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NEW ORLEANS – The Southland Conference lead will be on the line on Thursday, Feb. 23, when the University of New Orleans men's basketball team plays host to four-time defending SLC champion Stephen F. Austin at 7:45 p.m. in Lakefront Arena. The game is the second half of a UNO hoops doubleheader as the women's teams from both schools will tipoff at 5:30 p.m.
The Privateers and Lumberjacks both enter the game winners of four consecutive contests, and UNO holds a one-game lead in the Southland regular-season standing at 11-3. The Lumberjacks, however, are just one game back at 10-4, including a 71-61 victory over New Orleans back on Jan. 28 in Nacogdoches, Texas.
"It's a huge game," UNO head coach
Mark Slessinger said. "It's always big because it's the next game, but then it's really big because it potentially gets us one more step closer to a championship. We haven't had one of those here in 20 years, so it would be important for our program, for our University and for our city.
"We've had a really good week of preparation. The guys have felt good about the things that we've done and the adjustments we've made in preparing for this game. We did play really, really poorly [at Stephen F. Austin] in a lot of different aspects. We did not play well. The guys know it. They were disappointed that we let an opportunity slide away there, but I believe they've made some big adjustments to try and improve and get ready for the opportunity this game presents."
The Privateers enter Thursday's game 16-9 on the year and fresh off an 84-61 win over Central Arkansas on Feb. 18 in Lakefront Arena.
As a team, New Orleans is averaging 73.0 points, 36.2 rebounds, 16.2 assists, 8.0 steals and 3.2 blocks per game. Senior forward
Erik Thomas leads the Privateers offensively with 20.0 points per game, followed by senior guards
Christavious Gill at 11.7 and
Nate Frye with a mark of 10.3. Thomas also paces the team with 8.0 rebounds and 1.6 steals a night with junior forward
Travin Thibodeaux leading the squad with 3.6 assists per game. Junior forward
Makur Puou headlines the defense with 1.4 blocked shots per contest.
New Orleans is connecting at a .469 clip from the field, hitting 651-of-1388 shots from the floor and 117-of-343 tries from beyond the 3-point arc (.341), while allowing opponents to shoot .442 overall (627-of-1417) and .315 from 3-point land (162-of-515). Privateer foes are averaging 69.8 points, 32.0 rebounds, 12.8 assists, 8.6 steals and 3.2 blocks so far in 2016-17.
"They continue to play unselfishly," Slessinger said of his team. "They're playing very, very hard. We've played better defensively in the last two or three games than we had for a while. I think we got back into a groove defensively on the pieces that are important. We're continuing to evolve and improve offensively. We're not where we want to be by any stretch of the imagination. We just need to keep improving, getting better, making reads and finding people open in the right places at the right times."
Stephen F. Austin, meanwhile, comes to town 15-11 on the season which includes a 70-61 home win over Lamar last Thursday and a 60-52 victory at Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday
As a team, the Lumberjacks are averaging 69.6 points, 34.3 rebounds, 12.1 assists, 7.2 steals and 3.3 blocks per game. T.J. Holyfield leads balanced offense with 11.8 points per game, followed by Ivan Canete, Leon Gilmore, III, and Ty Charles with respective averages of 11.5, 9.7 and 9.3. Holyfield also paces the squad with 6.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. Canete leads the SFA defense with 1.5 steals per game and Dallas Cameron headlines the offense with 2.8 assists per outing.
Stephen F. Austin is hitting 44.6 percent of its shots from the field, connecting on 616-of-1380 attempts, including a 157-of-482 showing from beyond the 3-point line (.326). The Lumberjack defense has allowed opponents to post a 45.3 shooting percentage (599-of-11322) and a 36.2 clip from 3-point land (159-of-439) and their foes are averaging 68.0 points, 30.4 rebounds, 11.9 assists, 7.2 steals and 3.2 blocks per game.
"They're really, really good," Slessinger said of the Lumberjacks. "They're very well coached. They're a team with very good veteran leaders who have won a lot of games and won some championships in this league. I think they're the most talented team in the league, for sure, and they're as hot of a ballclub as there is in our league, too. I think our guys are very excited for the challenge and they're excited for the opportunity to get back out and compete and try and get one step closer to our goal."
Thursday's game between New Orleans and Stephen F. Austin marks just the fifth meeting between the two teams on the hardwood and the Lumberjacks hold a 4-0 advantage in the all-time series. All three games have come since the Privateers joined the Southland Conference for the 2013-14 campaign, and the games have been decided by a combined average of 24.8 points.
In the initial meeting, Stephen F. Austin rolled past New Orleans 103-63 in Lakefront Arena on Feb. 27, 2014, and the Lumberjacks posted a 79-54 decision on Jan. 19, 2015, in Nacogdoches, Texas. Last season, UNO kept things close for a while, but ultimately fell 82-58 on Jan. 18 in New Orleans.
Following the game against the Lumberjacks, the Privateers return to action on Saturday, Feb. 25, when they travel to Natchitoches, La., to take on Northwestern State. From there, UNO will close out the home portion of the 2016-17 schedule on March 2 against Southeastern Louisiana before wrapping up the regular season on March 4 at Nicholls.
For tickets to Privateers' games against Stephen F. Austin and Southeastern Louisiana, as well as future New Orleans Athletics events, contact the UNO Athletics Ticket Office over the phone at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or via the Internet by clicking
HERE.
--www.UNOPrivateers.com--
