ORLANDO, Fla. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team opens a month-long, seven-game road trip on Saturday when it faces Conference USA member Central Florida at UCF Arena.
Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. CST. The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the internet at www.LionSports.net.
Riding a three-game winning streak, Southeastern (4-1) faces former conference rival UCF (6-0) for the first time since the schools were in the former Trans America Athletic Conference (now the Atlantic Sun). The Knights lead the all-time series, 5-3, with the schools facing each other from 1993-97.
Southeastern posted a 111-67 win over Dillard in its last game on Wednesday at the University Center, its last game at home until opening Southland Conference play on Jan. 8 against Stephen F. Austin. After facing UCF, which defeated No. 16 Florida on Wednesday, the Lions will travel to face Southern (Dec. 11), Alabama (Dec. 15), Vanderbilt (Dec. 18), Savannah State (Dec. 29), Southern Miss or Mississippi Valley (Dec. 30) and Ole Miss (Jan. 2) to equal their longest roadtrip since the 1988-89 season.
Trent Hutchin leads Southeastern in scoring at 20.0 points per game followed by
Roosevelt Johnson (12.6),
Gary Dixon (11.3) and
Brandon Fortenberry (10.8).
David Ndoumba, who averages 9.0 points, leads Southeastern with 7.2 rebounds per game.
Rodney Jones (8.8),
Jason Marks (5.0),
Antonnio Benton (4.7) and
Deshawn Patterson (4.2) are next in scoring for the Lions, who average 86.2 points per game and lead the Southland Conference in field goal percentage (52.6 percent).
UCF, under first-year coach Donnie Jones, earned its biggest win of the season in its 57-54 win over in-state rival Florida on Wednesday. Marcus Jordan, the son of NBA legend Michael Jordan, scored 18 points to lead the Knights with Keith Clanton chipping in with 12.
Jordan leads UCF in scoring at 17.0 points per game with Clanton averaging 15.5 and a team-high 8.3 rebounds. Isaac Sosa is next in scoring for UCF at 9.8 points per game followed by P.J. Gaynor (6.7), A.J. Rompza (6.2) and A.J. Tyler (6.0).
UCF, which opened with wins over West Florida, Jackson State, South Florida, Stetson and Alabama State, averages 81.0 points per game while allowing 53.2. The Knights shoot 52 percent from the floor in their up-tempo offense.
