MAGNOLIA, Ark. – It's simple. Win and you're in. While the thought may be, the act of doing such is easier said than done. Enter March. The calendar turns to the third month of the new year on Saturday, but for Southern Arkansas postseason basketball began weeks ago and has second-year head coach Logan Quinn and this Muleriders in a do-or-die state of hardwood.
 
Far from simple is also the crowded league standings as eight teams mathematically battle for five remaining tournament berths with Southern Arkansas squeezed into a three-way tie with East Central and Oklahoma Baptist for the eighth and final tournament spot. The latter two teams meet Saturday in the regular season finale. SAU opens the regular season's last week against Ouachita in Arkadelphia in a 7:30 p.m. tip-off on Thursday night and then battles Arkansas Tech, which remains alive for the top seed, on Saturday at 3 p.m. inside the W.T. Watson Center. The Muleriders will honor seniors Cedric Garrett and Gregory Hammond Jr. prior to tip-off. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.

WHOSE BERTH IS IT ANYWAY?
Eight teams will be in action next weekend inside Shawnee's Firelake Arena. With two games remaining, only three teams have locked in their berth for the league's postseason tournament and of those three only one's seeding is known: #3 Northwestern Oklahoma. Southeastern Oklahoma and Arkansas Tech are still vying for the top spot. Southern Nazarene is currently fourth at 10-10, but not in the clear yet. Harding, Arkansas-Monticello and Southwestern Oklahoma are all knotted at 9-11 with the aforementioned tied for eighth place currently occupying an eighth, ninth and tenth team in the standings. Time will tell.
 
NOTEWORTHY NUMBERS
The Muleriders hold the top mark in the GAC in rebounding margin at +7.1. That margin ranks 13^th nationally and is tops in the Central Region. SAU ranks second in rebounds per game at 38.0 and in offensive rebounds per game at 13.04 (25^th nationally) and ranks third in defensive rebounds per game at 24.96. Southern Arkansas has outrebounded 18 of its 26 opponents this season including its last seven.
 
Three Muleriders are averaging 5.0 rebounds per game or more led by Carel Ray Jr.'s league-leading 207 (8^th regionally) at 8.3 per game which leads the GAC and ranks fifth in the Central Region. His 2.84 rebounds on the offensive end of the floor leads the Central Region, while his 5.44 defensive rebounds rank third in the GAC and trail Hammond who ranks second with an average of 5.75. Hammond's overall average of 7.2 ranks fourth in the GAC and Anthony Igiede follows the two with 129 total rebounds at five per game.
 
The Muleriders' scoring margin is currently at -1.2 averaging just over 70 ppg, while holding opponents to 71 ppg. Ray leads SAU in scoring average at 18.8 ppg which ranks fourth in the GAC and 11^th in the region. Both Hammond (12.2 ppg) and Igiede (10.7) average double figures scoring.
 
As a team, SAU is shooting 43.1% from the floor, the league's second lowest rate, and 31.6% from three-point range which ranks 11^th. The Muleriders' defensive efforts in each shooting category both rank in the top eight in the GAC.
 
Ray ranks second leaguewide in field goals made (180) and field goal attempts (401). He is shooting 44.9% from the floor and Ray's 18.8 ppg is currently on track to be the highest scoring average in a single season in SAU's GAC history.

Igiede's 83 makes from the stripe are the ninth-most in the GAC and are a result of the fifth-best free throw clip at 83.0%%. Nevi Tell continues to impress in his true freshman campaign ranking in the top ten in the GAC in steals per game (1.60) and steals (40). Hammond's 1.0 blocks per game is the third-highest swat rate in the league and his 20 total blocks are the seventh-most.

TIGER TAMING ON TAP?
Ouachita enters the final weekend of the regular season averaging 72.4 ppg with opponents scoring at 75.7 ppg. The Tigers are shooting 45.7% as a team with a 34.4% clip from beyond-the-arc. The Tigers shoot the three and they shoot it often. Ouachita ranks second in the league with 24.2 three-point attempts per game with their 8.3 made per game ranking fourth. Additionally, OUA is one of the region's top shooting free throw teams with a success rate of 75.4%.
 
Emorie Knox is the league's top free throw shooter at 88.9%, which ranks 20^th nationally, and he ranks eighth in the GAC in three-pointers per game (2.12) and total three-pointers made (53). MJ Leslie ranks right above Knox in both categories with an average of 2.28 and 57 total makes. The pair has combined for 285 total three-point attempts.
 
Rollin Belton holds a pair of top five marks in shot swatting with the fourth-most blocks in the league (22) and the fifth-highest block average (.88). Tylar Haynes ranks inside the nation's top 40 with the second-highest field goal percentage in the GAC at 55.6%. Haynes also ranks sixth in the GAC in offensive rebounds per game (2.22) and 11^th in rebounds per game (6.3).

In the previous meeting: Redshirt freshman Anthony Igiede recorded a new career-high total of 23 points in addition to filling his stat ledger six rebounds, two assists and a block, while three other Muleriders in Carel Ray Jr. (19), Mohamed Traore (14), and Jessie Davis Jr. (11) all reached double figures in scoring. It was the third win for SAU over the Tigers and the 14^th straight against Ouachita at home.

Last Time Out (12/9/23): Southern Arkansas 78, Ouachita 68 (Recap | Box Score)

MAKES YOU WONDER…
The Wonder Boys stare down the final two games of the regular season eyeing the top spot in the GAC as they sit just a game back of Southeastern Oklahoma for the #1 seed and a regular season title.
 
ATU ranks in the top two of 11 statistical categories within the GAC which includes league-best marks in field goal percentage defense (42.5%), scoring defense (65.2), scoring margin (+8.7), three-point percentage (40.1%), turnovers per game (11.7) and winning percentage (.769). Arkansas Tech averages 74.0 ppg behind a 46.6% success rate from the floor.
 
GAC Player of the Year candidate Taelon Peter leads the league in scoring (20.6), total points (535), three-point percentage (45.6%), a mark that ranks 12^th nationally, free throws (124) and steals (50). He ranks in the league's top three in five additional categories. Only one player in the region is averaging more made three pointers per game than Peter's 2.96.
 
Kade Shaffer paces the conference with the league's best assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.57. His 126 assists are the third-most in the GAC this season and his 4.8 assists per game also ranks third. Josh Mitchell is the top shot blocker in the GAC with 43 total and a per game average of 1.72.

In the previous meeting: "Senior Gregory Hammond Jr., in his first action in a month, knocked down a triple try to put Southern Arkansas up nine points with just under eight minutes remaining in Sunday afternoon's Great American Conference matchup against league-leading Arkansas Tech from inside Tucker Coliseum. However, it was all Wonder Boys down the stretch as Tech closed the contest on a 26-5 run to win 69-57 and remain the lone unbeaten in conference action. The loss drops the Muleriders to 4-5 overall with an even 2-2 mark in GAC play.
 
SAU carried a 31-23 lead into the break and never led by fewer than three points over the first dozen minutes of the second half, building its advantage to 52-43 at the 7:47 mark. SAU would go cold from the field for the next 7:05 of play before true freshman Nevi Tell made the first of two free throw attempts with 42 seconds remaining and Tech leading by ten, 63-53."
 
Last Time Out (12/17/23): Arkansas Tech 69, Southern Arkansas 57 (Recap | Box Score)