PANTHERS LOOKING TO WIN THREE STRAIGHT
Prairie View A&M hits the road seeking their third straight win as they prepare to face Mississippi Valley State on Saturday at the Leflore County Civic Center in Greenwood, Miss. at 4 p.m. The Panthers have won two straight games for the first time this season and are looking for their first three-game streak since winning the first three games of the 2014 SWAC Tournament in March. For the second consecutive season, the contest versus Mississippi Valley State will be played at a neutral site (Greenwood, Miss.) due to the renovation of the basketball facility on the MVSU campus.
HONOR A FALLEN PANTHER
Head coach
Byron Rimm II and the Prairie View A&M family lost a former Panther recently in former student-athlete Mayol Riathin. Riathin, who played for the Panthers from 2011-2013, died recently in a car accident which took place in the state of Wyoming. Riathin wore No. 33 during his tenure at PVAMU and the number will not be worn this season as it was originally assigned to
Nolan Wilson.
THE SERIES
Even though MVSU leads the series with a 54-19 mark since 1980, the Panthers have regained the upper hand recently with wins in eight of the past 17 contests against the Delta Devils. However, MVSU has won six of the past nine contests against the Panthers.
ABOUT THE PANTHERS
Prairie View A&M returns four starters from last year's team which advanced to the finals of the SWAC Basketball Tournament for the second consecutive season. The Panthers also return a total of six letterwinners but lose a total of seven lettermen. Senior guard
Montrael Scott received first team preseason honors as the Prairie View A&M men's basketball team was picked to finish sixth in the annual SWAC Men's Basketball Preseason poll.
Scott, who needs 12 points to surpass 1,000 points in his career, ranks second in the SWAC and leads the team in scoring with 14.9 points per game. Senior guard
John Brisco ranks 13th in the SWAC and second on the team in scoring with 10.9 points per game while senior guard
Tre Hagood follows with 9.2 points, 5 rebounds and 5.2 assists. Junior post
Karim York is the team's leading rebounder with 5.4 per game along with chipping in 9.4 points.
LAST TIME THEY MET
Prairie View A&M 79
Mississippi Valley State 63
Tue., March 11, 2014
Prairie View A&M University had five to score in double figures and shot 60 percent in the second half to top Mississippi Valley State 79-63 Tuesday night at the Toyota Center.
Demondre Chapman came off the bench to score 17 points and block four shots as PVAMU advances beyond the first round for the second consecutive year.
PVAMU, which lost both regular-season games against MVSU (9-23), will take on top-seeded Southern (19-12) on Wednesday -- a rematch of the 2013 SWAC tournament championship game.
Jordan Washington hit two free throws with 13:41 to play, pulling MVSU within four, before the Panthers used a 16-4 run to make it 53-39 with 8 minutes remaining. The Delta Devils trailed by double digits the rest of the way.
THE LAST TIME
Even though Mississippi Valley State leads the series with a 54-19 mark since 1980, the Panthers have regained the upper hand recently with wins in eight of the past 17 contests against the Delta Devils. However, MVSU has won six of the past nine contests against the Panthers.
Aganst MVSU in the Mississippi Delta, MVSU has been nearly unbeatable when it comes to PVAMU as the Panthers have only won once (2010) in Itta Bena, Miss. since the mid-80s. Last year's game was played in Greenwood, Miss. and MVSU prevailed there also.
RIMM vs. MVSU
Head coach
Byron Rimm II has a lifetime mark of 8-11 against MVSU.
FRIENDS & FAMILY
Head coach
Byron Rimm II and MVSU's Andre Payne have the potential to develop a friendly rivalry as both coaches go way back to their undergraduate days.
Both coaches were students at Alabama A&M for a season and hooked up once again at Texas College as Rimm coachhed the women's team while Payne did the men's side. Rimm moved on to Jarvis Christian while Payne remained at Texas College before Rimm came to PVAMU as an assistant in 2005.
ROAD WARRIORS
In non-conference play, the Panthers have lived out their suitcases this fall as 12 of their 13 contests were away from campus. Prairie View A&M traveled to a total of four states (Hawai'i', Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee) and played in three different time zones (Central, Hawaii-Aleutian, Pacific).
The team's lone non-conference home game took place on Dec. 3 versus Schreiner.
DEFEND THE 3
The Panthers rank first in the SWAC in three-point field goal defense as their holding teams to 29 percent shooting.
THREES PLEASE
The three-point shot has been critical to the team's offense this season as PVAMU ranks third in the SWAC with a 31.2 percent average.
Senior guard
John Brisco leads PVAMU and ranks fourth in the SWAC with a 41.2 percent (28-of-68) average.
