Victorious in their last four trips to the court, the Southern Arkansas men's basketball team, under the direction of 10-year head coach Andy Sharpe, will carry that win streak and the accompanying momentum into Great American Conference play this week.
The season within the season begins tonight in Searcy as the Muleriders (4-2) open league play against Harding (2-3), before returning home to face Henderson State (3-2) on Saturday inside the W.T. Watson Center.
After a 0-2 start to the season with opening-weekend losses to Augustana (6-1) and then Northern State (6-3), the Muleriders rattled off four-straight wins which started with a 39-point win over Arkansas Baptist in the team's home opener and an 80-66 road win over Dallas Baptist which snapped the Patriots' 19-game home winning streak and evened SAU's season record at 2-2.
Two days after the statement performance against DBU, Southern Arkansas broke the program single-game scoring record in a 120-56 handling of Champion Christian. Most recently, SAU dismissed Delta State 82-60 in the first hardwood meeting between the former Gulf South Conference foes since December of 2011. The game concluded non-conference play for the Muleriders this season.
Southern Arkansas enters conference play with the league's third-highest scoring offense at 85.2 ppg, while employing a scoring defense that ranks second in the GAC and translates to a +20 scoring margin which is the GAC's third-best.
On the defensive end of the floor is where the Muleriders have gotten it done through six games this season. SAU currently leads the GAC in field goal percentage defense (39.9%), total steals (47), steals per game (9.4), turnover margin (7.2) and turnovers forced per game (18.6). The Muleriders rank second in the GAC in total blocks (21) and blocks per game (4.2) and third in three-point field goal defense at 29.4%.
Senior forward Devante Brooks leads the team and three other teammates in double figure scoring with a scoring averaging of 17.3 points per game behind a shooting clip of 62.5% in 28.2 minutes of action. Brooks, who is currently second among active Division II players in career rebounds with 925, is averaging 8.7 boards per game. He has delivered a pair of double doubles this season to give him 31 for his career which stands as the most ever in the GAC and third-most among active DII players.
Senior point guard Aaron Lucas follows with 13.2 ppg in a team-high 31.3 minutes on the floor. Lucas paces the team with 29 assists at 4.8 assists per game. Junior combo Jalen Brooks leads the GAC in steals with 16 and in steals per game at 2.7, while following Lucas in scoring at 11.8 ppg. Junior guard Blake Rogers rounds out Muleriders in double figures at 11.7 ppg and is tops on the team in three-point shooting percentage at 46.7% (14-of-30) among players with at least 20 attempts.
Southern Arkansas opens league play at Harding at 7:30 p.m. Under Sharpe, SAU is 4-5 in league openers (5-5 in all GAC openers) and 10-12 against Harding. However, the Muleriders have won six straight games against the Bisons, including three straight on the road; both streaks are the longest such against HU under Sharpe. The last time the two programs took the floor against each other was in last spring's regular season finale that saw the Muleriders survive in overtime for a 78-72 victory which gave SAU a share of the GAC Eastern Division title.
Harding begins league play with a 2-3 record overall. The Bisons' nonconference ledger includes wins over non-NCAA foes Ecclesia College and Champion Christian and in-region losses to Minot State, St. Cloud State and Arkansas-Fort Smith.
HU is averaging and allowing 78.2 ppg on both ends of the floor. The Bisons are allowing a 47.2% success rate from the floor while opponents are knocking down 45% of their three-point attempts. Harding owns a +1.8 turnover margin and ranks third in the GAC in blocked shots per game at 3.2. Three players are averaging double figures in scoring for the Bisons with Taylor Currie's 19.4 ppg pacing the squad. Currie is shooting 58.1% from the floor, while Stetson Smithson leads the team beyond-the-arc at 44.4% with a dozen makes. Currie and Smithson have combined for 83 of the team's 185 rebounds. Ramiro Santiago leads the team in assists with 17, while him, Smithson and Jordan West have all collected six steals.
SAU hosts Henderson State at 3 p.m. Saturday.
The series with HSU since Sharpe took over in 2012-13 has been a tight one. SAU holds an 11-10 advantage after winning all three meetings a season ago. At home during that span, the Muleriders are 7-2 against the Reddies. In GAC home openers, Southern Arkansas is 5-4 under Sharpe and 6-4 overall.
Henderson State enters GAC play at 3-2. The Reddies own wins over Missouri Western, Texas College, and Pittsburg State with losses to Winona State and Arkansas-Fort Smith. HSU will GAC play at home on Thursday against defending league champion, but new-look Arkansas-Monticello.
The Reddies are scoring at a clip of just over 72 ppg and own a scoring margin of +1.4. HSU is currently the top free throw shooting team in the GAC at 78.4% and from the floor, the squad is connecting on 42.1% of its shots with a 35% success rate from range. HSU allows the fourth-highest shooting percentage to the opposition at 44.8%, but owns an air-tight perimeter defense at 28.1%. The Reddies' rebounding margin stands at +3.2 and they own the third-best steals average at 8.0 with a turnover margin of +3.2. Malik Riddle leads the team in scoring at 10.2 ppg, while six other players are averaging at least 7 ppg this season. Four players have recorded at least 20 rebounds led by Andre Washington's 28. Alvin Miles' 18 assists lead the team, while Quawn Marshall's 11 steals are a team-high.
