MONTGOMERY, Ala.—Alabama State University men’s basketball coach Lewis Jackson leads the Hornets on to the court today (Friday) to begin preparations for the 2013-14 season, his ninth as the Hornets head coach.
“To hear the ball bouncing and shoes squeaking and to have the guys making noise here in the gym is very exciting for us,” Head Coach Lewis Jackson said. “We are just so excited we have additional days to come in and work now. Normally we don’t start until Oct. 11, but with the relaxing of the rule we are able to get in here now and we are truly excited.”
ASU has four players returning from last season led by sophomore Jamel Waters who played in all 32 games last season and started 23 games at point guard. Junior Luther Page has started several games during his two years on campus, including 17 last season. Devonte’ Neal returns at the center position and the other returner is Bobby Brown who played in 30 games and started six last year.
ASU will work on blending in 12 newcomers with the returners this season as they begin working toward their season opener on Oct. 31 when they host Huntingdon College.
“When you have a lot of new guys like we do in the program you have to go back to the basics, teaching things you want the guys to do in the games and in practices,” Jackson said. “The teaching part is going to take some time but the good thing about that is we have additional days where we can get in, take our time and give the guys the information they need.”
This year’s schedule is made up of 31 games. 16 of the games will be played in Dunn-Oliver Acadome while 14 of the games are on the road and one opponent will be played at a neutral location.
After opening the season hosting Huntingdon and Fort Valley State (Nov. 5) in exhibitions, ASU will begin the pre-conference portion of their schedule with road games at Illinois (Nov. 8) and Bradley (Nov. 10) as part of the Global Sports Invitational. ASU will return home for their first regular season home game when they host Mobile (Nov. 13).
The Hornets will end their play in the Global Sports Invitational with a road game at Jacksonville State (Nov. 16) and a return engagement from Chicago State (Nov. 18), where the Hornets played a road game last season.
ASU will begin December action when they travel down the road to face Troy (Dec. 7). After nine days off the Hornets will come back home to host Western Illinois (Dec. 16).
For the third consecutive season ASU will participate in the Tulane Classic (Dec. 21-22) where they will face host Tulane on the first day and then play Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Sunday before taking a break for the Christmas Holidays.
After the Holidays, ASU will end the non-conference season when they host city rival Auburn Montgomery (Dec. 28) and host the final non-conference match up with Thomas (Dec. 30).
ASU opens 2014 in Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) action when they hit the road to play at Grambling State (Jan. 4) and at Jackson State (Jan. 6).
The Hornets will return to Montgomery to host three consecutive conference games; Mississippi Valley State (Jan. 11), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Jan. 13) and Alabama A&M (Jan. 18).
The final four games of the first round of conference games will be split. The first two will be on the road at Alcorn State (Jan. 25) and Southern (Jan. 27) before ending at home against Prairie View (Feb. 1) and Texas Southern (Feb. 3).
Mississippi Valley State (Feb. 8), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Feb. 10) and Alabama A&M (Feb. 15) will start the second round of conference action, all on the road. That will leave for of the final six games coming at home beginning with Alcorn State (Feb. 22) and Southern (Feb. 24).
The final two road games of the regular season will be at Texas Southern (March 1) and Prairie View A&M (March 3). ASU ends the season hosting Grambling State (March 6) and Jackson State (March 8).
“Our schedule in the preseason has always been brutal,” Jackson said. “We try to go out and schedule some high major teams so our guys can see how the major teams play, but we tried to relax that a little bit this year and get some more home games so our fans can come out and see us play. It is kind of favorable to us, but we will go out and compete and get them one at a time.”
The SWAC Tournament has moved the Houston, Texas this year and will be played Tuesday-Saturday, March 11-15.
