JACKSON, Miss. -- The Bulldogs take their final road trip and play their final two games of the season and can play the role of spoiler to their hosts.
A&M will take on Jackson State at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and visit Grambling State on Saturday with a 6 p.m. tipoff.
The schedule is altered from the standard Saturday-Monday SWAC schedule because of the conference tournament which starts Tuesday in the new format.
This year, the top four teams host the opening round games and the semifinals and finals will move to Houston.
Jackson State sits in a three-way tie for fourth-place with Grambling State and Prairie View, all with 8-8 records.
The Bulldogs feature a trio of players who are among the SWAC's top 10 in several categories.
Leading the way for the Bulldogs is preseason All-SWAC center Quinterian McConico. The senior is ninth in scoring with 14.3 points per game, fourth in rebounds at 7.4 per game and No. 1 in field-goal percentage - making 168 of 285 shots this year for a .589 percentage.
Fellow senior Rakiya Battle, the league's top assists man the past two seasons, is just 0.1 assist per game away from a three-peat. He is averaging 4.9 assists per game, trailing Southern's Trelun Banks' 5 assists per game.
Battle, also a preseason All-SWAC selection, has the league's best assist/turnover ratio at 1.7.
A third Bulldog is also in the league's top 10 in two categories.
Freshman De'Ederick Petty is the eighth-best from the free-throw line. He's made 121 of 162 shots for a .747 percentage.
Also, Petty is ninth in three-point field goals per game with 1.6.
The game can be heard on WJAB-FM 90.9 and wjab.org with Michael Burns on the play-by-play. Also, follow the action @aamubulldogs.
