ULM Warhawks

Game 15: Texas State (6-10 overall, 0-4 Sun Belt Conference) at ULM (4-10 overall, 0-4 Sun Belt Conference)
2:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024 | Fant-Ewing Coliseum | Monroe, Louisiana
WATCH: ESPN+ | LISTEN: 105.3 FM KLIP | LIVE STATS | TICKETS

GAME NOTES

MONROE, La. - The ULM men's basketball team concludes a four-game homestand by meeting Texas State at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

ULM continues its search for its first Sun Belt Conference win on Saturday after a 71-58 loss to Southern Miss on Thursday night at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. The Warhawks started hot and led by as much as eight points in the first half, before ULM was held without a field goal for 8:12 over the end of the first half and start of the second half. USM surged ahead by eight, but ULM tied the game at 50 on a traditional 3-point play by Jalen Bolden with 5:34 remaining. However, Southern Miss pulled back away and hit its free throws down the stretch for the win. Nika Metskhvarishvili led ULM with 14 points, while Bolden had his third double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Tyreese Watson added 12 points off the bench. Donovan Ivory led four Golden Eagles in double figures with 22 points.

Metskhvarishvili reclaimed the team lead in scoring at 10.5 points per game after his seventh double figure effort of the season on Thursday vs. Southern Miss, notching a team-best 14 points. He is second on the team in rebounding at 5.9 boards per game. He leads ULM with 10 blocks and is second with 35 assists and 14 steals.

Tyreke Locure is second on the team in scoring at 10.1 points per game while leading the team with 2.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He scored a season-high 24 points last Saturday vs. Georgia Southern. He tallied eight points on Thursday vs. Southern Miss.

Bolden now has three double-doubles on the season, the most of any Warhawk. In addition to his 13 points and 10 rebounds vs. Southern Miss on Thursday, he had 14 points and 12 rebounds at Sam Houston on Dec. 12 and 12 points and 14 rebounds vs. Northwestern State on Nov. 28.

ULM continues to excel on the offensive glass, averaging 14.21 offensive rebounds per game to rank second in the SBC and 15th in NCAA Division I. The Warhawks are sixth in the SBC and 60th in the SBC at 39.43 rebounds per game.

SATURDAY'S GAME BASICS    
ULM wraps up a four-game homestand at 2:30 p.m. Saturday when they welcome Texas State to Fant-Ewing Coliseum. ULM has lost seven-straight games to fall to 4-10 overall and 0-4 in Sun Belt Conference action. Texas State has lost its last five games to sit at 6-10 overall and 0-4 in the SBC. Saturday's game is the second game of a doubleheader, following the ULM women's basketball game vs. Texas State at 12 p.m. at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

ULM is searching for its first win since Dec. 5 vs. Champion Christian. The Warhawks are 3-4 at home this season with wins against Champion Christian (110-63), Northwestern State (74-70) and Ecclesia (103-74) with losses to Louisiana Tech (73-63), Marshall (68-57), Georgia Southern (76-68) and Southern Miss (71-58). The Warhawks' other victory this season came at Central Michigan (74-64) in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge.

Texas State has lost its last five games, dropping a nonconference matchup at No. 3/3 Houston (72-37) on Dec. 21 before coming up short in its first four SBC contests against No. 20/21James Madison (82-65), Coastal Carolina (71-63), Marshall (79-75) and Arkansas State (85-82). The Bobcats are 3-6 in true road games this year, with wins at Miami (Ohio) (75-65), UT Arlington (73-66) and Sam Houston (73-60) and losses at Little Rock (71-66), Oklahoma (93-54), No. 16/18 Texas (77-58), Houston, JMU and A-State.

ULM and Texas State have three common opponents, with each team having lopsided losses at Houston (ULM 84-31, Texas State 72-37) and home losses to Marshall (ULM 68-57, Texas State 79-75). Both teams played at Sam Houston, with ULM dropping a 63-62 decision on Dec. 12 and the Bobcats following with a 73-60 win on Dec. 15.

Saturday's game is the 65th meeting in series history, with ULM claiming a 33-31 advantage after sweeping the season series last year. The Warhawks won in San Marcos, 57-53, on Dec. 29, 2022, and followed it up two weeks later with a 61-58 victory in Monroe on Jan. 14, 2023. The two teams have been together in the SBC since Texas State joined the conference prior to the 2013-14 season. The two clubs faced off as members of the Southland Conference from 1987-2006.

ULM head coach Keith Richard is 8-12 all-time against Texas State, with all 20 meetings coming at ULM. Bobcat head coach Terrence Johnson is 4-2 against the Warhawks.

Saturday's game will stream on ESPN+ with Chris Harris (play-by-play) and Mike Vining (analyst) on the call. The game also will air on 105.3 FM KLIP, la105.com and the TuneIn app on the Warhawk Radio Network from Learfield with Mike Hammett on the play-by-play.

PREVIEWING TEXAS STATE    
Texas State excels on the offensive glass, ranking fifth in the Sun Belt Conference and 51st in NCAA Division I with 12.69 offensive rebounds per game. The Bobcats also are strong at defending the 3-point line, ranking fifth in the SBC and 83rd nationally allowing teams to shoot 30.9% from deep.

Jordan Mason leads the Bobcats in scoring at 12.8 points per game. He also leads the team at 1.4 steals per game and is second on the team at 4.0 assists per game. Mason did not join the Texas State lineup until Nov. 25 at UT Arlington. He has scored in double figures in six of his first 10 games, scoring a season-high 21 points in his debut vs. the Mavericks while also scoring 20 points vs. Jarvis Christian on Dec. 11. He has scored in double figures once in the last five games, with 11 points vs. Marshall last Saturday.

Brandon Love is one of two Bobcats to start all 16 games (Dylan Dawson), and is second on the team with 11.8 points per game while leading the team at 5.8 rebounds per game. He has reached double figure scoring in 11 games, and topped 20 points twice, with a season-high 23 points last Saturday vs. Marshall (11-of-13 field goal attempts) and 21 points vs. LeTourneau (10-of-13 field goals) on Dec. 18. He has three double-doubles, racking up 15 points and 10 rebounds at UTA on Nov. 25, 18 points and 14 rebounds vs. UTSA on Nov. 17 and 13 points and 10 rebounds at Little Rock on Nov. 6. Over the last two games, he is averaging 21.0 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game.

Colton Benson is third on the team at 10.5 points per game and has played in only the last six games. He has scored in double figures in three of the last four games, with a season-high 19 points (4-of-6 3-point field goal attempts) at James Madison on Dec. 30. He had 15 points vs. Coastal Carolina on Jan. 4 and at Arkansas State on Thursday, hitting 4-of-5 3-pointers against the Red Wolves.

Kaden Gumbs is the fourth on the Bobcats at 9.9 points per game and leads the team at 4.1 assists per game while adding 4.3 rebounds per game. He has started all 15 games in which he has appeared. Gumbs has reached double figures in six games, scoring a season-high 15 points vs. Marshall last Saturday and vs. Southern Utah on Nov. 22. He had a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double against SUU. He has handed out at least three assists in 14 of 15 games.

Dawson is averaging 9.8 points per game while tracking down 2.3 rebounds per game. He has scored in double figures seven times, with a season-high 23 points at Sam Houston (5-of-10 3-pointers) on Dec. 15. He scored in double figures for the first time in five games on Thursday at Arkansas State, pouring in 16 points (4-of-7 3-pointers) vs. the Red Wolves.

METSKHVARISHVILI ROUNDING INTO FORM    
Senior forward Nika Metskhvarishvili has started the first 14 games of 2023-24, and has led ULM in scoring six times and posted two double-doubles. He leads the team in scoring at 10.5 points per game while ranking second in rebounding (5.9 rebounds per game), assists (2.5 pg.) and steals (1.0 pg.). He has two double-doubles in the last six games and has posted at least nine rebounds in four of the last six games. He paced ULM with 14 points (7-of-8 free throw attempts) on Thursday vs. Southern Miss. He led ULM in scoring and rebounding for the second-straight game with 16 points and nine rebounds at App State on Dec. 30. He posted his second double-double of the season and fourth of his career on Dec. 18 at Jacksonville with 17 points and 11 rebounds. He totaled 10 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the year at Lamar on Dec. 14. Over the last five games, he leads the team at 11.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

Metskhvarishvili scored a season-high 19 points, pulled in eight rebounds and added a career-high five blocks on Nov. 28 vs. Northwestern State. He played a key role in ULM's second-half rally, scoring 12 of his 19 points while adding seven of his eight rebounds and four of his five blocks. He had six of his eight rebounds on the offensive end.

Metskhvarishvili tallied 15 points with six rebounds, three assists and three steals on Nov. 16 vs. Louisiana Tech. He had 16 points (7-of-11 field-goal attempts) while adding three rebounds, three assists and one steal on Nov. 11 at Central Michigan. He dished out a team-best five assists on Nov. 20 vs. Ecclesia.

Metskhvarishvili was cleared to return to action just before the start of official practice in late September, and returns to the Warhawk lineup after missing all but five games in the 2022-23 season due to a knee injury.

When he left the lineup after five games last season, Metskhvarishvili was second on the team in scoring at 9.8 points per game and rebounding at 5.8 boards per game. The Tbilisi, Georgia, native was named a Preseason Third-Team All-Sun Belt Conference selection prior to the 2022-23 season.

Metskhvarishvili appeared in 28 games with five starts in his first season at ULM as a second-year sophomore in 2021-22, averaging 10.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. He totaled 12 double-figure scoring games, including four games with 20-or-more points and had a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards at Texas State. He scored a career-high 23 points while playing 40 minutes at UT Arlington on Jan. 15. He scored in double figures in five consecutive games from Jan. 8-22, and improved inside SBC action, averaging 11.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.

LOCURE HAS BREAK OUT GAME AGAINST GEORGIA SOUTHERN    
ULM senior guard Tyreke Locure posted the team's first individual 20-point outing last Saturday against Georgia Southern, scoring a game-high 24 points (8-of-16 field-goal attempts) while adding four rebounds. It was the sixth 20-point game of his ULM career after topping 20 points five times last season. It was his first double-figure effort since Nov. 28 vs. Northwestern State, a stretch of six games.

Locure was named Preseason Second-Team All-Sun Belt Conference following a vote of the league's head coaches, the conference announced Oct. 16. He is second on the team in scoring at 10.1 points per game while adding 3.6 rebounds and a team-high 2.6 assists per game. He has tallied double figure scoring in five games. He totaled 17 points with a career-high matching nine rebounds (four offensive) and two assists on Nov. 28 vs. Northwestern State. He picked up 11 points with five rebounds and two steals vs. Ecclesia on Nov. 20, scored 15 points with five rebounds, four assists and three steals on Nov. 16 vs. Louisiana Tech and had 13 points and added team highs with six rebounds, six assists and three steals on Nov. 11 at Central Michigan. He had just nine points, three rebounds and four assists in nearly 11 minutes of playing time on Dec. 5 vs. Champion Christian.
 
Locure returns for his second season at ULM after leading the team in scoring (14.4 points per game), steals (1.8 pg.), field goals made per game (5.0 pg.) and 3-point field goals made per game (2.1 pg.) in 2022-23. He added 4.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. He ranked fourth in the SBC in steals per game, sixth in 3-point field goals made per game, eighth in scoring, 14th in free-throw percentage (.762) and minutes per game (31.9) and 15th in assists per game and 3-point field goal percentage (.370). He scored in double figures 26 times and topped 20 points five times. He scored a career high 33 points vs. Troy on Feb. 22. His numbers improved inside of SBC play to 15.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game while adding 2.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He shot 41% (43-of-104) from the 3-point line and 83% (53-of-64) from the free throw line in SBC action.

BOLDEN STEPS UP AS SOPHOMORE    
Sophomore guard Jalen Bolden has broken through in the first half of the 2023-24 season. He is third on the team in scoring at 8.6 points per game and leads the team at 6.1 rebounds per game. He earned his third double-double on Thursday vs. Southern Miss with 13 points and 10 rebounds, marking his sixth double-figure scoring effort of the season and third time he has pulled in 10 or more rebounds. He reached double figures for the fourth-straight game with 11 points at Lamar on Dec. 14. He had his double-figure streak snapped with six points at Jacksonville on Dec. 18. He stuffed the stat sheet with seven points (7-of-12 free throw attempts), eight rebounds, four assists and two steals last Saturday vs. Georgia Southern.

He picked up his second double-double by leading the team in scoring with 14 points and rebounding with 12 boards on Dec. 12 at Sam Houston. He made his first career start on Dec. 5 against Champion Christian and posted his third double-figure scoring game of the season with 10 points (4-of-6 field-goal attempts, 2-of-2 3-point field-goal attempts) and three rebounds.

He had his first career double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds on Nov. 28 against Northwestern State. He scored 10 of his 12 points and pulled in nine of his 14 rebounds in the second half as ULM rallied from an 18-point first-half deficit for the 74-70 win. His 14 rebounds set a new career high.

He had his first double figure effort of the season with a career-high 15 points (6-of-7 field-goal attempts) against Ecclesia on Nov. 20. He has scored at least six points in each of the last six games while adding at least five rebounds three times.

As a freshman in 2022-23, Bolden played in 16 games, averaging 3.8 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. He scored in double figures twice, doing so with 13 points and four rebounds against Dallas Christian on Nov. 10 and with 11 points and three rebounds at the Ragin' Cajuns on Feb. 16.

GALLION CONTINUES CONTRIBUTING ROLE    
ULM senior guard Savion Gallion has started 12 of the first 14 games of the 2023-24 season and ranks fourth on the team at 8.4 points per game. He posted a career-high 18 points (6-of-10 field goal attempts) with three assists vs. Georgia Southern last Saturday. He has led ULM in scoring twice, posting 17 points (5-of-7 field-goal attempts) at Lamar on Dec. 14 and with eight points in the season opener at No. 7/6 Houston on Nov. 6. He reached double figures for the first time this season with 14 points (5-of-8 field-goal attempts) while adding five rebounds and four assists on Nov. 20 vs. Ecclesia. He had his second double figure game with 10 points and three rebounds at Sam Houston on Dec. 12. He scored in double figures for the third-straight game with 12 points at Jacksonville on Dec. 18. He added eight points with a career-high six rebounds on Nov. 26 at SMU.

Gallion returns after playing a pivotal role off the bench and as a spot starter in 2022-23. He played in all 32 games with 12 starts in his first season at ULM and averaged a career-best 7.5 points and 2.5 rebounds per game while adding 32 assists and 19 steals. He shot 38% (78-of-204) from the field and 26% (20-of-73) from 3-point range while knocking down 72% (65-of-90) from the free-throw line. He reached double figures 10 times.

WILSON MAKES FIRST CAREER START    
ULM sophomore guard Jacob Wilson made his first career start on Dec. 30 at App State, posting his third double-figure game of the season and fifth of his career with 10 points, two rebounds and three assists against the Mountaineers. He played 25 minutes. He made his second-straight start on Jan. 3 vs. Marshall, scoring three points with one rebound in 11 minutes of playing time.

Wilson has played in all 14 games, averaging 4.5 points and 1.8 assists per game while shooting 44% (26-of-59) from the field. He tallied 11 points at Lamar on Dec. 14 and led the team with 16 points while adding a career-high seven assists vs. Champion Chrisitan on Dec. 5. He has multiple assists in seven games.

The Baton Rouge, Louisiana, native played in 14 games last year, averaging 4.4 points and 1.6 rebounds per game.

WATSON LEADS NEWCOMER IMPACT ON 2023-24 TEAM    
ULM junior guard Tyreese Watson scored in double figures for the fifth time on the season with 12 points off the bench on Thursday vs. Southern Miss. He is averaging 7.7 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. 

He picked up his first career start on Dec. 30 at App State, scoring eight points. He added season highs with five rebounds and four assists. Watson had his first double-figure game with 13 points (3-of-4 3-point field goal attempts) at Central Michigan on Nov. 11. He reached double figures in back-to-back games with 13 points vs. Ecclesia on Nov. 20 and a season-high 14 points (6-of-10 field goal attempts) at SMU on Nov. 26. He posted 10 points with one rebound at Sam Houston on Dec. 12.

The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, native is a transfer from Cochise College in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Cochise finished the 2022-23 season with a 29-3 record, which included a 27-game winning streak, and finished ranked No. 11 in the NJCAA poll. The Apaches compiled a 58-7 record over Watson's two seasons.
 
Watson led the team in scoring with 19.6 points per game and increased his scoring average to 20.6 points per game in conference play. He totaled 20 or more points 18 times and posted a season-high of 36 points. Watson scored 1,077 points over his two seasons at Cochise. He added 3.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 37% from the 3-point line. He shot 42% from deep inside conference play.
 
Watson is the brother of former Creighton standout and current professional player Maurice Watson, Jr. He played high school basketball at Monsignor Bonner High School.

RICHARD EARNS 300TH CAREER WIN, TIED FOR SECOND IN SBC CAREER WINS    
ULM head coach Keith Richard earned his 300th career win in the 72-59 victory for the Warhawks at Georgia Southern on Jan. 19, 2023.

Richard is in his 14th season as the head coach at his alma mater. The win against Georgia Southern also marked his 150th victory as the head coach at ULM, making it an even split in career victories with another 150 wins over nine seasons at Louisiana Tech from 1998-99 to 2007-08. 

He has won 117 Sun Belt Conference games as a head coach, with 85 at ULM and 32 over his first three seasons at LA Tech before the Bulldogs joined the Western Athletic Conference in 2001-02. He is tied with former Middle Tennesse coach and current Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis for the second-most SBC wins by a head coach.

He has been involved in 742 of the 2,028 games (37%) in ULM program history either as a player, graduate assistant, assistant coach or head coach.