Columbia, Mo. - The Jackson State men's basketball team continues their road tour as they travel to Columbia, Missouri, to face the Tigers of the University of Missouri on Sunday at 5 p.m. at the Mizzou Arena.
Jackson State (0-5) is coming off a hard-fought game against Tulsa in which they fell short. Ken Evans Jr. averages 18.2 points and five rebounds per game and is the Tigers' leading scorer. Evans is also shooting 50 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.
Missouri (3-1) is coming off a 70-68 win over Minnesota, and Sean East II leads them, averaging 16.0 points per game. In the last game against Minnesota, East only had nine points.
Jackson State-Missouri
- The JSU Tigers will face off against the Missouri Tigers for the eighth time in program history.
- Missouri has won all seven meetings, including a 68-106 win in their last meeting in 2001.
Evans is Standing out Early
- Ken Evans Jr. leads the Tigers, averaging 18 points per game while shooting over 50 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.
- Evans has scored double digits in one of Jackson State's five games this season, scoring a career-high 33 points against LMU.
- Evans has scored 91 points this season, and he is now just 232 points away from becoming yet another Jackson State great to score at least 1000 points in his career.
Last Time out
- The Jackson State men's basketball team got a 33-point showing from the bench but fell 72-52 to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on the road Thursday night inside the Reynolds Center.
- Zeke Cook led the Tigers (0-5) with nine points. Jordan O'Neal added nine points and eight rebounds, and Treyon Johnson helped with six points and two blocks from the bench.
- Jackson State did a great job disrupting Tulsa's shots in the contest, coming away with six blocks. Johnson's two rejections led the way individually for the Tigers.
- After falling behind 6-0, Jackson State went on an 8-0 run with 16:02 left in the first half, culminating in a three from Chase Adams, to take an 8-6 lead. The Tigers then surrendered that lead and entered halftime down 32-23.
- Tulsa kept widening its lead after intermission, constructing a 60-45 advantage before Jackson State went on a 6-0 run, finished off by Cook's jumper, to shrink the deficit to 60-51 with 5:17 to go in the contest. Tulsa responded and outscored the Tigers the rest of the way, ending the game with a final score of 72-52. The Tigers took care of business in the paint, recording 16 of their 29 points in the lane.
Look Who's Back!
- The Tigers welcomed back all five of their starters from a year ago: Ken Evans, Coltie Young, Romelle Mansel, Chase Adams, and Zeke Cook, and they accounted for 1,510 of Jackson State's 2,232 total points a year.
- Evans led the team in scoring, averaging 11.3 ppg, 4.6 rebounds per game, and 86 assists.
- Young was the second-leading scorer, with 10.9 points per game and 3.6 rebounds per game.
- Mansel finished the year with 8.9 points per game, 31 block shots, and an average of 5.4 rebounds.
- Adams guided the team as the point guard and finished with 118 assists, 50 steals, and 8.0 points per game.
- Cook averaged 5.9 rebounds per game with 16 blocks and 35 steals.
2 Dogs 1 Bone
- The Jackson State men's basketball team lives on the 2 Dogs, 1 Bone philosophy.
- In the words of Coach Mo, "When you have two dogs in a kennel with one bone, the toughest and hungriest dog is going to get that bone."
- The team that works the hardest and puts in the most work will win the battle between the two teams.
- The Tigers have a championship mindset because they want to be the best team in the SWAC.
Road Warriors
- The Jackson State Tigers will clock a few miles on the road before the SWAC season begins. In fact, they will travel 14,126 miles before they play their first conference game.
- The travel is designed so the Tigers can grow together as a team on the road and learn how to play when traveling in the SWAC.
- The trips will test the mental toughness of the Tigers.
- JSU will play three games in five days in two different time zones to start the season.
- Following those three games, they will play three more games over the next six days, all on the road.
- The Tigers play their first 13 games on the road, and they play in each time zone except Mountain Standard Time.
Big from the Bench
- Coach Mo is looking for a big thing from the bench this year. He added some key players who he is expecting to give critical minutes and play well when their time is called.
- Some of those players include Treyon Johnson, Keiveon Hunt, and Jalani Bell.
- The Tigers have scored 103 points off the bench, an average of 20.6 points per game from bench players.
Chase Is A About Sharing
- Chase Adams is one of the best guards in the country, and he can play with the best of them.
- He has recorded 16 assists in the short season and 134 assists in his two years at Jackson State.
- His game-high was seven against San Diego earlier this season.
- Adams is on pace to crack the top 10 assists leaders list. Marino Walker is 10th with 271 assists.
Tiger Tails
- Coach Mo is in his third year as head coach and his second at Jackson State, his hometown. Born in Jackson, Miss.
- Williams attended Murrah High School, where he had a successful career, earning him a scholarship to Alabama.
- In his first year at Jackson State, he went 12-6 in SWAC play despite being picked to finish seventh.
- Coach Williams has never faced Missouri as a coach, but he did face them once as a player at Alabama.
Season Tickets
Season tickets are now on sale to the public for the 2023-24 men's and women's basketball seasons. Tickets can be purchased online at www.gojsutigers.com/tickets, by phone at 601-979-0845, or in person at the Williams Athletics and Assembly Center Box Office on the JSU campus Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Follow Jackson State Athletics
For complete coverage of Jackson State athletics, follow the Tigers on social media at @GoJSUTigers (Instagram and Twitter), Jackson State Tigers (Facebook), or visit the official home of Jackson State athletics at GoJSUTigers.com.
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