Complete Statesmen Basketball Game Notes Release [PDF]

CLEVELAND – The Statesmen (18-6, 9-3) of Delta State University enter the final week of the regular season having locked up a berth in the Gulf South Conference Tournament, but needing two valuable wins to make their NCAA resume look even more impressive to the NCAA Selection Committee.

Delta State will travel to Searcy, Ark. on Thursday (2.25) to face Harding (13-10, 6-6 GSC) at 7:30 p.m. in Rhodes Fieldhouse, while closing the regular season on Saturday (2.27) at Sillers Coliseum versus Henderson State (8-17, 1-11 GSC). Saturday will also be “Senior Day” at DSU, as coach Jason Conner and the men's program honors their eight graduating seniors.

The Statesmen are coming off an up-and-down week that saw the green-and-white punch their postseason ticket, while yet another injury depleted the ranks further. DSU started the week with a thrilling 86-85 overtime win at Southern Arkansas, but fell short of their weekly goal by losing to No. 1 Arkansas Tech 76-66 this past Saturday at Sillers Coliseum. The Statesmen cut the Wonder Boys lead to one with six minutes left in the game, only to see ATU close out the win.

Delta State should get Chad Akins, who has been out with a non-basketball related injury, this week. However, senior Earnesto Green will miss the rest of the season with a broken ankle suffered at Southern Arkansas.

Despite dropping a game last week, the Statesmen held firm at No. 6 in the NCAA South Region Poll.  The top eight teams in the final rankings advance to NCAA Tournament play.