Central Arkansas Bears (3-10, 2-0 SLC) at HBU Huskies (0-10, 0-1 SLC)
Thursday, Jan. 2 – 7 p.m.
Sharp Gymnasium – Houston, Texas
Broadcast (Husky Sports Network/Lonnie King)
Live Stats
Game Notes
Game Program
HOUSTON – The two Southland Conference teams who have played the most difficult schedules to this point in the season will face off this Thursday evening inside Sharp Gym when the HBU Huskies host Central Arkansas at 7:00 p.m. The first game of the 2020's will be broadcast on the Husky Sports Network with Lonnie King calling the action via HBUHuskies.com.
According to the NCAA's NET rankings, both the Huskies (0-10, 0-1 SLC) and the Bears (3-10, 2-0 SLC) have both played six quadrant one games with HBU's average opponent NET ranking qualifying as the fourth-toughest. In ESPN's strength of schedule rankings, HBU comes in third with UCA close behind at sixth.
HBU owns a 4-3 all-time record against the Bears and a 2-2 mark inside Sharp Gym. Over the course of the last four seasons, the visiting team has won each meeting. Last year, the Huskies earned a 75-71 win in Conway, Ark. behind a 21 point, 10 rebound double-double from
Ty Dalton along with 19 points and eight rebounds from
Ian DuBose.
In the Huskies' last game at New Mexico, senior
Jalon Gates continued his march toward 1,000 career points thanks to a career-high 30 points. Gates fell one made three-pointer shy of matching the program single-game record, connecting on seven treys. The senior is now averaging a conference-best 17.6 points per game and his 3.9 made threes per game is the fourth-best mark in the country.
Sophomore Eddy Kayouloud leads the Bears with 15.5 ppg and 6.9 rebounds per game while junior Rylan Bergerson is adding 14 ppg. Junior center Hayden Koval leads the league and is third in the nation with an average of 3.85 blocked shots per game while also adding 10.7 ppg and 6.5 rpg.
UCA has won both its conference games, defeating UIW and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at home by six and four points, respectively. In those two matchups, the Bears have out-scored their opponents by 23 points in the second half.
After Thursday's game, HBU will travel to Natchitoches, La. for a Sunday, Jan. 5, game at 4:00 p.m. against Northwestern State before returning home for three consecutive games beginning Jan. 11 against the Lamar Cardinals.
