TIPPING OFF
Christmas Break is almost here for all of college basketball, but for the Arkansas Tech men's basketball team, the Wonder Boys still have one more big challenge ahead of them before enjoying the holiday break. That challenge is a home game against Great American Conference rival Southern Arkansas this Saturday inside Tucker Coliseum.
Last year, the Wonder Boys and Muleriders met three times in the regular season, twice doing so in Tucker. Each game played at Tucker was closely-contested with Tech winning the first meeting, 66-59 and SAU taking the second, 61-58.Overall, SAU went 2-1 in the season series as they won the third and final meeting in Magnolia, 76-63.
A lot of familiar faces will be on the court on Saturday, especially for the Muleriders as their already veteran-laden team from a year ago returns nearly everyone including a pair of standout fifth-year seniors (due to additional year of eligibility relief in response to COVID-19) who have been in the program since true freshmen in Devante Brooks and Aaron Lucas.
The Wonder Boys will also have some familiar faces on the court from last year's matchups, but they will also add the new-look faces of impact transfers Czar Perry and Taelon Peter to the mix against a talented SAU team that ended up advancing to the NCAA South Central Regional.
TECH TIDBITS
The Wonder Boys enter play 5-4 overall and are 2-1 in the Great American Conference. The Wonder Boys have won two games in a row and are coming off a hard-fought 58-51 win over Hendrix in their final non-conference game of the season earlier this week.
So far this year, the Wonder Boys are averaging 68.2 ppg and rank 12th in the GAC. On the defensive end of the court, the Wonder Boys rank second in the league in scoring defense, giving up an average of 63.2 ppg. In terms of field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense, the Wonder Boys are ninth in the conference as they shoot at an overall clip of .444 (247-of-556) and are limiting their opponents to a .395 mark (202-of-511) to rank first.
From beyond-the-arc, the Wonder Boys are shoot at a clip of .309 (50-of-162) to rank 12th in the GAC while their opponents are making three-pointers at a mark of .332 (63-of-190) to rank seventh. From the free throw line, the Wonder Boys are shooting .680 as a team (70-of-103) to rank ninth.
Individually, the Wonder Boys have one player averaging double figures in scoring. Czar Perry leads the way at 15.8 ppg The Wonder Boys are also pretty balanced in their scoring with five other players averaging at least 6.9 ppg.
The Wonder Boys are coached by Mark Downey, who is in his second season back on the sidelines at Tech after a 10-year hiatus. In his first stint, Downey patrolled the sidelines at Tech for four seasons from 2006-07 - 2009-10. In his final season, Downey guided the Wonder Boys to a program-record 30 wins and during the course of that season, the Wonder Boys were ranked No. 1 in NCAA DII for the first time ever.
In his time at Tech, which is now in its sixth season overall, Downey has amassed an 89-58 record. Overall, Downey is in his 15th season as a head coach and has career record of 255-164.
SCOUTING THE MULERIDERS
Southern Arkansas enters Saturday's GAC game against Arkansas Tech at 6-3 overall and 2-1 in league play. After starting out 0-2 on the season, the Muleriders have bounced back and have won six of their next seven games. Their lone loss in the recent stretch was a three-point defeat at home against Henderson State.
Statistically this season, the Muleriders average 80.1 ppg on offense to rank third in the GAC and give up an average of 64.4 ppg to also rank third in the GAC. In terms of field goal percentages, Southern Arkansas shoots at a .446 clip overall (258-of-579) to rank eighth and is allowing opponents to shoot at a mark of .400 (207-of-518) to rank second.
From three-point range, the Muleriders shoot at a .321 clip (77- of-240) to rank 10th in the GAC and are allowing their opponents to shoot .298 (57-of-191) from range to rank second. At the charity stripe, the Muleriders shoot .696 (128-of-184) to rank eighth in the GAC.
Individually, the Muleriders have four player scoring in double figures and are led by Devante Brooks at 18.1 ppg. Behind Brooks is Aaron Lucas at 13.3 ppg. Blake Rogers and Jalen Brooks round out double-figure scoring at 12.4 ppg and 11.3 ppg, respectively.
The Muleriders are coached by Andy Sharpe, who is in his 10th season at SAU. In his time as a head coach at SAU, Sharpe has amassed a 135-123 record. Last season, he led the Muleriders to a share of the GAC East Division Championship and advanced to the NCAA South Central Region Tournament for the first time in program history.
