Lions head to South Carolina

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) – NOTES

SCOUTING THE LIONS: UNA enters with a 5-5 overall record and is scoring at a high rate with 80.3 points per game. On Sunday, the Lions had a 15 game non-conference home winning streak end as Morehead State won 86-77 in Florence. The Lions are shooting 44.4 percent from the field with KJ Johnson, Jacari Lane and Tim Smith Jr. all averaging double-figure scoring totals.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT: Charleston Southern enters with a 3-5 overall record and will play for the first time in 11 days when it suits up on Wednesday. In their last outing, the Buccaneers defeated South Carolina State 66-64 for their first win over a Division I opponent this season. This also marked the first win under interim head coach Saah Nimley, who took over leadership duties just two days prior. The Bucs are averaging 70.8 PPG with 72.9 PPG allowed. RJ Johnson is the leading scorer at 17.1 PPG.

SERIES HISTORY: Wednesday will mark the first all-time meeting between the two programs. This will also be UNA’s first game against a current Big South Conference member.

LAST TIME OUT: The Lions led 37-30 at halftime, but were unable to hold off Morehead State in an 86-77 home loss this past Sunday. Despite the loss, sophomore guard Jacari Lane scored a season-high 28 points on 10-20 shooting from the floor. The 28 points and 10 field goals made are the most by any Lion in a single game this season.

FOUR THOUSAND: The Lions have four players on the active roster who have scored 1,000 career points — KJ Johnson, Tim Smith Jr., Marco Foster and Damain Forrest. Johnson accomplished the feat last season, while Smith Jr. did so against Jacksonville State this season. Foster and Forrest hit the marks in each of the last two games against Rust College and Morehead State, respectively.

TEAMS WITH MULTIPLE 1,000 POINTERS: 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 ROAD AGAIN: The Lions are currently 0-4 in road games this season. All four games were against quality opponents, including Mississippi State, UT Martin, Western Carolina and Kansas State. The K-State game was UNA’s last roadtrip, ending in a heartbreaking 75-74 loss in overtime. The Lions led K-State for over 30 minutes in the near-upset of a 2023 Elite Eight finalist.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: For his recent performances against Tennessee Tech and K-State, sophomore guard Jacari Lane was named the Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Week for the first time this season and the second time in his career. Lane notched his first-career double-double at K-State with 19 points and a career-high 11 assists, while adding 20 points and four assists in the win over TTU. Lane added three steals and had just one turnover in the K-State game, nearly guiding UNA to the upset win.

NET RANKINGS: The NCAA released its first NET rankings of the season last week, slotting UNA at No. 190 of 362 teams. This marks the highest NET ranking in program history since making the jump to Division I in 2018. The NET — NCAA Evaluation Tool — replaced the RPI system in 2018. The NET system takes into account win percentage, game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency and quality of wins and losses. Currently, UNA sits No. 223 in the rankings. CSU is ranked No. 348.

COMING UP ON 100 GAMES: Junior guards Will Soucie and Detalian Brown are each closing in on 100 career games, as Soucie sits at 94 games and Brown at 93. The pair have combined for over 3,500 minutes of basketball in a Lion uniform.

BUILDING ON SUCCESS: North Alabama finished with an 18-15 record last season, representing the most single-season wins since the Lions made the jump to NCAA Division I in 2018-19.

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: Pujol enters his sixth season as the head coach at North Alabama, serving as the first and only coach of UNA’s Division I era. Pujol enters tomorrow’s game with 68 wins over six seasons.

STRENGTH IN STAFF: The UNA men’s basketball coaching staff experienced some restructuring this offseason, including the promotion of Ahmad Smith to Associate Head Coach and Sean Foley to Special Assistant to the Head Coach. Additions to the staff include Austin Burnette as an assistant coach, Landon Travis to handle basketball operations and Eric Wagenlander to direct efforts in player development. Assistant Coach Carter Heston and Director of Sport Performance Leo Stern also return from last year’s staff.

PRESEASON POLLS: North Alabama was picked seventh of 12 teams in the preseason coaches and media poll for the ASUN. The Lions received one first place vote in the coaches poll. EKU was picked to win in both polls.

HOME SWEET HOME: Over the last two seasons, UNA owns a 14-5 record at home inside CB&S Bank Arena. In six seasons under head coach Tony Pujol, the Lions are 26-3 in non-conference home contests and 45-24 when including conference games. UNA is 523-183 at home all-time.

ON THE HORIZON: UNA will be on the road for four straight games, including Wednesday’s game at Charleston Southern. After that are trips to Tennessee Tech (Dec. 16), Indiana (Dec. 21) and Texas Tech (Jan. 1).

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