MAGNOLIA, Ark. - The Southern Arkansas men's basketball team anticipates hosting the GAC pre-season favorite and 2016-17 reigning regular season conference champion Arkansas-Monticello on Tuesday after a weather postponement to last week's "Rivalry Tuesday". Coming into the week, the Muleriders are in high spirits boasting five-straight victories over the span of the past two weeks against solid GAC competition.

Last week, the Muleriders notched a pair of huge wins after defeating Ouachita Baptist at home on Thursday in a thrilling 69-64 final decision and then handing Henderson its first home loss of the New Year, 90-76, inside the Duke Wells Center.
               
SAU's next opponent, Arkansas-Monticello, comes into the week having won its last three GAC games. Monticello currently holds an 11-5 overall record and 6-4 record in GAC play, designating them one spot ahead of Southern Arkansas in conference standings.

MULERIDER NEWS & NOTES                                                                        

The Southern Arkansas men's basketball team enters play this weekend with a 9-7 overall record and an 5-5 record in GAC play. The Muleriders are coming off of an exciting 14-point win on the road at Arkadelphia, Arkansas on January 20. It was SAU's fifth-straight conference win of the 2017-18 season. In that game, SAU tied a season-best in both three-pointers made and three-point percentage burying 15-of-30 (50 %) shots from long range that helped carry the Muleriders to a 90-76 win over the Reddies.

On the season, the Muleriders are averaging 81.0 points per game, which ranks sixth in the GAC. Defensively, the Muleriders rank second in scoring defense in the GAC at 70.9 points per game, and their +10.1 scoring margin ranks third in the league.

As a team, the Muleriders are shooting .458 (453-of-989) overall from the floor ranking sixth in the GAC which includes a shooting mark of .384 (148-of-385) from long range that ranks fourth in the conference. From the free throw line, the Muleriders are shooting .678 (242-of-357) which ranks tenth in the GAC.

Individually, the Muleriders have three players who are averaging double figures in scoring with CJ Elkins leading the team at 13.1 points per game. Draylan Perkins follows at 12.6 points per game and Keeton Tennison is not far back with an 12.2 ppg average. The leading rebounder on the team is DeVante Brooks with 7.3 rpg, while the top assist man on the team is Elkins with an average of 3.2 assists per game.
 
COACH                                                                                                          
   
The Muleriders are coached by Andy Sharpe, who is in his sixth season at Southern Arkansas. In his five previous seasons at SAU, Sharpe is 67-74.
   
Since the 2014-15 season, Sharpe has turned the Muleriders into serious contenders in the Great American Conference as SAU has won 35 conference games and have finished in the top half of the standings each year as well. The first two seasons in this recent stretch saw the Muleriders post consecutive winning seasons for the first time since the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons.
   
As far as post-season play is concerned, Sharpe has led the Muleriders to the GAC Tournament all five years at the helm and has advanced the team to the semi-finals twice with opening round wins in 2014 and 2016. Under Sharpe, SAU is one of only three schools that have made the GAC Tournament in five-consecutive seasons; joining Arkansas Tech and Harding.
 
SCOUTING MONTICELLO                                                                              

The Monticello men's basketball team enters play this weekend with a 11-5 overall record and a 6-4 mark in the Great American Conference. The Boll Weevils enter the weekend with three-straight wins at home against conference opponents Henderson State, Arkansas Tech, and Harding.
   
On the season, the Boll Weevils are averaging 84.7 points per game, which ranks third in the GAC. Defensively, the Boll Weevils are allowing 73.2 points per game, ranking their scoring defense fifth in the GAC. Their +11.5 scoring margin ranks second in the league.
   
As a team, the Boll Weevils are shooting .509 (469-of-921) overall from the floor which includes a shooting mark of .363 (111-of-306) from long range. From the free throw line, the Boll Weevils are shooting .727 (306-of-421). Their overall field goal percentage ranks second in the GAC while their 3-point field goal percentage ranks fifth. At the charity stripe the Boll Weevils' percentage ranks seventh.
   
Individually, Derylton Hill leads the team in double figure scoring at 18.4 points per game is also the team's leading rebounder at 7.4 boards per game. Cobe Goosby is the leading assist man on the team at 5.5 assists per game.
 
COACH                                                                                                                   
In three short years the Boll Weevils head coach, Kyle Tolin, has guided the turnaround of the UAM Men's Basketball program that started from the bottom of the Great American Conference standings all the way to the top, culminating with a shared conference championship in 2017. It was the first overall conference championship in UAM men's basketball history since 1956.
 
In a record-breaking 2016-17 season, Tolin and the Weevils finished the year with a 23-7 overall record and a 17-5 mark in GAC games. It was the second most wins in a single-season for the Weevils, the highest winning percentage in school history and the most conference wins for a single season in school history.
 
Tolin's Weevils qualified for the NCAA tournament after a runner-up finish at the 2017 GAC Championship Tournament in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. It was the first GAC finals appearance in school history and just the second NCAA tournament appearance since joining Division II in 1995.
 
LAST YEAR/LAST TIME OUT                                                                   
   
Last time out, the Muleriders upset the Boll Weevils on the road, 73-58. At that time, UAM was slotted at No. 17 in the NCAA and boasted several ranks in NCAA Division II categories including average points per game (25^th) and field goal percentage (14^th). In that game, SAU held UAM to its lowest scoring game all season as the Boll Weevils were limited to a season-low 58 points against the Muleriders including a season-low field goal percentage of 34%.  Prior to that matchup, the Boll Weevils had scored at least 72 points in every game that season and its previous low mark in field goal percentage was 38%.
 
 
THE SERIES                                                                                              
   
This is the 37th meeting since 1999-2000 between SAU and Monticello with the two teams meeting at least twice a year in that time. Overall, SAU is 17-20 against UAM and 10-8 at their home court. The Muleriders won five of its last six matchups against UAM since 2015 including a pair of wins at home, and a 3-1 record against the Boll Weevils last season.