ITTA BENA, Miss. – The Mississippi Valley State University men’s basketball program have lost four of its five conference games by just 24 points (6 points per game) excluding an outlier at Texas Southern and will attempt to reverse its fortunes this weekend.
Records: Mississippi Valley State (1-15, 1-5 SWAC) | Grambling State (5-12, 3-2 SWAC)
Location: Grambling, Louisiana – Frederick C. Hobdy Assembly Center
Series History: Mississippi Valley State Leads 61-51
Last Meeting: March 1, 2021 | Mississippi Valley State 67, Grambling State 63 | Itta Bena, Mississippi (R.W. Harrison HPER Complex)
Winning Streak: Mississippi Valley State (W1) | Grambling State’s Last Win: February 1, 2021 (85-72)
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 (16.44) with the second-best turnover margin (2.3) and assist average (11.8) 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. The “Detroit Dynamo” leads the Devils in points per game (13.8) mainly due to his third-most three-pointers in the SWAC at 38.
Elijah Davis is the so-called “Wingman” of the ballclub, helping his teammates score to the tune of 3.7 assists per game (fifth in SWAC) and an assist-to-turnover of 1.74 (third in SWAC).
Daniel Umoh and Gary Grant now share the title of top rebounder for Coach Lindsey Hunter’s guys, both corralling 56 boards with David McCoy not far off the pace at 54. McCoy is also the best defender of the group with a club-high 26 pickpockets.
Scouting The Opponent: Grambling State Tigers
GSU has alternated wins and losses over its past four contests with a six-point upset of a red-hot unbeaten Southern team that had won 7-of-8 coming in with its lone loss at Dayton and wins over Kent State plus Southeastern Louisiana.
Preseason All-Conference First Teamer Cameron Christon is the biggest scoring threat for the G-Men, dropping 12.5 points a night with an absurd 44.9 field-goal percentage and the best free-throw percentage in the league at 85.7%.
Six-foot-eight NC State transfer AJ Taylor has made the transition to the Southwestern Athletic Conference a smooth one with four double-doubles (second in SWAC), 102 rebounds (fifth in SWAC), and 22 blocks (third in SWAC).
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