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NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans men's basketball team will look to right the ship and get fat off some home cooking when the Privateers square off against Southland Conference foe Central Arkansas on Monday, Jan. 25, in Lakefront Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
The game against the Bears is the first of a three-game homestand for UNO as the team will host McNeese State on Saturday, Jan. 30, before playing Nicholls on Monday, Feb. 1. The Privateers will need the home court to be a true advantage as New Orleans is looking to snap a five-game skid, but head coach
Mark Slessinger was quick to point out that the outcome of the final 12 regular-season games lays squarely on the shoulders of his players and staff.
"Nobody feels sorry for us," Slessinger said. "We've got to get our butt back in there, get working and get this thing turned around. We've got 12 more [games] to go and we've got to get ready to make a march into the [Southland] tournament and achieve or goal of making the NCAA Tournament. There's no time to feel sorry for ourselves.
"The [players are] disappointed and our staff is disappointed. This is not what we wanted. This is not where we feel this team should be. We should have turned two or three of those games around in there. We should be 3-3 at this point and we're very disappointed in where we're at. We've got a short turnaround to say the least [after playing at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday night]. UCA was at Nicholls [on Saturday] and they'll be ready for us on Monday night. We'll be anxious for that game."
New Orleans enters Monday's matchup 5-12 on the year and 1-5 in Southland Conference action. Three of the team's losses during the current five-game losing streak came by a combined 10 points while UNO dropped its last two outings against Stephen F. Austin and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi by an average of 22.5 points.
As a team, the Privateers are averaging 71.8 points, 38.1 rebounds, 13.4 assists, 8.6 steals and 2.9 blocks per game. Junior guard
Christavious Gill leads a balanced UNO offense with 13.4 points per game while junior forward
Erik Thomas, junior point guard
Nate Frye and senior forward
Kevin Hill follow with respective scoring averages of 10.4, 9.9 and 8.9. Thomas paces the team with 7.2 rebounds per game with Hill and sophomore forward
Travin Thibodeaux sharing the lead with 0.7 blocked shot per outing apiece. Frye leads the Privateers with 3.4 assists per game and Gill has a team-best 2.0 steals-per-contest average.
New Orleans is connecting at a .402 clip from the field, hitting 406-of-1011 shots from the floor and 90-of-261 tries from beyond the 3-point arc (.345), while allowing opponents to shoot .438 overall (422-of-963) and .325 from 3-point land (118-of-363). Privateer foes are averaging 74.8 points, 38.5 rebounds, 14.4 assists, 8.2 steals and 5.1 blocks so far in 2015-16.
Central Arkansas, meanwhile, comes to town 3-13 on the year, 2-4 in Southland Conference play and winners of two of its last four outings, including a 94-83 victory at Nicholls on Saturday in Thibodaux, Louisiana.
As a team, the Bears are averaging 71.4 points, 36.2 rebounds, 12.3 assists, 6.4 steals and 3.8 blocks per game. Jordan Howard leads three Central Arkansas players with double-figure scoring averages at 17.8 points per game, followed by Derreck Brooks at 12.6 and Justin Foreman at 10.3. Brooks and Jake Zuilhof share team-high rebounding and blocking honors with 5.9 boards and 1.2 swats per game each. Brooks also paces the squad with 2.9 assists and 1.5 steals per outing.
Central Arkansas is hitting 42.6 percent of its shots from the field, connecting on 414-of-972 field goal attempts, including a 100-of-280 showing from beyond the 3-point line (.357). The Bears' defense has allowed opponents to post a 48.6 shooting percentage (472-of-972) and a 40.9 clip from 3-point land (126-of-308). Central Arkansas opponents are averaging 84.2 points, 38.0 rebounds, 15.3 assists, 7.8 steals and 4.5 blocks per game.
Monday's game between New Orleans and Central Arkansas marks just the fourth meeting between the two teams on the hardwood and the Privateers hold a slight 2-1 advantage in the all-time series.
All three of the previous head-to-head contests have come since UNO joined the Southland Conference for the 2013-14 campaign. The Privateers won the first two meetings with an 88-79 win in Conway, Arkansas, on Feb. 8, 2014, and an 87-67 victory in Lakefront Arena on Jan. 26, 2015. The last time the two teams squared off, however, the Bears posted a 70-67 home win in the Farris Center.
Tomorrow night's game is the first of two regular-season games between UNO and Central Arkansas as the Privateers are scheduled to play the Bears in Conway on Feb. 6.
For tickets to the upcoming home games and future Privateer sporting events can be purchased by clicking
HERE or by calling the UNO Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263).
--www.UNOPrivateers.com--
