A quick look around Atlantic 10 men's basketball and the seven games on tap for Saturday, Jan. 5. The A-10 is less than a week away until the start of conference play.
ON TAP FOR SATURDAY (1/5)
NEW ORLEANS Privateers (3-9)
at BUTLER Bulldogs (11-2)
2:00 pm | Hinkle Fieldhouse | MyIndy-TV23
Series: First Meeting
A-10 vs. Independents: 0-0
Gamenote: Butler, which posted a perfect December and has won eight straight, is off to its best start since 2008-09, when the Bulldogs won 19 of their first 20 games.
PENN Quakers (2-10)
at LA SALLE Explorers (9-3)
2:00 pm | Tom Gola Arena
Philadelphia Big 5 Game
Series: Penn leads 38-27
A-10 vs. Ivy: 8-1
Gamenote: This is just the eighth game in the long series to be played at Gola Arena. The first 42 and 52 of the 65 meetings have been at the Palestra. La Salle has won the last five meetings.
EASTERN MICHIGAN Eagles (7-6)
at MASSACHUSETTS Minutemen (9-3)
2:00 pm | Mullins Center
Series: UMass leads 1-0
A-10 vs. MAC: 10-2
Gamenote: UMass is 9-5 all-time against members of the MAC, where the Minutemen play football. That includes a 1-0 record this season and winning records versus almost every MAC team.
SAINT JOSEPH’S Hawks (7-4)
at MORGAN STATE Bears (3-7)
4:00 pm | Hill Fieldhouse
Series: SJU leads 2-0
A-10 vs. MEAC: 4-0
Gamenote: Phil Martelli set a SJU record in the win over Morgan State last year, posting his 310th career win to surpass Bill Ferguson (309) and become the Hawks’ all-time leader in wins.
ST. BONAVENTURE Bonnies (7-5)
at COLORADO STATE Rams (12-2)
4:30 pm | Moby Arena
Series: Series tied 1-1
A-10 vs. Mountain West: 2-0
Gamenote: Demitrius Conger is closing in on 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 200 assists for his career. The senior has 966 points, 530 rebounds and 194 assists.
LEHIGH Mountain Hawks (9-3)
at VCU Rams (11-3)
5:00 pm | Siegel Center | NBC Sports Network
Series: First meeting
A-10 vs. Patriot: 1-1
Gamenote: VCU’s current eight-game winning streak, which is tied with Butler and Saint Louis, is the 10th longest active streak in the country. The Rams are 13-3 all time versus the Patriot League.
UAB Blazers (8-6)
at DAYTON Flyers (9-4)
7:00 pm | UD Arena | WHIO
Series: UAB leads 5-0
A-10 vs. C-USA: 5-0
Gamenote: In the last three UD losses, the Flyers took a shot at the buzzer that would have won the game. A win gives Dayton its seven straight season with 10 or more non-conference victories.
ON THE TUBE
Saturday, January 5New Orleans at Butler| 2:00 pm | MyIndy-TV23
Lehigh at VCU | 5:00 pm | NBC Sports Network
UAB at Dayton | 7:00 pm | WHIO
Sunday, January 6Temple at Kansas | 4:30 pm | CBS
Wednesday, January 9Butler at Saint Joseph’s* | 7:00 pm | The Comcast Network
Duquesne at Fordham* | 7:00 pm | YES Network
Rhode Island at Richmond* | 7:00 pm
Dayton at VCU* | 7:00 pm | WHIO
A-10 SCOOP
>>VCU wanted to make its mark on the A-10 in the first year, so the Rams players earned their way into the record books. First, Briante Weber recorded 10 steals in the Rams’ win over season-opener against Florida Gulf Coast, the second highest single-game total in A-10 history. Then on Wednesday, Troy Daniels swished 11 3-pointers, many of them from beyond NBA range, to set the league’s single game record. Daniels broke a record of 10 threes made held by Fordham’s Jason Harris, set in the 1999-2000 season.
>>The A-10 has two team and one individual statistics in a member institution leads the nation. VCU is number one in steals and turnover margin and Butler’s Rotnei Clarke leads the nation in 3-pointers made. There is one other team performance and seven other individuals that rank in the top 10 statistically (see table at right).
>>The Atlantic 10 has six different players who’ve scored 30 or more points in a game this season, including two in Wednesday’s games. Kendall Anthony (UR), Troy Daniels (VCU), Carl Jones (SJU), Jesse Morgan (UM), Xavier Munford (URI), Scootie Randall (TU) and Khalif Wyatt (TU) have all broken 30 this season.
>>The Atlantic 10 has six teams with multiple-game winning streaks and four of those have streaks of six wins or more. The Minutemen have six, Saint Louis has won eight straight (all at home) and Butler and VCU each have also won eight straight games.
FRIDAY'S (1/4) RESULTS
RHODE ISLAND 59, BROWN 47
KINGSTON, R.I. (AP) - Xavier Munford scored 18 points and Mike Powell 16 to lead Rhode Island to a 59-47 victory over Brown on Friday night.
Munford scored 14 points in the second half, including 11 during a 16-3 run when the Rams (5-8) extended a five-point lead to 43-25 with 4:20 remaining.
Both teams shot poorly in the first half, which ended with the Rams ahead 21-14 despite shooting 25.8 percent (8 of 31). The Bears (4-8) shot 25 percent (5 of 20). Rhode Island's Andre Malone scored 10 of his 12 points in the half.
Powell's 3-pointer put Rhode Island ahead to stay, 12-10, with 10:27 left until halftime.
Matt Sullivan scored 14 points for Brown and Rafael Maia had 15 rebounds to go with eight points.
Rhode Island has won 10 of its last 11 meetings with Brown and leads the series 101-53.
SAINT LOUIS 67, SAVANNAH STATE 59
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Mike McCall Jr. scored 16 points to lead Saint Louis over Savannah State 67-59 Friday night, extending their winning streak to eight games.
McCall was 5 of 7 from the field. Cody Ellis scored 15 points, and Kwamain Mitchell had 13. Cory Remekun had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Saint Louis (11-3) led 33-25 at halftime.
Saint Louis shot 44.7 percent (17 of 38) from the field for the game. Savannah State shot 49 percent (24 of 49) and had more rebounds (36-20), but the Tigers committed 19 turnovers. The Tigers also had 25 total fouls, while Saint Louis had 15.
Preston Blackman led the Tigers with 13 points. Cedric Smith scored 11 points, and Rashad Hassan had 10. Jyles Smith had seven points and nine rebounds.
The Tigers (5-9) broke St. Louis' four-game streak of holding opponents to under 50 points.
GEORGIA 52, GEORGE WASHINGTON 41
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Nemanja Djurisic each scored 17 points and Georgia won its fourth straight game with a 52-41 victory over George Washington on Friday night.
John Florveus pulled down 10 rebounds to help the Bulldogs (6-7) overcome a season-high 25 turnovers.
Kevin Larsen scored 14 points to lead George Washington (6-7). The Colonials went 0-for-12 on 3-point attempts, missing all but two of them in the second half.
George Washington shot a season-worst 24.6 percent from the field.
The Bulldogs were just 4-for-11 on free-throw attempts before Caldwell-Pope and Djurisic combined to hit Georgia's last six.
MISSISSIPPI 95, FORDHAM 68
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) - Marshall Henderson scored 21 points as Mississippi placed five players in double figures Friday night to defeat Fordham 95-68 in the final nonconference game for both teams.
Reginald Buckner scored 18 points, Derrick Millinghaus had 16, Murphy Holloway 15 and Nick Williams 11 to lead a balanced attack for Ole Miss (11-2). The Rebels shot 50 percent from the field (33 of 66) and forced 22 Fordham turnovers.
Ryan Canty led Fordham (4-11), of the Atlantic 10 Conference, with 15 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots. Bryan Smith and Mandell Thomas added 14 and 12 points, respectively, for the Rams, who shot 38.8 percent (26 of 67) from the field.
The Rams led 14-13 in the opening seven minutes before scoring runs of 10-0 and 12-0 gave Ole Miss a 46-35 halftime lead.
