KENNESAW, Ga. (January 23, 2023) – The University of North Alabama men's basketball team has a tall task on Wednesday at Kennesaw State, as the Lions will look to end the Owls' 11-game home winning streak inside the KSU Convocation Center.
 
The Lions hope to prove worthy candidates of ending this streak, winning each of the last five road meetings against Kennesaw State. In the process, UNA will seek its first road win in Atlantic Sun Conference play after two unsuccessful tries in Tennessee.
 
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET in Kennesaw and 6 p.m. CT for fans watching in the Shoals. The game will be available on ESPN+ and on StatBroadcast. Tomorrow's game will not have a radio broadcast, as WLX 98.3 and 103.5 FM will air the UNA/KSU women's basketball game in Florence.
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Game: North Alabama at Kennesaw State
Date: Wednesday, Janaury 23
Time: 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT
Location: Kennesaw, Georgia
Venue: Convocation Center
Capacity: 3,805
TV: ESPN+
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Tickets: Click here
Social Media: @UNA_Basketball
 
NOTES
 
SCOUTING THE LIONS: UNA owns a 7-12 overall record with a 1-4 start ASUN play. The Lions will look to right the ship after dropping their last three games to Eastern Kentucky, Austin Peay and Lipscomb. UNA also seeks its first road win of the month with the last coming in December at Charleston Southern. UNA remains at a positive scoring margin with 76.3 points per game and 75.8 allowed. The Lions are led by sophomore Jacari Lane with 14.7 PPG.
 
SCOUTING THE OWLS: Kennesaw State comes in hot with a 13-6 overall record and a 4-1 mark in league play. The Owls are perfect at home this season with an 8-0 record and ride a 12-game home win streak dating back to last season. Last week, the Owls traveled down to Florida, suffering their first ASUN loss to North Florida and bouncing back with an 83-79 win at Jacksonville. The KSU offense leads the league and ranks 16th in the nation with 84.3 PPG. The Owls fire up nearly 30 triples per game — the sixth most in the nation — while shooting 31.7 percent on those attempts.
 
SERIES HISTORY: The Lions lead the all-time series against Kennesaw State with a 7-3 record. Last season, KSU defeated UNA in Florence to snap a seven-game losing streak in the series. The Owls won a pair of games in the 2003-04 season while both were at the Division II level. Both schools have since jumped to Division I with UNA winning seven straight starting in the 2018-19 season.
 
FORMER NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: The Lions and Owls have all enjoyed pinnacle success at the NCAA Division II level, as UNA won national championships in 1979 and 1991. Kennesaw State won the national title in 2004 — the same season it played UNA for the first time.
 
POSTSEASON PAIR: Kennesaw State and North Alabama both represented the ASUN in the 2023 postseason. The Owls won the ASUN Tournament and appeared as a No. 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament, falling 72-67 to No. 3 Xavier in the first round. Meanwhile, UNA made its first-ever postseason appearance at the Division I level, falling to Southern Utah in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI).
 
BOTH SIDES OF THE RIVALRY: On Saturday at Lipscomb, UNA's KJ Johnson faced his former school as he spent three seasons with the Bisons before transferring to UNA last season. Tomorrow at Kennesaw State, former UNA assistant coach Willie Watson will coach against his former program as an assistant at KSU. Watson spent six seasons at UNA from 2017-2023. Watson and both head coaches, UNA's Tony Pujol and KSU's Antoine Pettway, are all connected through various stints at the University of Alabama.
 
LAST MEETINGS: Kennesaw State snapped a seven-game losing streak in the series with a 79-66 win at CB&S Bank Arena in 2023. Lane finished with 22 points and seven assists for UNA. The last road meeting happened in 2022, as the Lions won 71-58 behind 26 combined bench points from Dallas Howell, Will Soucie and Detalian Brown — all four year members of the program.
 
SHOOTERS SHOOT: In the last game against Lipscomb, UNA shot over 56 percent from the field for its highest single-game road shooting percentage against a Division I opponent in the Division I era. Unfortunately, Lipscomb also came out firing at over 57 percent.
 
BIG GAME OUT OF THE WOODS: Senior forward Damian Forrest ranks second in the ASUN with 8.5 rebounds per game. Forrest scored a career-high 21 points at Lipscomb while adding nine rebounds. He has two double-doubles this season and has been on the verge of many more, averaging 9.9 PPG.
 
LANE AT THE LINE: Lane leads the ASUN and ranks among the top 100 free throw shooters in the nation with 80 made free throws on 100 attempts. His 80.0 percent mark ranks fourth among ASUN shooters.
 
LIFE IN 4K: UNA has four players with over 1,000 career points on its roster, including Johnson, Tim Smith Jr., Marco Foster and Forrest. The latter three each achieved the feat this season, with Forrest doing it the most recently against Morehead State.
 
CAREER GUYS: Two weeks ago, UNA had two fourth-year players compete in their 100th career game at UNA. Will Soucie accomplished the feat against Bellarmine, while Detalian Brown did it two days later 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.
 
IN OUR DEFENSE: In the win 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.
 
MARCH MADNESS: Kennesaw State will be the fourth opponent UNA will face that participated in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. The other three were Mississippi State, Kansas State and Indiana.
 
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: The Lions are back at home on Saturday against Queens. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. inside CB&S Bank Arena in Florence.
 
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.