BATON ROUGE, La. – The Mississippi Valley State University men’s basketball program have lost five of its six conference games by just 28 points (5.6 points per game) excluding an outlier at Texas Southern and will attempt to reverse its fortunes at Southern.
Records: Mississippi Valley State (1-16, 1-6 SWAC) | Southern (10-8, 5-1 SWAC)
Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana – F.G. Clark Activity Center
Series History: Southern Leads 64-40
Last Meeting: January 18, 2021 | Southern 102, Mississippi Valley State 61 | Baton Rouge, Louisiana (F.G. Clark Activity Center)
Winning Streak: Southern (W3) | Mississippi Valley State’s Last Win: February 18, 2019 (70-59)
Mississippi Valley State Overview
Despite the record, Valley has continued to be a defensive thorn in the side opponents all year, slotting in the NCAA’s top-30 for turnovers forced (16.35) with the second-best turnover margin (2.6) and fourth-highest assist average (11.5) in the conference.
Caleb Hunter, coming off his second SWAC weekly award of 2021-22, has evolved into one of the best pure shooters in the league when he’s on his game. “Cay Boogie”, as his friends like to call him, leads the Devils in points per game (13.7) mainly due to his third-most three-pointers in the SWAC at 41.
Elijah Davis is the “Wingman” of the ballclub, helping his teammates score to the tune of 3.5 assists per game (seventh in SWAC) and an assist-to-turnover of 1.71 (third in SWAC).
Daniel Umoh has the title of top rebounder for Coach Lindsey Hunter’s guys, corralling 61 boards while Gary Grant and David McCoy are not far off the pace at 61 and 58, respectively. McCoy is also the best defender of the group with a club-high 26 pickpockets.
Scouting The Opponent: Southern Jaguars
Southern has easily been the most impressive SWAC school during the 2021-22 season, notching non-conference wins over Tulane, Tennessee State, Southeastern Louisiana, and Kent State while rolling to a 5-1 conference record.
The Jaguars are elite on the defensive end of the court, racking up the second-best steals rate (11.3), third-highest turnovers forced average (19.83) and sixth-ranked turnover margin (5.6) in the NCAA.
The steals-driven squad is a collective effort with three different players in the SWAC’s top-12 for per game average, led by Preseason All-Conference Second Teamer Jayden Saddler at 1.94. Saddler leads the league in total assists with 72 and sports the second-highest assist-to-turnover ratio in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (1.85).
Tyrone Lyons is the scorer and shot blocker of the bunch at a 14.6 points per game (fourth in SWAC) and 17 blocks while Damien Sears tops the boards chart with 5.3 a night.
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