FLORENCE, Ala. (November 4, 2026) – The Bank is back open for business.
The University of North Alabama men's basketball team will play its home opener inside CB&S Bank Arena at Flowers Hall this Thursday night, as the Lions will welcome the Union Bulldogs for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff in Florence.
"Voice of the Lions" Benjamin Ray and Bryan Neece will have the call on ESPN+ with Gyvan Hammons courtside. Chase Glover will have the radio call on Roar Lions Productions, available on Varsity Network, Facebook, X, YouTube, Twitch and RoarLions.com.
Season tickets and single-game tickets are available at this link or by calling 256-765-5466. Fans can also purchase single-game basketball parking or season basketball parking at the corresponding links.
For parking, fans with a basketball gold lot pass will park in the athletic annex lot between Bank Independent Stadium and CB&S Bank Arena. Fans with a grey lot season parking or single game parking pass will park below CB&S Bank Arena. Handicap and ADA parking is available in front of the arena. For more info, click here.
GAME INFORMATION
Game: North Alabama vs. Union (TN)
Date: Thursday, November 5
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Florence, Alabama
Venue: CB&S Bank Arena
Capacity: 3,000
Watch: ESPN+ ("Voice of the Lions" Benjamin Ray, Bryan Neece, Gyvan Hammons)
Listen: Roar Lions Productions (Chase Glover)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Tickets: Click Here
Game Notes: Click Here
Social Media: @UNA_Basketball
NOTES
LAST TIME OUT: UNA opened the season with a major 79-75 win at UC Davis on Monday night, marking the second time in three seasons UNA has traveled to a Mountain West opponent and came home with an upset. UNA trailed 15-2 in the first five minutes, but stormed back to tie things up at 19-19 in the first half. The Lions trailed by nine at the break, but then outscored UC Davis 43-30 in the second half to finish the comeback. Graduate transfer Quan Lax led the way with 19 points in his UNA debut.
SCOUTING THE LIONS: UNA returns just three players from last year's team while bringing in 12 newcomers, including 10 transfers and two freshmen. However, this group appears to be in sync already with 10 players appearing and everyone scoring at least once in Monday's win. The Lions return just eight percent of its starts from last season with rising sophomore Braylon Patton accounting for all of that. UNA was led Monday by graduate transfer Quan Lax with 19 points, followed by senior guard Mike Evbagharu with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT: The Bulldogs have been a yearly contender in the Gulf South Conference over the years, but finished just 11-17 overall and 7-15 in the league last season. Union was picked to finish ninth out of 11 teams in the GSC preseason poll and are led by newcomers PD McCraney and JP Ricks, a pair of graduate transfers. McCraney was at LSU Alexandria last season and was coached by former UNA player Dimario Jackson. Union is led by David Niven in his 18th season as head coach and 30th overall with the program.
SERIES HISTORY: Thursday night marks the 45th all-time meeting between UNA and Union, but it will be the first since UNA's move to Division I in 2018-19. The two sides last played at Union on Feb. 3, 2018 during UNA's final season in the Gulf South Conference. The Lions won on the road by a 76-74 final in a game that came down to a missed three-pointer at the buzzer.
NEW ERA: UNA began its ninth season of Division I basketball on Monday and its first as a member of the United Athletic Conference. The Lions spent eight seasons as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, then the league announced a partnership with the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) to create a consortium called "Unisun Sports." The WAC rebranded as the UAC and includes North Alabama, Austin Peay, Eastern Kentucky, West Georgia and Central Arkansas as former members of the ASUN, Abilene Christian, Tarleton State and UT Arlington as former members of the WAC and Little Rock as a former member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC).
PRESEASON FUEL: The United Athletic Conference revealed its preseason information last week, as North Alabama was picked in a tie for eighth out of nine teams along with West Georgia. No players from UNA were voted to the preseason team. Despite the lack of preseason recognition, the Lions were the only UAC team Monday to win on the road, as all the others either won at home or lost on the road.
EPITOME OF BRUTALITY: UNA has been known to upset some teams in "buy games" the last few seasons under Pujol, including wins over Ole Miss in 2022, Air Force and East Carolina in 2024, San Francisco in 2025 and most recently UC Davis in 2026. Four buy games remain on the schedule this year, including Oklahoma, Miami, DePaul and Charlotte.
MOUNTAIN WEST MADNESS: After Monday's win at UC Davis, the Lions have a 2-0 record against the Mountain West Conference, which is widely viewed as one of the top conferences in college basketball. UNA started with this a 73-57 road win at Air Force to open the 2024-25 season, which included 24 wins for UNA, a regular season conference title and a trip to the NIT.
NEW STAFF WITH SOME ANCHORS: Tony Pujol enters his ninth season at the helm of North Alabama's men's basketball program and has been with UNA since the beginning of the Division I era in 2018. When he accepted the job, one of his first hires was Ahmad Smith, one of his former players from his assistant coaching stop at Appalachian State. Smith has been with the program for all nine seasons since then and was elevated to Associate Head Coach in 2023.
CHAMPIONSHIP ADDITION: Coach Pujol made a splash in the basketball world this offseason with the hiring of Drew Stutts as an assistant. Stutts is a 2011 graduate of UNA and was recently the head coach at Freed-Hardeman. He led Freed to a record of 174-52 over eight seasons and won the NAIA National Championship in both 2023-24 and 2025-26.
IRON LION BACK ON CAMPUS: Another addition to UNA's staff this offseason was Lion Legend Will Soucie. Known as the "Iron Lion," Soucie played at UNA from 2020-25 and played in more Division I games than any other player in program history with 151 appearances over five seasons. He was the ultimate glue guy for the 2024-25 squad that went 24-11, won the ASUN Regular Season Championship and went on to play in the school's first NIT appearance. He scored 1,124 career points and ranks 21st on the all-time scoring list.
NEW WAVE: Just two seasons removed from the 2025 ASUN Regular Season Championship and a 24-win season, UNA will look to develop a new group with players who have won at various levels. This group includes a national champion, lower-level all-conference and player of the year caliber players and veterans with Division I experience.
RE-LAX: This offseason, Pujol hired national championship-winning coach Drew Stutts from Freed-Hardeman to be an assistant coach at UNA. One of his first calls during the transfer portal window was to his former All-American guard at FHU, Quan Lax, who was then at Austin Peay. Lax originally made the jump from NAIA to Division I in 2024 after helping Stutts and company win the NAIA National Championship and earning First Team NAIA All-American honors. Lax scored 19 points in his debut with UNA on Monday, which is his NCAA career-high.
DIVISION I EXPERIENCE: A six-pack of UNA's newcomers come from Division I schools, including Lax from Austin Peay, senior forward Damarien Yates (Alabama State, Memphis), graduate forward Drey Carter (Wright State), sophomore forward Jacobe Whitted (Tennessee Tech), redshirt junior wing Julius Clark (Gardner-Webb) and senior guard Mike Evbagharu (Canisius, Central Arkansas, Siena).
BACK IN THE LEAGUE: Evbagharu, who is originally from Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, is one of two players on the roster to play against UNA during its 2024-25 ASUN Regular Season Championship run. Evbagharu was at Central Arkansas, scoring five points and three rebounds in a 94-65 win for UNA. He led UCA in rebounding nine times that season. The other current Lion to play against UNA that season was Lax at Austin Peay. Evbagharu averaged 9.2 PPG and 7.0 RPG last season at Canisius. In his UNA debut Monday, he notched a double-double and went 7-8 from the line.
CHOOSING D2 STARS: A couple of new Lions were lauded at the Division II level last season and are proven winners — senior wing Caden Harris and graduate forward Drey Carter (aforementioned from Wright State). Both were instrumental in UNA's first win with double figure scoring games. Harris was at Point Loma last season, where he won a PacWest Conference Championship and was tabbed the Most Outstanding Player in the tournament. Meanwhile, Carter left Wright State in 2025 and spent a season at Fairmont State where he became a bonafide star and averaged 16.8 PPG and 7.6 RPG. He was first team all-conference and second team all-region, leading Fairmont State to a regional appearance.
JUCO BALLERS: A handful of new Lions were all-conference selections at the junior college level last season, including Alabama Community College Conference (ACCC) Player of the Year and NJCAA All-American Ansar Osman, a junior wing from Snead State. Joining him on that all-conference list was new sophomore guard EJ King, who prepped at nearby Russellville High School and averaged 23.8 PPG at Bevill State. Redshirt junior Julius Clark (aforementioned from Gardner-Webb) was an all-conference player at Tallahassee State College in 2024-25, while junior wing Maf Ndiaye comes over from Ranger Community College in Texas where he was all-conference.
BACK TOGETHER: Before Osman became a standout at Snead State last season, he spent the 2024-25 season at Tallahassee State College along with Clark, who was there for two seasons. Osman and Clark are now teammates again at UNA.
RUNNING IT BACK: UNA returns three players from last season, including rising sophomores Cortez Graham-Howard and Braylon Patton. The guards are rejoined by redshirt senior center Mitchell Chaffee, a local product from Muscle Shoals who enters his third season with the team.
ROOKIES: Just like last season, UNA brings in two freshmen with one from Alabama and one from Tennessee. Guard Jarron Talley comes over from Pope John Paul II High School in Nashville, while forward Jackson Gulley is a rookie from Fairhope High School in Alabama. Both were all-region selections, while Gulley was also voted AHSAA All-State Second Team. Talley made his collegiate debut Monday as a starter and had five points.
ON DECK: UNA will hit the road next week for a couple of Power Four games, including Monday, Nov. 9 at Oklahoma and Friday, Nov. 13 at Miami (FL).
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
