RICHMOND, Ky. (January 7, 2026) – The University of North Alabama men's basketball team heads north to Richmond — Kentucky — to begin a two-game road swing in the Bluegrass State on Thursday.
 
The Lions will play at Eastern Kentucky tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. CT inside Baptist Health Arena. On Saturday, North Alabama will finish the trek in Louisville against Bellarmine in Knights Hall at 1 p.m. CT.
 
Both games will be available on ESPN+ and will have live stats. There will not be a radio stream of either game, as Roar Lions Productions will be covering UNA women's basketball at home.
 
GAME 1 INFORMATION
Game: North Alabama vs. EKU
Date: Thursday, January 8
Time: 6 p.m. CT
Location: Richmond, Kentucky
Venue: Baptist Health Arena
Capacity: 6,500
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Tickets: Click Here
Game Notes: Click Here
Social Media: @UNA_Basketball
 
GAME 2 INFORMATION
Game: North Alabama vs. Bellarmine
Date: Saturday, January 10
Time: 1 p.m. CT
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Venue: Knights Hall
Capacity: 2,283
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: SIDEARM
Tickets: Click Here
Game Notes: Available Friday
Social Media: @UNA_Basketball
 
NOTES
 
LAST TIME OUT: North Alabama started conference play last week with a pair of setbacks against Stetson (70-67) and FGCU (72-55) inside CB&S Bank Arena. In Saturday's game, the Lions got down double digits in the first half but surged back to make it a four-point game in the second half before slipping in the final portion. UNA was without starting center Corneilous Williams due to illness, but got a career-high 11 points from sophomore DarKaun King off the bench and 13 points and nine rebounds from senior Donte Bacchus.
 
SCOUTING THE LIONS: UNA has four scorers in double figures with Bacchus leading the charge at 14.2 points per game. Williams joins him in the front court with 12.6 PPG while leading the ASUN in rebounding with 9.8 per game. Sophomore Kevin de Kovachich was the top scorer early in the season and now averages 11.0 PPG, while junior guard Canin Jefferson averages 12.1 PPG and led the team with 14 points against FGCU. Over the first two conference games, UNA ranks third defensively with 71.0 PPG allowed but will look to improve offensively with 61.0 PPG over the first two.
 
SCOUTING THE COLONELS: Thursday's opponent is EKU, who enters with a 4-11 record overall. The Colonels dropped both road contests last week against Queens and West Georgia, falling in a pair of tight contests. EKU will look to shake a three-game losing streak, last winning at Jacksonville State on Dec. 17. Montavious Myrick is the player to watch for EKU with 10.6 PPG anf 7.7 RPG, while Juan Cranford Jr. leads the scoring tally with 13.1 PPG. A.W. Hamilton is in his eighth season as head coach — the same amount of years that Tony Pujol has been at UNA.
 
SERIES HISTORY: EKU has a slight 4-3 lead in the all-time series, as the Lions will look to even things up with a win on Thursday. The series dates back to 2022, as the first three meetings were either decided by one point or in overtime. UNA's last trip to Richmond was in 2024, as the Colonels held off a game-tying shot by Jacari Lane at the buzzer to win 75-72. UNA won the lone meeting last season in Florence, cruising to an 88-67 victory on the first weekend of 2025.

LAST MEETING: UNA opened conference play last season with its first 2-0 start since 2013, clinching the second win with the 88-67 performance against the Colonels. A trio of current Lions were instrumental in that win, including a then-career-high 18 points from Jefferson and double-doubles from both Bacchus and Williams.

SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS: Saturday's opponent is Bellarmine, who enters with a 5-9 overall record. The Knights lost both road games to open ASUN play, but nearly pulled off the road upset at West Georgia with an 87-85 loss. Bellarmine fell 98-76 at Queens last time out. The Knights had non-conference wins over Chattanooga, The Citadel and Houston Christian, among others. Senior Jack Karasinski is in his second season at Bellarmine, leading the ASUN with 21.3 PPG. He has scored double digits in all 12 appearances this season. Doug Davenport is in his first season as head coach, taking over for his father Scott Davenport who retired this offseason after 20 years at the helm.   
 
SERIES HISTORY: Bellarmine has a 6-3 advantage in the all-time series, winning each of the first five meetings starting in 2021. UNA has won three of the last four, including one win each season in 2023, 2024 and 2025. UNA's last visit to Louisville resulted in an 82-70 loss to Bellarmine in Freedom Hall. Last year's meeting in Florence was the ASUN opener for both teams, as the Lions cruised to an 82-66 victory.

LAST MEETING: UNA opened conference play in style, as former standout Daniel Ortiz finished with 26 points on eight made three-pointers. Current SEC guard Jacari Lane scored 13 points with 10 assists for a double-double. Current Lion Corneilous Williams was crucial on the boards with 15 rebounds. The 82-66 win for UNA resulted in just 14 turnovers between the two teams, including six for UNA and eight for Bellarmine.

LEAGUE LEADER: Williams has led the ASUN in rebounding for the better part of two seasons. Since grabbing 13 rebounds in the season opener at Mississippi State, Williams has led the ASUN in rebounding the entire season. Last week's game against Stetson was his first time falling below a double-digit average, but he remains atop the league with 9.8 RPG.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Williams has finished with a double-double in four of the team's five wins this season. Over 11 games in non-conference play, Williams had six double-digit scoring games and seven games with double figure rebound totals.
 
FITTING FOR A KING: Sophomore DarKaun King had a season-high points against FGCU last season and finished with 11 points for a new career-high against FGCU last week. In the ASUN opener against Stetson, King finished with 11 rebounds and four steals to lead the Lions. His previous career-high in rebounding was five, as he more than doubled this last Thursday. He quadrupled his previous best in steals, as he never had more than one in a game until last Thursday.
 
BLOCK PARTY: The Lions rank second in the ASUN with 4.3 blocks per game, trailing only West Georgia at 5.3 per game. UNA is the only ASUN team with three players in the top 10 of blocked shots per game. — Corneilous Williams (1.1 per game), Jamal Albritton (1.0 per game) and Dallas Howell (0.9 per game).
 
CANIN-BALL RUN: On Saturday, Canin Jefferson finished with a career-high six steals against FGCU. The Lions won the turnover battle 13-10 despite the loss, including nine steals forced by individual UNA players.
 
SIXTH-YEAR SENIOR: Sixth-year senior Dallas Howell has been with the program since 2020, earning a COVID season and an injury redshirt last season. He is one of just seven known players in Division I this season to play for six seasons. However, Howell is the only one of those seven to do it at the same school. The other schools with a sixth-year player include Oklahoma, Iowa State, USC, Texas, Bowling Green and Tarleton State. As a timely note, his career-high of 14 rebounds was set in 2022 against EKU.
 
TRENDS TO WATCH: UNA is 5-1 when outscoring opponents in the paint and when outrebounding opponents this season. The only loss came last Thursday to Stetson. The Lions, oddly, are 0-3 when shooting over 40 percent behind the arc while 5-5 when shooting under 40 percent.
 
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.