Sam Houston State men’s basketball will look for another impressive performance behind the arc heading into Saturday’s game against Houston Baptist.
The game plan seemed to work Monday over Abilene Christian, and the Bearkats would like to translate their performance on HBU.
“We have a tough game on Saturday at home against Houston Baptist, and they’re 4-3 in conference play,” head coach Jason Hooten said. “They have really good size inside and are good.”
The Huskies are coming off a 79-77 win against Lamar at home and now have to prepare for their toughest opponent in conference thus far: SHSU. These two teams are on top of the Southland Conference in rebounding with the Huskies being right behind the Kats, averaging close to 40 rebounds a game.
The Huskies are fifth in the conference with junior guard Anthony Odunsi leading in scoring with 12 points per game. HBU’s freshman center Josh Ibarra leads the team in rebounds with seven rebounds per game and will battle the boards against senior center Michael Holyfield who is averaging 7.8 RPG.
Both teams are respectable in scoring, both being placed in the top five.
After a big 13-point performance from senior guard Kaheem Ransom on Monday, he could be the difference maker in the matchup against HBU if he continues on this roll. Also, leading scorer senior guard DeMarcus Gatlin looks to bring in his success coming off of a good one earlier this week. Gatlin averages 11.3 PPG.
The Huskies sit on top of the conference in free-throw percentage and will have to drive to create fouls if they want success against SHSU.
The Bearkats understand that this will be a tough conference game, so the Kats will look to play a cleaner, more concise game to protect possession. HBU rank 12th in the SLC in opponent’s turnovers, which is the advantage for the Kats at home.
The Kats lost their first home game last Saturday to rival Stephen F. Austin State.
Tipoff for Saturday’s game is set for 4:30 p.m. at Johnson Coliseum.