ULM Warhawks

Game 18: South Alabama (10-9 overall, 3-4 Sun Belt Conference) at ULM (5-12 overall, 1-6 Sun Belt Conference)
7:30 p.m. Thurs., Jan. 25, 2024 | Fant-Ewing Coliseum | Monroe, Louisiana
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GAME NOTES

MONROE, La. - The ULM men's basketball team looks to build off its first Sun Belt Conference win of the season when South Alabama visits Fant-Ewing Coliseum. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, following the 5 p.m. women's basketball game between ULM and Arkansas State.

• ULM (5-12 overall, 1-6 Sun Belt Conference) snapped a nine-game losing streak and earned its first SBC win of the season with an 80-73 win at Old Dominion on Saturday. The Warhawks never trailed in the contest and led by as much as 16 points in the second half. Tyreke Locure led ULM with 20 points, while Tyreese Watson added a career-high 16 points. Makai Willis totaled 14 points and 12 rebounds in his second double-double of the season while Jalen Bolden picked up 11 points and 13 rebounds in his fourth double-double of the year.

• Watson and Willis have emerged as scoring threats over the last four games. Watson has four-straight double figure games and Willis has reached 10 points in the last three games entering Thursday's game vs. South Alabama. Watson is averaging 8.7 points per game on the season, but it bumps to 11.0 points per game over the last five contests. Willis is averaging 5.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game on the season, which improves to 8.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game over the last five games.

• Thursday's game features two players going against their former schools. 

It is the first time former Warhawk Thomas Howell will play in Fant-Ewing Coliseum in a visitor uniform. Howell played in 89 games with 66 starts over three seasons at ULM, averaging 7.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. He averaged career bests of 9.5 poitns and 8.0 rebounds per game last season.

Tyreke Locure opened his collegiate career at South Alabama, playing in 55 games with 38 starts over two seasons with the Jaguars, averaging 9.1 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. He averaged 13.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game last season in his first two meetings with USA since transferring to UAB prior to the 2021-22 season.

THURSDAY'S GAME BASICS    
ULM takes on South Alabama at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. The Warhawks picked up its first Sun Belt Conference win of the season last Saturday at Old Dominion, 80-73, to move to 5-12 overall and 1-6 in the Sun Belt Conference. South Alabama is 10-9 overall and 3-4 in SBC play after last Saturday's 88-79 loss to the Ragin' Cajuns.

The Warhawks are 3-5 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), Southern Miss (71-58) and Texas State (67-54). The Warhawks' other two victories this season came at Central Michigan (74-64) in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge and at Old Dominion (80-73).

South Alabama has won two of its last three games entering Thursday's contest. The Jaguars snapped a three-game slide with a 91-85 win at Marshall on Jan. 13 and followed it by handing Troy its first SBC loss of the season, 74-71, last Thursday, before the Cajuns defeated USA last Saturday. The Jags are 4-4 on the road this season, with wins at Buffalo (70-56), Mercer (83-62), Old Dominion (61-59) and Marshall (91-85) and losses at Alabama (102-46), Maryland (68-55), Jacksonville State (70-52) and James Madison (89-55).

ULM and South Alabama have four common opponents in Sun Belt Conference play. Both teams defeated Old Dominion in Norfolk, Virginia, while both teams lost to App State and James Madison. ULM lost at home to Marshall, 68-57, while USA won at Marshall, 91-85.

ULM head coach Keith Richard is 14-12 in his career against South Alabama, including an 11-10 record at ULM, while USA head coach Richie Riley is 6-1 against ULM, all while as the head coach of the Jaguars.

Thursday'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 SOUTH ALABAMA    
South Alabama enters Thursday's game at ULM as one of the top free throw shooting teams in the Sun Belt Conference, ranking second in the SBC and 76th in NCAA Division I with at 74.1 percent from the free throw line. The Jaguars also rank fifth in the SBC with 11.2 turnovers per game.

Isiah Gaiter paces USA in scoring at 17.1 points per game while he is second on the team at 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He leads the team with 1.3 steals per game. He is shooting 49% from the field on the season. He has scored in double figures 17 times and has reached 20 points six times. He has scored in double figures in 10 straight games entering Thursday's game at ULM. He scored a season-high 29 points vs. App State on Jan. 4. Inside SBC action, Gaiter is averaging 20.0 points per game while adding 2.9 assists per game. He is shooting 42% (13-of-31) from 3-point range in conference play.

Tyrell Jones is second on the Jaguars at 11.8 points per game while adding 3.5 rebounds per game. His 1.8 assists per game rank third on the team. He has 11 double figure games, and has topped 20 points twice, with both coming in the last five games. He had a season-high 23 points (4-of-7 3-point field goals) at Marshall on Jan. 13, and tallied 22 points (4-of-7 3-pointers) vs. Georgia State on Jan. 6. He has knocked down four 3-pointers in a game four times since Dec. 21, including three times in Sun Belt Conference play. Inside SBC action, Jones is averaging 15.1 points per game while shooting 45% (17-of-38) from 3-point range.

Samuel Tabe is the third Jaguar averaging double figures at 10.1 points per game. He adds 3.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. He is shooting 50% from the field, and has attempted just three 3-pointers on the season. He has scored in double figures 10 times, including each of the last five games, netting a season-high 19 points twice, coming against Troy last Thursday and vs. Spring Hill on Dec. 9. He had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds vs. Alabama A&M on Dec. 21.

Former Warhawk Thomas Howell has started all 19 games and is averaging 7.1 points and a team-best 6.5 rebounds per game. He has scored in double figures five times, including twice in the last three games and three times in SBC play, and has five games with 10 or more rebounds. He has two double-doubles, with 10 points and 10 rebounds vs. App State on Jan. 4 and 14 points and 11 rebounds vs. Denver on Nov. 17.
 
LOCURE HEADS DOWN THE STRETCH OF SENIOR SEASON    
ULM senior guard Tyreke Locure posted the team's first two individual 20-point outings of the season. He earned his second of the year with 20 points (8-of-10 free throw attempts) and five rebounds last Saturday at Old Dominion. He had the first 20-plus point game of any Warhawk on the season on Jan. 6 against Georgia Southern, scoring a game-high 24 points (8-of-16 field-goal attempts) while adding four rebounds. He has seven 20-point games in his ULM career after topping 20 points five times last season.

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 leads the team in scoring at 10.4 points per game while adding 3.8 rebounds and a team-high 2.7 assists per game. He has tallied double figure scoring in six 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.

METSKHVARISHVILI ROUNDING INTO FORM    
Senior forward Nika Metskhvarishvili did not play (injury) in last week's road swing to James Madison and Old Dominion, snapping a string of 15-straight starts to open the 2023-24 season. He was the final remaining Warhawk to have started every game. He has led ULM in scoring six times and posted two double-doubles. He is second on the team 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) on Jan. 11 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.

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 8.8 points per game and leads the team at 6.1 rebounds per game. He notched his fourth double-double of the year with 11 points and 13 rebounds (seven offensive) last Saturday at Old Dominion. It was the eighth time this year he scored in double figures. He tallied 12 points, three rebounds and three steals last Thursday at James Madison.

He earned his third double-double on Jan. 11 vs. Southern Miss with 13 points and 10 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.

WATSON LEADS NEWCOMER IMPACT ON 2023-24 TEAM    
ULM junior guard Tyreese Watson has notched four-straight double figure scoring efforts entering Thursday's game against South Alabama. He set a new career high with 16 points (6-of-10 field goal attempts, 2-of-3 3-point field goal attempts) last Saturday at Old Dominion. He scored 14 points while also tying his career best with five rebounds last Thursday at James Madison. He is averaging 8.7 points per game, good for fourth on the team, and 2.2 rebounds per game with eight double figure games. He is second on the team in Sun Belt Conference play at 9.7 points per game. 

Watson returned to the starting lineup and scored in double figures for the second straight game with 10 points vs. Texas State on Jan. 13. He had 12 points off the bench on Jan. 11 vs. Southern Miss. 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.

GALLION CONTINUES CONTRIBUTING ROLE    
ULM senior guard Savion Gallion has started 14 of the first 17 games of the 2023-24 season and ranks fifth on the team at 8.6 points per game. He earned nine points (3-of-5 field goal attempts) with three assists at Old Dominion last Saturday. He collected 16 points, with 15 coming in the second half, last Thursday at James Madison. 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 three times, doing so Thursday at JMU, 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.

WILLIS STARTS TO EMERGE IN THE POST    
ULM junior forward Makai Willis has posted three-straight double-figure games and picked up his first two starts of his Warhawk career entering Thursday night's contest against South Alabama. Over the last three games, Willis is tied with Tyreese Watson for the team lead in scoring at 13.3 points per game while leading the club in rebounding at 8.7 rebounds per game. He has shot 18 of his 38 free-throw attempts on the season over the last three games, knocking down 13. He is shooting 45% (13-of-29) from the field in the past three games. Willis is averaging 5.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game on the season and 7.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game in Sun Belt Conference play. He is nearly averaging a double-double per 40 minutes played, at 14.1 points and 9.9 rebounds per 40 minutes.

Willis picked up his second double-double of the season with 14 points (6-of-8 free throw attempts) and 12 rebounds last Saturday at Old Dominion. He scored a career-high 15 points (5-of-10 field goal attempts) and added seven points last Thursday at James Madison. He totaled 11 points with seven rebounds vs. Texas State on Jan. 13.

He has scored in double figures five times on the season, and earned his first double-double with 13 points (5-of-8 field goal attempts) with 10 rebounds on Nov. 20 vs. Ecclesia.

Willis played two seasons at Fairfield before transferring to ULM for the 2023-24 season. He played in 27 games for the Stags, including 23 as a sophomore in 2022-23. He averaged 2.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per game last season. He played high school basketball for former NBA veteran, Heisman Trophy winner and Florida State legend Charlie Ward at Florida State School in Tallahassee, Florida.

RICHARD EARNS 300TH CAREER WIN, /documents/2024/1/24/ULM_MBB_Notes_Game_18_vs._South_Alabama_1-25-2024.pdfSECOND 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 118 Sun Belt Conference games as a head coach, with 86 at ULM and 32 over his first three seasons at LA Tech before the Bulldogs joined the Western Athletic Conference in 2001-02. With his win over Old Dominion last Saturday, Richard passed former Middle Tennesse coach Kermit Davis for the second-most SBC wins by a head coach.

He has been involved in 745 of the 2,031 games (37%) in ULM program history either as a player, graduate assistant, assistant coach or head coach.