CARROLLTON, Ga. (February 7, 2025) – The University of North Alabama men's basketball team will pay a visit to an old foe on Saturday, renewing a former Gulf South Conference rivalry with West Georgia this Saturday at 1 p.m. CT in Carrollton, Ga.
The Lions will battle UWG — the newest member of the Atlantic Sun Conference — inside "The Coliseum" for the first time since January 13, 2018. That game went to overtime, as the Lions came away with a 99-92 road win to end the Division II portion of the series.
UNA has won five of its last six games and currently sits in a five-way tie for first place in the ASUN standings. West Georgia looks to snap a three-game skid.
The game will air on ESPN+ and locally on WLX Radio on 98.3 and 103.5 FM.
Grant Wakefield will be tagging in for "Voice of the Lions"
Benjamin Ray and will have the hometown call. Live stats are available at UWGAthletics.com.
GAME INFORMATION
Game: North Alabama vs. West Georgia
Date: Wednesday, February 8
Time: 1 p.m. CT
Location: Carrollton, Georgia
Venue: The Coliseum
Capacity: 6,500
Watch Party: Mugshots in Downtown Florence
Watch:
ESPN+ (Parker Gore, Zack Tafelski, Hunter Murdaugh)
Radio:
WLX 98.3 & 103.5 FM (
Grant Wakefield)
Live Stats:
SIDEARM
Tickets:
Click Here
Game Notes:
Click Here
Social Media:
@UNA_Basketball
NOTES
LAST TIME OUT: North Alabama led wire-to-wire for the fourth time this season, sweeping the season series with Austin Peay with a 74-64 road win in Clarksville. UNA was led by fifth-year senior
Will Soucie with a season-high 22 points. Redshirt sophomore
Corneilous Williams added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Senior
Taye Fields was the defensive presence for the Lions with six blocks, matching the Division I school record set by Williams earlier this season.
SCOUTING THE LIONS: North Alabama is 16-8 overall and 8-3 in ASUN play, sitting in a five-way tie for first in the ASUN standings alongside Lipscomb, Jacksonville, Queens and FGCU, who dropped to 8-3 following a loss to EKU on Thursday. The Lions are among the top five team in the nation when it comes to protecting the ball with just 9.3 turnovers per game. UNA is scoring 79.0 PPG to rank second in the league behind North Florida, while ranking fourth with just 71.3 PPG allowed.
SCOUTING THE WOLVES: West Georgia went 27-6 last season and won the Gulf South Conference but has struggled in its first season of Division I basketball with a 4-20 overall record. The Wolves are 2-9 in ASUN play with wins over Austin Peay and North Florida. UWG averages 69.3 PPG with 78.0 PPG allowed. The Wolves are led by junior college transfer Shelton Williams-Dryden with 17.0 PPG and 7.3 RPG. He ranks fifth in the ASUN in both categories.
SERIES HISTORY: West Georgia holds a slight 37-35 all-time advantage against North Alabama. The last 10 meetings have been split evenly, dating back to 2014. The last time UNA completed a two-game sweep of West Georgia came in 2016. The most recent postseason meeting between the two came in 2014, as the Lions won 84-69 in the first round of the GSC Tournament. UNA won the title two games later and advanced to the second round of the 2013-14 NCAA Division II Tournament.
STATE OF BASKETBALL: The state of Alabama has a case for the best basketball state in the nation right now. Eight of the 10 Division I basketball programs in Alabama are ranked among the top 140 teams in the NET rankings, including UNA at 134. The state has a combined record of 74-28 in conference games so far. North Alabama (ASUN), Auburn (SEC), Samford (Southern) and Jacksonville State (Conference USA) all lead their respective conferences, while Alabama (SEC), South Alabama (Sun Belt), Troy (Sun Belt) and UAB (American) are in second. This case even extends to the Division II level, as Alabama-Huntsville is 21-1 overall and ranked fourth in the nation.
WATCH OUT FOR LANE: Junior guard
Jacari Lane was named to the Lou Henson Early Season Watch List, an award given to the top mid-major basketball player each season. Lane has also won ASUN Player of the Week four times this season and six times in his career, which is tied for the fifth-most in league history. He is averaging 16.0 PPG and is the only remaining first team All-ASUN selection back in the league this year.
TRIO OF GREATNESS: For the first time since 1971, UNA has three active 1,000 point scorers on the same team —
Jacari Lane,
Daniel Ortiz and
Will Soucie. This only includes players that have scored 1,000 points at the school. The 1971 team included Larry Smith, Don Faint and Tommy Ledbetter. There has only been two other teams with a pair of active 1,000 point scorers in UNA history — 1980 with Otis Boddie and Gerald Lavendar and 2009 with Kenny Johnson and Thomas Fraise.
WEEKLY AWARD REGULARS: UNA has won the most ASUN Player and Newcomer of the Week awards in the ASUN this season with eight, including two last week thanks to
Jacari Lane as Player of the Week and
Daniel Ortiz as Newcomer of the Week. Lane has four this season, while
Taye Fields has two weekly awards. Ortiz and
Corneilous Williams have earned one each.
FAST TO TEN: Senior
Taye Fields accomplished an interesting feat earlier this season, as he currently has the fastest-recorded double-double in the NCAA, according to NCAA reports. He reached 11 points and 10 rebounds at the 6:18 mark of the first half against Stetson and finished with 23 points and 17 rebounds. The second fastest is perhaps the best player in the NCAA this season, Auburn's Johni Broome, who reached a double-double at the 5:18 mark against Ohio State.
CAREER GUY: Fifth-year senior
Will Soucie is the all-time leader in career games for UNA with 140 appearances. He also has 96 career starts, including a 52-game start streak that ended midway through last season. He is having a career campaign with 10.9 PPG, including a season-high 22 at Austin Peay.
FIRE IT UP: Daniel Ortiz is not afraid to pull up behind the arc, as he is third in the nation with 220 three-point attempts. Not only does he shoot them, but he makes them. Ortiz ranks 11th nationally with 76 made triples for a respectable 34.5 percentage.
PROTECTION: UNA ranks fifh in the nation with just 9.3 turnovers per game, while ranking 41st with a plus-2.9 turnover margin. Of 364 teams in the NCAA, only 24 turn the ball over less than 10 times per game.
BOARD THE HYPE TRAIN: UNA has the top two rebounders in the ASUN, as Fields averages 8.8 rebounds per game and redshirt sophomore
Corneilous Williams averages 8.4 RPG. Williams is the only player in the ASUN to grab over 100 rebounds in non-conference play.
HELPER, HELPER: Jacari Lane has 105 assists already this season, needing just 17 more to break his own Division I program record for the third straight season. He had 108 assists as a freshman and 122 as a sophomore.
THE MAGIC NUMBER IS 70: UNA is 16-2 when scoring at least 70 points and 0-6 when scoring under 70 points. Defensively, the Lions are 14-1 when giving up 70 points or less. UNA is 2-7 when allowing more than 70 points.
ON DECK: The Lions will host three straight games beginning next week, as the stretch begins against North Florida on Thursday, Feb. 13 at 6 p.m. inside CB&S Bank Arena.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
