SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State men's basketball team will hit the road for its longest road trip of the season this week as it travels to both Western and Eastern New Mexico.
The Rams, which are coming off an upset of No. 6 UT –Permian Basin, will be seeking to improve upon its 12-4 overall record. ASU will also enter the week sitting fourth in the Lone Star Conference with a conference record of 4-3.
The team will make its first stop in the state known as the Land of Enchantment at Western New Mexico on Thursday, January 18 with tipoff schedules for 8:30 p.m. CDT. This will be a nine hour bus ride from San Angelo and the furthest that the Rams will travel on a single non-stop stretch this season. The last place Mustangs welcomes the Rams with a 0-7 LSC record and 3-13 record overall. WTAMU is currently 1-8 in the months of December and January with its last with coming over Embry Riddle (Arizona) of the California Pacific Conference.
ASU will then venture across the state of New Mexico to take on the Greyhounds of ENMU on Saturday, January 20 at 5 p.m. CDT. Eastern New Mexico, which is currently sporting a 7-9, 2-5 LSC record as of January 16, will first take on Texas A&M – Kingsville on Thursday before seeing the Rams. The Greyhounds are eighth in the conference standings and will be looking to rebound after an overtime road loss to Midwestern State.
Currently averaging a LSC third 83.4 points per game, the Rams offense is knocking down a conference second 48.4 percent of its shots from the field and 37.4 percent from beyond the arch, as well as a 68.1 percent of its shots from the free throw line. The Rams defense has limited its opposition to 73.0 points on average thus far, giving ASU a 10.4 scoring margin over its opposition. ASU has also grabbed a LSC third team average of 38.4 boards per game.
The Rams will once again look to Will Adler, Brandon Williams and James Kirksey to lead its offensive onslaught this week. Adler was a major role player in the Rams' offense attack last week. The junior average 13.5 points for the week as he dropped 27 total points for the week. This included six 3-pointers on his way to a team leading 20 points in ASU's upset of No. 6 UT –Permian Basin. He is sitting fourth on the total points list and leads the squad dropping in 42.9 percent of his 3-balls for the season.
Both Williams and Kirksey are hitting 11.9 points per game and check in second and third on the total points board, respectively. Williams is also averaging a team second 6.1 boards per game and leads the team in blocks with 24 on the year. Kirksey heads the Rams rebounding efforts with 6.2 boards per game and has also tallied a squad most 24 steals.
Handling the point guard duties for ASU will be Ja'Michael Brown and Kiair Crouch. Thus Far, Brown has piled up a Rams most 61 total assists. He is averaging a team best 12.7 points per game he is hitting 47.8 percent from short range and 78.6 percent from the stripe. Defensively, he is also second on the team having pocketed 18 steals. Crouch has come on strong as of late as he lead the team with 27 points against last week's top 10 opponents dropping in 14 per game. With a team fourth 28 assists, he is steadily climbing the ranks.
Angelo state will also look to Davion Cole-Johnson, Antonio Singleton and Daron Mims. Cole-Johnson completed last week's two game home stand leading the defense as he pocketed a team leading three steals and two blocks. This included a pair of timely steals in the Rams upset of No. 6 UTPB, which marked a career high. Hitting over 50 percent from both short-range and beyond the arch, he also added a team fourth 20 total points and two assists to his numbers for the week. Singleton is averaging 8.3 points per game and is one of the most proficient long range shooters on the team, hitting 40.5 percent of his 3-pointers. Finally, Mims is averaging 9.4 points per game and is fourth on the squad with 12 stolen balls on the year.
Both of these games can be heard on 1260AM KKSA with Jeremy Bryant on the call.
