Gameday: Bulldogs at Western Michigan

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Alabama A&M men's basketball team is definitely chilling out.

The Bulldogs are in Kalamazoo, Mich., with its subfreezing temperatures and snow showers Thursday to take on the Broncos of Western Michigan. Tipoff is 6 p.m. (Central).

The Broncos (3-8) are in the Mid-American Conference. This is the third meeting all-time between Alabama A&M and Western Michigan. The Broncos won the previous two meetings.

This is also the final non-conference game for the Bulldogs. They host Jackson State on Jan. 2 and then Grambling State visits Elmore Gym on Jan. 4.

The Western Michigan game will be shown on ESPN3.

BULLDOG BITES

THE Q ZONE: Quinterian McConico is in the zone. The senior center was named the SWAC Player of the Week after a 30-point, 10-rebound game at Georgia State. Then, he followed up with an 18-point, 11-rebound effort at Bowling Green State – his third double-double of the year.

DISHING IT OUT: Senior Rakiya Battle, the SWAC's top assists player in each of the past two seasons, is second in the league with an average of 5.4 assists per game.

HOT HAND: Over the last two games, McConico moved from 21^st in the conference in scoring at 10 points per game to No. 10 at 12.8 points per game.

BACK AGAIN: This is the third meeting all-time between the Bulldogs and Broncos in basketball and all the games have been in Kalamazoo. Western Michigan won the previous games – 73-69 in 2013 and 71-62 in 2014.

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARDS: McConico has led the Bulldogs in rebounding every game but one. He is averaging 7.9 rebounds per game – fourth in the conference.

YOU'RE IN GOOD HANDS: Battle is tied for first in the conference in assist/turnover ratio. With his 54 assists and 25 turnovers he has a 2.2 ratio.

ON THE LINE: The Bulldogs are second in the SWAC in free-throw shooting, making 135 of 188 attempts for a .718 percentage. A trio of Bulldogs is in the league's top 13 – no other team has more than two. Battle is fifth with a .784 percentage; De'edrick Petty is 12^th (.711) and McConico is 13^th (.688).

ALL-CONFERENCE: Battle and McConico were named to the preseason All-Southwestern Athletic Conference second team.
Battle led the SWAC in assists in each of the last two seasons. He had 5.3 assists per game last season and 6 per game in 2014-15. Battle, a point guard with great hands, was second in the SWAC with an assist/turnover ratio of 2.6. In 2014-15, he had a 3.0 assist/turnover ratio.
McConico was a strong force inside for the Bulldogs last season with a .643 shooting percentage from the field. He scored a career-high 18 points against rival Alabama State last season in one of his seven starts.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

#10 Rakiya Battle: G; 6' 1"; Senior

#42 Quinterian McConico: C/F; 6' 8"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#10 Rakiya Battle
: 6' 1"; Senior
: G

#42 Quinterian McConico
: 6' 8"; Senior
: C/F

Players Mentioned

#10 Rakiya Battle

#42 Quinterian McConico

Players Mentioned

#10 Rakiya Battle

#42 Quinterian McConico