ULM Warhawks

GAME 13: GEORGIA SOUTHERN EAGLES (1-12 overall, 1-1 Sun Belt Conference) at ULM WARHAWKS (4-8 overall, 0-2 Sun Belt Conference)
2 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 | Fant-Ewing Coliseum | Monroe, Louisiana
WATCH: ESPN+ | LISTEN: 105.3 FM KLIP | LIVE STATS

GAME NOTES

MONROE, La. - The ULM men's basketball team continues a four-game home stand when they face off with Georgia Southern at 2 p.m. Saturday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

ULM is looking to snap a five-game losing streak after Wednesday's 68-57 loss to Marshall at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. The Thundering Herd shot 56% (15-of-27) from the field in the first half while knocking down 6-of-12 shots from 3-point range in building as much as a 20-point lead, 36-16 and 39-19, before leading by 18 at halftime, 39-21. The Warhawks slowly battled back in the second half, getting as close as seven down the stretch, but Marshall held on for the win. Jerry Ngopot tallied his third double-figure game of the season to lead ULM with 12 points while adding seven rebounds. Obinna Anochili-Killen led Marshall with 20 points while Kamdyn Curfman chipped in 14 points.

Nika Metskhvarishvili leads ULM at 10.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. He was limited to four points but grabbed a team-best nine rebounds on Wednesday vs. Marshall. He has pulled in at least nine rebounds in each of the last four games. He was limited to 0-of-7 shooting, including an 0-of-3 mark from 3-point range, in the loss to the Thundering Herd. Over the last five games, Metskhvarishvili is leading the team at 10.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game.

Behind Metskhvarishvili is a pack of four players looking to provide an offensive lift. Tyreke Locure is second on the team at 9.2 points per game while adding a team-high 3.0 assists per game. Jalen Bolden is third on the team at 8.4 points per game and second on the club at 5.6 rebounds per game. Savion Gallion is averaging 7.9 points per game and Tyreese Watson adds 7.8 points per game.

ULM continues to excel on the offensive glass, averaging 14.08 offensive rebounds per game, which ranks third in the SBC and 17th in NCAA Division I. The Warhawks are sixth in the SBC and 67th nationally at 39.42 rebounds per game. ULM is second in the SBC and 23rd nationally with 30.50 bench points per game, and third in the SBC and 82nd nationally, allowing opponents to shoot 40.8 percent from the field.

SATURDAY'S GAME BASICS    
ULM plays the second game of a four-game home stand as they look to snap a five-game losing streak at 2 p.m. Saturday vs. Georgia Southern. The Warhawks are 4-8 overall and 0-2 in Sun Belt Conference play after Wednesday's 68-57 loss to Marshall, while the Eagles are 1-13 overall and 0-1 in SBC action after Thursday's 109-83 loss at Arkansas State.

In the five-game slide, ULM is averaging 62.4 points per game and allowing 74.0 points per game, compared to 68.7 points per game and 72.3 points allowed per game overall on the season. The Warhawks are 3-2 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) and Marshall (68-57). The Warhawks' other victory this season came at Central Michigan (74-64) in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge.

Georgia Southern snapped a 12-game losing streak to open the season with an 88-67 win over Southern Miss last Saturday in Statesboro. Head coach Charlie Henry is in his first season with the Eagles after spending the previous four seasons on Nate Oats' staff at Alabama. Prior to Alabama, Henry was the head coach of the Windy City Bulls, the NBA G League affiliate of the Chicago Bulls, leading the team to a 27-23 record in his final season, which included the first winning season and playoff appearance in franchise history.

Saturday's game is the 29th meeting between ULM and Georgia Southern, with Georgia Southern leading the series, 15-13. The two teams split a pair of meetings last year, with ULM taking a 72-59 win in Statesboro on Jan. 19, but Georgia Southern won the rematch in the second round of the Sun Belt Conference Championship in Pensacola, Florida, 66-57.

ULM head coach Keith Richard is 5-13 in his career against Georgia Southern while Henry is meeting ULM for the first time on Saturday.

Saturday's game will stream on ESPN+ with Chris Harris (play-by-play) and Sean Fox (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 GEORGIA SOUTHERN    
Georgia Southern enters Saturday's game as one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the Sun Belt Conference, ranking second in the SBC and 25th in NCAA Division I at 27.4 3-point field-goal attempts per game and 31st nationally with 9.6 3-point field goals per game. The Eagles also join ULM with one of the top bench scoring teams in the SBC and nation, ranking fourth in the SBC and 50th nationally at 28.14 points per game.

Tyren Moore leads the Eagles as their only double-figure scorer at 13.0 points per game. Moore is adding 2.4 rebounds and a team-high 2.2 assists per game. He is shooting 43% from 3-point range. He ranks sixth in the SBC with 2.14 3-point field goals per game and sixth in total 3-point field goals made at 30. He has scored in double figures nine times, including scoring 20-plus points three times and 30 points twice. He tallied 30 points each against Jacksonville (5-of-8 3-point field-goal attempts) on Dec. 2 and again vs. UNCW (4-of-5 3-pointers) on Dec. 16. He led the way with 27 points (7-of-10 3-pointers) while adding season highs in rebounds (six) and assists (five) in the SBC opener vs. Southern Miss on Dec. 30. He had 11 points on Thursday at Arkansas State.

Eren Banks is second on the team at 9.1 points per game and has started each of the last six games. He has scored in double figures six times, including four-straight games entering Saturday's contest. He had a season-high 16 points (3-of-5 3-pointers) vs. FGCU on Dec. 19. He scored 15 points (3-of-4 3-pointers) on Thursday at Arkansas State. He has hit 9-of-17 (.529) over the last four games from 3-point range.

Jamar Franklin is third on the club at 8.1 points per game. He has scored in double figures six times, including a season-high 17 in the season opener at Georgia Tech on Nov. 6. He had his first double figure game since Dec. 2 on Thursday at Arkansas State, scoring 13 points (3-of-7 3-pointers) at Arkansas State.

Avantae Parker leads the team in rebounding at 4.8 boards per game while adding 5.7 points per game. He has scored in double figures twice, scoring 10 points each against Jacksonville on Nov. 14 and at North Florida on Dec. 9. He pulled in a season-high 12 rebounds on Nov. 19 vs. Kennesaw State. He picked up eight points and six rebounds on Thursday at Arkansas State.

Georgia Southern has four players shooting over 35% from 3-point range with more than 40 3-point field-goal attempts on the season: Moore (30-for-70, .429), Banks (17-of-41, .415), Franklin (23-of-61, .377) and Derrick Harris Jr. (17-of-43, .395).

METSKHVARISHVILI ROUNDING INTO FORM    
Senior forward Nika Metskhvarishvili has started the first 12 games of 2023-24, and has led ULM in scoring five times and posted two double-doubles. He is the team's leading scorer at 10.6 points per game and rebounder at 6.1 rebounds per game. He has two double-doubles in the last four games and has posted at least nine rebounds in four-straight games. 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 ULM at 10.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game while ranking second on the team with 10 assists.

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 opened the season with 10 points and nine rebounds on Nov. 7 at Texas A&M before following it up with a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds on Nov. 10 against Dallas Christian. He added a team-high 15 points with five rebounds against Central Baptist on Nov. 14. He had nine points, four rebounds and two blocks at No. 15/18 TCU on Nov. 17. He 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 NAMED PRESEASON THIRD-TEAM ALL-SUN BELT CONFERENCE    
ULM senior guard Tyreke Locure was named Preseason Second-Team All-Sun Belt Conference following a vote of the league's head coaches, the conference announced Oct. 16.

Locure is second on the team in scoring at 9.2 points per game while adding 3.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. He has tallied double figure scoring in four games, but none since totaling 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 had nine points, four steals and three assists against Marshall on Wednesday.
 
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 12 games of the 2023-24 season. He is third on the team in scoring at 8.4 points per game and is second in rebounding at 5.6 rebounds per game. He reached double figures for the fifth time on the season and 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 posted six points with six rebounds on Wednesday vs. Marshall.

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 10 of the first 12 games of the 2023-24 season and ranks fourth on the team at 7.9 points per game. He has led ULM in scoring twice, posting a career-high 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. He matched his season high with four assists while adding six points and three rebounds vs. Marshall on Wednesday. 

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 Wednesday vs. Marshall, scoring three points with one rebound in 11 minutes of playing time.

Wilson has played in all 12 games, averaging 5.2 points and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 50% (26-of-52) 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 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. He has scored in double figures four times, all while coming off the bench. He is averaging 7.8 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.

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 740 of the 2,026 games (37%) in ULM program history either as a player, graduate assistant, assistant coach or head coach.