FLORENCE, Ala. (February 14, 2024) – The University of North Alabama men's basketball team is in the home stretch of the regular season, as the Lions will host its final two regular season home games against Lipscomb this Thursday and Austin Peay this Saturday.
On Thursday, the Lions will tip against Lipscomb at 7:45 p.m. This will serve as TVBA Night where UNA will welcome youth league players from the Tennessee Valley Basketball Association. A number of other promotions will take place Thursday, including a special Black History Month presentation honoring some of UNA's greatest basketball players.
On Saturday, the Lions will play their regular season home finale against Austin Peay at 7:15 p.m. This will be senior night, as the Lions will honor
Damian Forrest,
KJ Johnson,
Eoin Nelson and
Tim Smith Jr. with a special pre-game ceremony. Saturday will also be scouts night and will include other promotions throughout the night, including a Midtowne Butcher Steak Eating Contest.
Both games will be streamed on ESPN+ with Benjamin Ray and Matt Daniels on the call. WLX will carry the radio broadcast on 98.3 and 103.5 FM with Bryan Neece on play-by-play. Live stats are available for both games.
Premium Seating at CB&S Bank Arena inside Flowers Hall is sold out for the year, but general admission season tickets and single game tickets are still available. For ticket information, contact
bbond@una.edu, call 256-765-5466 or visit online
at this link.
Parking is available to the general public along the streets of Circular Road and Stewart Avenue, as well as the parking lot in front of Rice and Rivers Hall and the parking garage. Lots A-C at The Bill Jones Athletic Complex and below the arena are reserved parking spaces. There is also paid parking below the Science Building off Circular Road.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION - THURSDAY
Game: North Alabama vs. Lipscomb
Date: Thursday, February 15
Time: 7:45 p.m.
Location: Florence, Alabama
Venue: CB&S Bank Arena at Flowers Hall
Capacity: 3,000
Watch:
ESPN+
Radio:
WLX 98.3 / 103.5 FM
Live Stats:
RoarLions.com
Tickets:
Click here
UNA Game Notes:
Click here
Social Media:
@UNA_Basketball
Game Sponsor: TriGreen
Promotions: TVBA Night, Black History Month Celebration, Jimmy John's Toss
GAMEDAY INFORMATION - SATURDAY
Game: North Alabama vs. Austin Peay
Date: Saturday, February 17
Time: 7:15 p.m.
Location: Florence, Alabama
Venue: CB&S Bank Arena at Flowers Hall
Capacity: 3,000
Watch:
ESPN+
Radio:
WLX 98.3 / 103.5 FM
Live Stats:
RoarLions.com
Tickets:
Click here
Social Media:
@UNA_Basketball
Promotions: Senior Night, Scouts Night, Midtown Butcher Steak Eating Contest, Jimmy John's Toss
NOTES
LAST TIME OUT: North Alabama had a five-game win streak snapped at Jacksonville last Saturday, as the Dolphins defeated the Lions by a 67-63 final. Tied at the half, UNA opened the second half on a 12-2 run to take a double-digit lead, but Jacksonville came back and led by one or two possessions over the final 10 minutes. JU is now 9-1 at home this season.
SCOUTING THE LIONS: UNA owns a 12-13 overall record and enters the week in a three-way tie for fourth in the ASUN standings alongside Saturday's opponent Austin Peay and North Florida. The Lions are averaging 77.5 points per game in conference play with four players in double figure averages, led by guards
KJ Johnson and
Jacari Lane both above 15.0 PPG. UNA has won four of its six ASUN home games, including each of the last three.
SCOUTING THE BISONS: Lipscomb enters with a 16-10 overall record and sits one game ahead of UNA in the conference with a 7-4 record. Though third in the standings, Lipscomb owns the highest NET and KenPom rankings in the ASUN at No. 162 and No. 168, respectively. Lipscomb is also fourth in the nation in conference field goal percentage behind Wright State (Horizon), Gonzaga (53.3) and Northern Colorado (Big Sky) as one of just eight teams above 50 percent nationwide. The Bisons are also one of the top 25 scoring offenses in the nation at 82.1 PPG and were led by Derrin Boyd with 17.6 PPG before suffering a season-ending injury last week. Will Pruitt and AJ McGinnis are both averaging double figures.
SCOUTING THE GOVERNORS: Austin Peay enters the week with a 13-13 record and is tied with UNA at 6-5 in the ASUN standings. Entering Thursday's game at Central Arkansas, the Govs have won three straight over North Florida, Kennesaw State and Queens — all at home. While Clarksville has been kind to Austin Peay, the road has not, as the Govs look to snap a five-game road losing streak this week. APSU averages 71.4 PPG with just 69.8 PPG allowed. DeMarcus Sharp leads the way with 17.3 PPG.
SERIES HISTORY VS. LIPSCOMB: UNA and Lipscomb have a rich tradition in basketball with 78 all-time meetings. Lipscomb leads the series with a 50-28 record dating all the way back to 1931 when Hall of Famer Eddie Flowers coached at UNA. Since joining Division I in 2018, UNA is 3-7 against the Bisons. Lipscomb has won four of the last five, but UNA won last year's meeting in Florence by an 80-70 final led by 22 points from Johnson.
SERIES HISTORY VS. AUSTIN PEAY: UNA and Austin Peay will meet for the 30th time on Saturday, with the first meeting coming all the way back in 1935. Only two of the 29 previous meetings have come since UNA's move to Division I in 2018. UNA won the first of those meetings last season with a 70-59 win in Florence, while Austin Peay won the most recent meeting earlier this season with an 83-80 overtime victory in Clarksville.
HOME, SWEET HOME: UNA has had much more success in the friendly confines of CB&S Bank Arena this season, sporting a 9-3 record at home with just one home loss in conference play. UNA has won three straight home games with wins over Queens, Stetson and FGCU. In six seasons under Coach
Tony Pujol at the Division I level, the Lions are 49-26 at home.
NO LEAD IS SAFE: Since conference play began in January, UNA has experienced 55 lead changes over 11 games for an average of five lead changes per game. Additionally, UNA has a 2-1 record in ASUN games where it trailed by double-digits, including a road win over Kennesaw State where UNA trailed by 11 and won by six and a home win over Stetson where UNA trailed by 13 and won by seven. UNA also trailed by 23 against Central Arkansas and pulled within one with five seconds to go before falling 84-81.
HELPER, HELPER: Sophomore
Jacari Lane enters this week with 101 assists on the season. He needs just eight more to break his own Division I era record for single-season assists which he set at 108 as a freshman over 33 games. His 101 total this season has come in just 25 games.
CAREER GUYS: Four-year players
Will Soucie and
Detalian Brown are just the second and third players in UNA Division I history to appear in over 100 games, joining Jamari Blackmon who played in 113 games from 2018-22.
Dallas Howell is not far behind the pair at 88 games, passing Aleksa Matic (2019-22) for the fourth-most Division I appearances at UNA.
FOUR OVER A THOUSAND: The Lions have four players on the active roster who have scored 1,000 career points — Johnson, Smith Jr., Forrest and junior transfer
Marco Foster. Johnson accomplished the feat last season, while Smith Jr. did so against Jacksonville State this season. Foster and Forrest hit the marks against Rust College and Morehead State, respectively.
ELITE COMPANY: UNA is one of nine known schools in Division I basketball with at least four 1,000 point scorers when factoring in players who scored some of their totals at the JUCO level. The list is led by St. John's (NY) with six, followed by TCU and Missouri with five. North Alabama is joined by Tennessee, Villanova, St. Bonaventure, Memphis and New Mexico with four.
ON THE HORIZON: The Lions will play the final three regular season games on the road, including trips to EKU and Bellarmine next week in Kentucky. The regular season ends on March 1 at Central Arkansas. The ASUN Championship Tournament begins Monday, March 4 and will run until Sunday, March 10.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
