FORT SMITH, Ark. – University of Arkansas – Fort Smith Men's Basketball tips off 2022-23 Friday and Saturday in the Lone Star/Rocky Mountain Challenge on the campus of Oklahoma Christian.
The Lions are slated to face Black Hills State Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Metro State – Denver at 2 p.m. Saturday. Live stream and live stat links can be found at uafslions.com.
NOTES:
LAST SEASON: UAFS earned the eighth seed in the LSC Tournament and finished with an overall record of 14-13, 8-6 LSC.
KEY RETURNERS: The Lions return eight letter winners from last season, including starting guards Courtney Murrell and Evan Anderson. Anderson averaged 10.2 points and 4.7 assists last year while leading the league in assist/turnover ratio. Murrell averaged 7.7 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
NEW FACES: UAFS signed six in the 2022 recruiting class – five transfers and one freshman. Returning to the Lions is guard Payton Brown, who averaged more than 20 points per game in 2020-21. The Lions also brought in Connor Slater, a forward who played at LSC foe Cameron University.
SEASON OPENER: UAFS is 8-5 in season openers at the NCAA II level.
RECORD WATCH: Anderson ranks seventh in career threes made with 105 and fifth in assists with 231.
SCOUTING BHSU: The Yellow Jackets are ranked 10th in the NABC Coaches Poll after making a run to the Final Four last season. BHSU is led by returning scorer in forward Joel Scott, who averaged 23.1 points and 10.6 rebounds per game last season.
SCOUTING MSU-D: The Roadrunners finished last season 17-12, 11-11 RMAC and lost their top three scorers from a year ago. Guard Tyrei Randall is the leading returning scorer at 12.5 points per game. MSU – Denver is led by first-year head coach Dan Ficke.
THE SERIES: UAFS is 1-1 all-time against Black Hills State and 3-2 against Metro State – Denver.
HEAD COACH: Head coach Jim Boone enters his fourth season with the Lions and has a career record of 590-453 and is 32-40 at UAFS.
