NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers men's basketball team returns from a two-week break from their last contest with a pair of Southland matchups. The Privateers will head to UTRGV on Monday and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday.
The Privateers lost 99-57 to #7 Houston on Dec. 13 in their last outing.
MJ Thomas finished with 17 points and eight rebounds while going 8-for-8 from the free throw line.
Mathok Majok had six points in eight minutes.
Jakevion Buckley has six games this season with at least five rebounds. He also has the same amount of games (six) with at least five assists. Buckley is the only player in the Southland to average at least 10 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists per game. The next closest is Kylin Green of HCU (12.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 5.7 assists).
The Privateers have averaged 21.7 free throw attempts per game, which is good for 3rd in the Southland heading into this week. New Orleans has attempted at least 20 free throws in each of the last four games including against Memphis and Houston.
Coleton Benson is 36th in the nation in free throw percentage (90.3).
New Orleans will be playing UTRGV as the current moniker four just the 4th time since the schools that created the current Edinburg campus merged in 2013. However, one of those schools (UT-Pan American) played the Privateers 37 other times from 1981 through 2013. The two teams met in the opening round of the CBI in 2018 at Lakefront Arena, a game the Privateers won 77-74.
Wednesday's game on New Year's Eve against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will be the 10
th game on Dec. 31 in program history. The Privateers are 6-3 in the prior nine contests.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
UTRGV (5-6, 1-1) last played on Dec. 20 in a blowout win over College of Biblical Studies (109-51). The Vaqueros won their last conference matchup 83-72 over Lamar. The Vaqueros have four players averaging between 9.2 and 12.1 points. Marvin McGehee III is shooting 48.3 percent from three-point range.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (5-6, 1-1) is coming off a 93-36 win against Southwestern Adventist. They lost 69-60 in their most recent Southland matchup against Stephen F. Austin. The Islanders have the third best scoring defense in the conference at 67.6 points allowed. Sheldon Williams is in the top five in the conference in rebounds at 7.2 per game.
BLUES ON TUES. NEWSLETTER
To keep up with all athletics news at the University of New Orleans, subscribe
here for our weekly newsletter.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans are encouraged to follow @PrivateesrHoops on
Twitter and
Instagram, like /PrivateersHoops on Facebook and subscribe to the
PrivateerAthletics YouTube channel.
