to mark the first postseason tournament in the program's NCAA Division I history. Prior to that, UNA's last postseason appearance was an NCAA Regional in 2013-14. UNA has participated in 14 NCAA Tournaments (all Division II), including five Final Four appearances and two National Championship wins.
PUJOL CONTINUES PROGRAM GROWTH: UNA head coach
Tony Pujol enters his sixth season at the helm, serving as the first and only coach of UNA's Division I era. Pujol enters tomorrow's bout with 70 wins over six seasons and led UNA to an 18-15 overall record in its first season out of the four-year Division I transition period.
ON THE HORIZON: UNA will travel to Lipscomb on Saturday for a 4 p.m. tip in Nashville. Lipscomb is 2-1 in conference play and has won four of its last five games, including a 78-75 win over Florida State to end non-conference play.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
