ULM Warhawks

Game 16: ULM (4-11 overall, 0-5 Sun Belt Conference) at James Madison (15-2 overall, 3-2 Sun Belt Conference)
8 p.m. EST/7 p.m. CST Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 | Atlantic Union Bank Center | Harrisonburg, Virginia
WATCH: ESPN+ | LISTEN: 105.3 FM KLIP | LIVE STATS
GAME NOTES

MONROE, La. - The ULM men's basketball team opens a Virginia road swing at 8 p.m. EST/7 p.m. CST Thursday at James Madison. The Warhawks are 4-11 overall and 0-5 in Sun Belt Conference play after a 67-54 loss to Texas State last Saturday, while JMU is 15-2 overall and 3-2 in the SBC after a 59-55 loss to App State last Saturday in Harrisonburg.

Texas State used a 14-0 run late in the first half to seize the lead and opened up as much as a 21-point lead in the second half on its way to a 67-54 win over ULM last Saturday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. Makai Willis led ULM off the bench with 11 points and seven rebounds, while Tyreese Watson added 10 points in his second career start. Jordan Mason led three Bobcats in double figures with 16 points.

Tyreke Locure and Nika Metskhvarishvili are tied for the team lead at 10.0 points per game. Locure tallied eight points with seven rebounds and three assists last Saturday vs. Texas State, while Metskhvarishvili was limited to three points with five rebounds. Locure leads the team with 2.7 assists per game while Metskhvarishvili is tied with Jalen Bolden for the team lead with 5.9 rebounds per game. Metskhvarishvili has scored in double figures seven times this season while Locure has reached double figures five times.

Bolden and Savion Gallion average over 8.0 points per game, with Bolden at 8.4 points per game and Gallion at 8.1. Bolden leads ULM with three double-doubles on the season. In addition to his 13 points and 10 rebounds vs. Southern Miss last 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 14.00 offensive rebounds per game to lead the SBC and 29th in NCAA Division I. The Warhawks are fifth in the SBC and 68th nationally at 38.50 rebounds per game. ULM had 15 offensive rebounds and outrebounded Texas State, 38-32, last Saturday.

THURSDAY'S GAME BASICS    
ULM faces James Madison for just the second time in program history at 8 p.m. EST/7 p.m. CST Thursday at the Atlantic Union Bank Center in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The Dukes won the first meeting last season, 58-45, in Harrisonburg on Jan. 28, 2023.

The Warhawks enter Thursday's game at 4-11 overall and 0-5 in the Sun Belt Conference after last Saturday's 67-54 loss to Texas State at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. ULM is searching for its first win since Dec. 5 vs. Champion Christian. The Warhawks are 1-6 on the road this season with a win against Central Michigan (74-64) in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge and losses to No. 7/6 Houston (81-34), SMU (70-57), Sam Houston (63-62), Lamar (97-73), Jacksonville (75-65) and App State (67-55). ULM's three home wins have come against Ecclesia (103-74), Northwestern State (74-70) and Champion Christian (110-63).

James Madison has dropped two of its last three games after starting the season 14-0 and rising as high as No. 19/20 in the national rankings. The Dukes lost their first home game of the season last Saturday to App State, 59-55, and are now 7-1 at the Atlantic Union Bank Center this season. The boast home wins against Howard (107-86), Radford (76-73), Buffalo (81-66), Keystone College (130-59), Coppin State (87-48), Texas State (82-65) and South Alabama (89-55). JMU grabbed headlines to open the season with a 79-76 win in overtime at No. 4/4 Michigan State. Their only other loss came on Jan. 6 at Southern Miss, 81-71.

ULM and JMU have two common opponents in Texas State and Southern Miss. Both teams lost to Southern Miss, with ULM dropping a 71-58 decision to the Golden Eagles last Thursday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. JMU opened SBC play with a home win over Texas State by 17, while ULM lost last Saturday to the Bobcats, 67-54, in Monroe.

ULM head coach Keith Richard is 0-1 all-time against James Madison, while JMU head coach Mark Byington is much more familiar with the Warhawks, with an 11-4 mark against ULM. Byington was 10-4 vs. the Warhawks during his seven seasons as head coach at Georgia Southern (2013-20).

Thursday's game will stream on ESPN+ with Curt Dudley (play-by-play), David Taylor (analyst) and Corey Spector (sideline reporter) 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 JAMES MADISON    
James Madison entered the week ranked No. 61 in the NCAA's NET rankings, the highest ranking for any Sun Belt Conference school. The Dukes are one of the top teams nationally in forcing turnovers, leading the SBC and ranking second in NCAA Division I in steals (14.5 per game), fourth nationally in turnovers forced per game (19.00 pg.) and sixth nationally in turnover margin (+8.5 pg.). They also are tied with ULM for the SBC lead and rank 29th nationally in offensive rebounds per game (14.00 pg.). JMU leads the SBC and is 48th nationally in free throw percentage (.815).

Terrence Edwards Jr., a Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference First-Team selection, leads JMU in scoring at 17.1 points per game, which ranks second in the Sun Belt Conference, while sitting second on the team in assists (3.1 per game) and third in rebounding (5.1 pg.). He has scored in double figures in 15 of 17 games, and topped 20 points five times. He scored a season-high 29 points while adding nine rebounds at Morgan State on Dec. 22. He posted his lone double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds at Kent State on Nov. 9. Inside SBC play, Edwards is averaging 16.8 points per game. He ranks ninth in the SBC in free throw percentage (.796), 10th in minutes per game (31.19 pg.), 11th in field goal percentage (.426) and assists per game (3.06 pg.) and 13th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.11). Edwards was named to the Lute Olson Mid-Season National Player of the Year Award Watch List and the Lou Henson Player of the Year Award Watch List. He is a two-time SBC Player of the Week and was the Lou Henson Award National Player of the Week, Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week and Associated Press National Player of the Week after scoring 24 points in the win over No. 4 Michigan State on Nov. 6.

T.J. Bickerstaff is second on the team at 14.8 points per game, which ranks ninth in the SBC, while leading the team at 8.9 rebounds per game, which is fifth in the SBC. He has scored in double figures in 14 of 17 games, but has been held under 10 points in each of the last two games. He has scored 20 or more points four times, netting a season-high 21 points three times. He has at least 10 rebounds in seven games, and has six double-doubles, including three straight double-doubles from Dec. 30 to Jan. 6. He is averaging 10.8 rebounds per game in SBC action. He ranks second in the SBC in field goal percentage (.650), fourth in offensive rebounds per game (2.88 pg.) and fifth in defensive rebounds per game (6.06 pg.). He also is a two-time SBC Player of the Week and was also named to the Lou Henson Player of the Year Award Watch List. He was named the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week after matching his season high with 21 points (9-of-11 field goal attempts) and 10 rebounds in a double-double vs. Texas State on Dec. 30.

Noah Freidel is third on the team at 11.6 points per game while sitting second on the team in rebounding at 5.2 rebounds per game. He leads the team in 3-point field goal percentage (.365) and 3-point field goals made (38). He ranks fourth in the SBC in 3-point field goals made per game (2.24 pg.). He has scored in double figures 11 times while scoring a season-high 26 points twice, against Fresno State (6-of-9 3-point field goal attempts) on Nov. 22 and vs. South Alabama (6-of-10 3-pointers) on Jan. 11. He had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds at Southern Miss on Jan. 6. He had a season-high 11 rebounds at Michigan State on Nov. 6. Inside SBC play, he is averaging 13.4 points per game, which ranks 19th in the SBC, and 6.6 rebounds per game, good for 16th in the SBC.

Michael Green III is fourth on the team at 9.4 points per game while leading the team at 3.9 assists per game. Julien Wooden is fifth on the team at 9.0 points per game.
 
METSKHVARISHVILI ROUNDING INTO FORM    
Senior forward Nika Metskhvarishvili has started the first 15 games of 2023-24, and has led ULM in scoring six times and posted two double-doubles. He is tied for the team lead in scoring and rebounding, picking up 10.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. He leads the team with 10 blocks while sitting second on the team with 36 assists and 14 steals. He has two double-doubles on the season to rank second on the team. He paced ULM with 14 points (7-of-8 free throw attempts) last 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. 

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 on Jan. 6 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 tied for the team lead in scoring at 10.0 points per game while adding 3.9 rebounds and a team-high 2.7 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 8.4 points per game and is tied for the team lead at 5.9 rebounds per game. He earned his third double-double last 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 stuffed the stat sheet with seven points (7-of-12 free throw attempts), eight rebounds, four assists and two steals on Jan. 6 vs. Georgia Southern.

He reached double figures for the fourth-straight game with 11 points at Lamar on Dec. 14. 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 15 games of the 2023-24 season and ranks fourth on the team at 8.1 points per game. He posted a career-high 18 points (6-of-10 field goal attempts) with three assists vs. Georgia Southern on Jan. 6. 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.

WATSON LEADS NEWCOMER IMPACT ON 2023-24 TEAM    
ULM junior guard Tyreese Watson returned to the starting lineup and scored in double figures for the second straight game with 10 points vs. Texas State last Saturday. It was his sixth time to score in double digits on the season. He had 12 points off the bench on Thursday vs. Southern Miss. He is averaging 7.9 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 743 of the 2,029 games (37%) in ULM program history either as a player, graduate assistant, assistant coach or head coach.