LORMAN, Miss. – The Mississippi Valley State University men’s basketball program will look to spoil a party on Thursday evening as they try to keep the Braves from winning the regular season title after being picked to finish eighth in the preseason poll.
Records: Mississippi Valley State (2-24, 2-14 SWAC) | Alcorn (13-15, 12-4 SWAC)
Location: Lorman, Mississippi – Davey L. Whitney Complex
Series History: Alcorn Leads 69-39
Last Meeting: February 7, 2022 | Alcorn 79, Mississippi Valley State 71 | Itta Bena, Mississippi (R.W. Harrison HPER Complex)
Winning Streak: Alcorn (W5) | Mississippi Valley State’s Last Win: February 16, 2019 (76-68)
Mississippi Valley State Overview
MVSU has committed the fewest turnovers in the conference with 351, rank second three-pointers per game (7.1) and turnover margin (2.3) while slotting in the upper-half for scoring offense (67.1) plus steals (7.5) and dimes (11.6) a night.
Kadar Waller has been calm and collected at the free-throw line, draining 87.5% of his attempts to rank among the 30-best in the nation.
David McCoy has stolen the ball at a rate of 1.56 per contest to rank eighth in the SWAC while Gary Grant leads the Devils in rebounding (4.6) and blocks (13) to go along with Devin Gordon’s team-high 11.2 points a game among active players.
Scouting The Opponent: Alcorn Braves
The Braves can clinch a share of the SWAC Regular Season Championship for the first time since 2002 with a win over the Delta Devils which would earn them the number one seed in the SWAC Tournament in Birmingham.
Alcorn has rebounded and taken advantage of its freebies all the way to the top of the SWAC as it slots second for both categories in the Southwestern Athletic Conference with a 0.9 rebound margin and a 71.7% free-throw percentage.
Justin Thomas has been the floor general for Coach of the Year frontrunner Landon Bussie, averaging four assists and 1.88 steals to rank third and sixth, respectively, to go along with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.53. He is also the only Brave scoring in double-figures at 10.2 points.
The men from Lorman rely heavily on a deep bench as ten different student-athletes are averaging five points or better and five Braves grab at least four boards per matchup.
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