The Prairie View A&M men's basketball team returns to action Thursday in a contest on the road at Seattle.
The Panthers and Redhawks will tip at 9 p.m. CT, with a live video stream available on the WAC Digital Network via pvpanthers.com.
PVAMU had a season-high point total in last Tuesday's 122-90 loss at Louisiana, with
Gary Blackston recording his second career double-double with 26 points and 11 rebounds in the game. And while that point total, which included a season-high 50-point second half for the Panthers, was significant, the concern for head coach
Byron Smith was the season-high in points allowed to the Ragin Cajuns.
"We really worked on keeping guys out of the paint," said Smith of the team's emphasis in practice over the past week. "Last week, I think Louisiana would have been a tough out even for some NBA G-League teams. They just shot the ball so well (65 percent). I don't know if it's any one thing I could point to. They shot it from deep (14 made three-pointers), they drove it (52 points in the paint), they got offensive rebounds. They were a complete team. We had to get back to doing what we do, but just doing it harder with even more emphasis than before. I feel we are one game away from really getting this season going in the way we envisioned. We have a good team with good players."
The Panthers got big contributions off the bench, as
Antione Lister and
Taishaun Johnson had career highs in scoring.
"Antione is a guy we recruited out of Blinn Junior College that can do a lot of things," Smith said. "He is very athletic, is a good shooter, and can really defend. He had struggled a bit with his confidence, but he had 13 points in 14 minutes, which was very efficient. Taishaun has been a starter for us for most of the year, but we took him out of the lineup and he responded positively with a career-high 28 points. Those two guys stepped up, we need more guys to do the same. We'll get some guys back healthy going forward, and that should help."
Seattle (10-3) is off to its best start in 50 years and is coming off a 67-56 win at Portland Monday night. The Redhawks have won seven of their last eight games, with the only defeat coming at Washington. Seattle leads the Western Athletic Conference in field goal percentage defense (38.8%), blocks per game (4.6), and fewest turnovers per game (11.9), and is second in scoring (80.6), scoring defense (68.8), rebounds per game (38.2), field goal percentage (47.2%), and 3-pt field goal percentage (39.1%). The Redhawks have five players averaging in double figures, led by Morgan Means (16.0 ppg/3rd WAC).
"They like to get up and down the court," said Smith of the Redhawks. "They have some skilled guys and have a big team. They protect their home court, and have a good coaching staff. They will be well prepared, but I think we will too. If we lock in and play the way that we've practiced in the last week, I think our chances will be good. It will be tough, but every game is tough. It's a long trip to Seattle, but it's getting us prepared for conference play right around the corner."
