COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (November 2, 2024) – The calendar has flipped to November, meaning college basketball season is officially in full swing.
With high expectations after a promising run last season, the University of North Alabama men’s basketball team will tipoff the 2024-25 season on the road Monday, Nov. 4 at Air Force. The opening tip is set for 8:30 p.m. CT inside Clune Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The game will be streamed free of charge on the Mountain West Network. Fans can also follow along on live stats via StatBroadcast.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Game: North Alabama at Air Force
Date: Monday, November 4
Time: 8:30 p.m. CT
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado (USAFA)
Venue: Clune Arena
Capacity: 5,508
Watch: Mountain West Network
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Tickets: Click here
UNA Game Notes: Click here
Social Media: @UNA_Basketball
NOTES
TEAM SEVEN: UNA will begin its seventh season of Division I basketball — all of which have been coached by Tony Pujol. The last two seasons have been the best two since the move in 2018, including 33 wins in that span. UNA is 18-16 in ASUN play over the last two seasons, while owning a 19-8 record at home.
SCOUTING THE LIONS: UNA returns six starters from last season, anchored by fifth-year seniors Will Soucie and Dallas Howell and returning junior first team all-conference guard Jacari Lane. Lane was the team’s leading scorer last season with 14.7 points per game, while Howell and Soucie had 8.4 PPG and 7.1 PPG, respectively. The Lions also have nine newcomers joining the fold, including five transfers and four freshmen. One of the five transfers is former Lion Daniel Ortiz, who spent the 2023-24 season at UAB before returning to Florence for his senior season.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT: Air Force finished 9-22 last season and returns three starters in senior forward Beau Becker and senior guards Jeffrey Mills and Ethan Taylor. Becker and Taylor both averaged over 13.0 PPG and 4.0 RPG last season. Ten others return — including another senior and nine sophomores — while 10 freshmen joined the program this offseason. The Falcons are led by head coach Joe Scott, who enters his ninth season at AF over two stints.
SERIES HISTORY: This will be the first all-time meeting between UNA and Air Force. The Falcons are one of five new Division I matchups for UNA this season, including Louisiana-Monroe, Wofford, East Carolina and Loyola Marymount.
PRESEASON PREDICTIONS: This preseason, the Lions were picked third in the ASUN Coaches Poll and fifth in the ASUN Media Poll. UNA also received one of the 12 first-place votes from the head coaches. The Lions also received second place rankings from Mid Major Madness and Blue Ribbon Yearbook. Air Force was picked 11th in the Mountain West preseason poll.
LANE’S CLAIM TO FAME: Junior guard Jacari Lane is the only player returning to the Atlantic Sun Conference this season from the 2024 All-ASUN First Team. Lane started all 32 games as a sophomore and averaged 14.7 PPG, 3.8 APG and 3.0 RPG. As a freshman in 2022-23, Lane won ASUN Freshman of the Year and ASUN Sixth Man of the Year.
WELCOME HOME ORTIZ: The transfer portal gives and takes away — but in rare cases, it does both. Senior guard Daniel Ortiz is one of those anomalies, as he started his career at UNA and earned all-freshman honors in 2022 and third team all-conference honors in 2023. As a junior, he transferred to UAB and helped the Blazers win the American Conference and appear in the 2024 NCAA Tournament as a 12 seed. After much deliberation this offseason, Ortiz decided to return home for his senior season. He averaged 14.8 PPG in his most recent season at UNA in 2022-23.
APPROACHING 1000: Ortiz and Lane, both preseason all-conference selections this year, are both on 1,000 point watch early this season. Ortiz has 1,153 career points, but only 921 of those were scored at UNA. Meanwhile, Lane has 880 career points — all at UNA. There are 27 Lions with over 1,000 career points all-time, the most recent of which include Jamari Blackmon in 2022 and Jeff Hodge in 2018.
LONG TIME LIONS: Seniors Will Soucie and Dallas Howell have each been with the program since 2020. Soucie is the all-time leader for Division I games at UNA with 116, while Howell ranks fourth on that list with 95.
RIDE THE ROLLERCOASTER: The Lions were in a number of heated contests last season, experiencing 117 lead changes in the final 18 games of last season — 16 conference games and two ASUN Tournament games. This equates to 6.5 lead changes per game. In the ASUN semifinal at Austin Peay, the lead changed 24 times with 14 ties.
BUILDING ON THE RUN: Last season, UNA finished 8-8 in conference play and earned the sixth-seed in the ASUN Championship Tournament. The Lions made national headlines in the quarterfinal round with a 77-75 win over No. 3 Lipscomb, as former Lion KJ Johnson sank a running floater at the buzzer. Johnson’s shot was the top play on SportsCenter and was featured as the “Best Thing I Saw Today” by Scott Van Pelt. The Lions went on the ASUN semifinal at Austin Peay and made a run, but fell 77-71 in Clarksville.
SEASON OPENERS: UNA has won three of the last four season openers, including last season’s 93-60 win over Blue Mountain Christian. However, UNA will seek its first season-opening win on the road since 2014.
ON THE HORIZON: Following the trip to Air Force, UNA is home for three straight home games. The home opener is set for Thursday, Nov. 7 against Point University at 11 a.m. After that, UNA will host UT Martin on Monday, Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. and Samford on Friday, Nov. 15 at 7:45 p.m.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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