HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – With the close of the 2021-22 campaign, the Alabama A&M Sports Information Office is producing a Season in Review for each of the program's 16 sports from the past year.
 
The series began with the fall season before progressing to the winter and spring campaigns. Each week reviews will be released on Mondays and Wednesdays until concluding with the final spring sport on Monday, July 18 and a Department Season in Review on Wednesday, July 20. Today we will be focusing on the 2021-22 Men's Basketball season.
 
2021-22 Men's Basketball
Conference Affiliation: Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC)
Overall/Conference Finish: 12-18, 10-8 (5^th)
Final National Ranking: N/A
NCAA: N/A
All-Americans/All-America: 1: BOXTOROW First-Team: Jalen Johnson
All-Region Selections: 3: CoSIDA Academic All-District: Garrett Hicks, NABC District 22 First-Team: Jalen Johnson. District 22 Second Team: Garrett Hicks
All-Conference Selections: 1: First-Team: Jalen Johnson
All-Tournament Selections: 1: First-Team: Jalen Johnson
Conference Weekly Honors: 2: Player of the Week: Jalen Johnson (Nov. 24), Impact Player of the Week: Garrett Hicks (Nov. 11)
Major Awards and Honors: 3: CoSIDA Academic All-District: Garrett Hicks, Lou Henson Award Mid-Season Watch List: Jalen Johnson, BOXTOROW All-American: Jalen Johnson
 
 
2021-22 Season in Review

• Qualified for the SWAC Tournament semifinals as the No. 5 seed and defeated No. 4 seed Florida A&M with a 61-56 decision. They would then advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2014 and went against No. 1 seed Alcorn State before falling to a narrow 69-64 score.
• Tied the Bulldogs NCAA Division I Era record with a six-game win streak  from February 12 through March 3, capping that stretch with a 71-63 victory over Grambling (3/3). Also included an 80-65 victory over rival Alabama State (2/26) while also defeating FAMU (2/21) by a 71-63 decision.
• Had the fifth best conference winning record finishing at 10-8. That win total tied for the third most in the program's NCAA DI Era.
• As a unit, had the third best defense in the SWAC only allowing 67.0 points, this in a season that saw non-conference play against Cincinnati, Troy, Alabama-Birmingham, Samford and Indiana State – all on the road. 
• The Bulldogs defeated Tennessee State (11/9) in non-conference play to secure their first win of the season with an 82-73 decision at the Von Braun Center.

 
Individual Achievements/Honors

• Junior forward Jalen Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.) was the top scorer for AAMU and one of the leading offensive threats in the SWAC regular season averaging 15.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 0.7 assists while shooting .468 from the field.
• Another major accomplishment was Johnson being one of three from the SWAC to be selected to the BOXTOROW men's basketball All- American team.
• Johnson was named to the SWAC All-Tournament Team. During the Bulldogs quarterfinal game against the Rattlers Johnson led AAMU with 15 points and nine rebounds and played 35 minutes to help them qualify for the semifinal round for the first time since 2014.
•  The following day he produced a double-double of 20 points alongside 11 rebounds while playing 36 minutes. That performance almost led to a near upset of No. 1 seed Alcorn State before the Bulldogs fell by a narrow 69-64 decision.
• Johnson was third in the SWAC in field goal percentage and fourth in rebounds per game and was also named to the Lou Henson Award Mid-Season Watch List, making him one of just 41 student-athletes selected nationwide. Was one of four individuals from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).
• He was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 22 First-Team as he started and played in all 30 games and was the top scorer for the Bulldogs. In terms of weekly honors, he was named SWAC Player of the Week on November 24 after a stellar outing that included a career high 30 points against 2021 American Athletic Conference (AAC) semifinalist Cincinnati.
• The 6-7 forward delivered a strong double-doubles seven times and had six games with at least 20 points.
• Another key player for AAMU was junior guard Garrett Hicks (Madison, Ala) who became the first men's basketball player in the history of Alabama A&M to be named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Men's Basketball Team.
• He was also selected to the prestigious NABC Second-Team as he was the second leading scorer for the Bulldogs, averaging 14.0 points and 3.9 rebounds per game and was ranked ninth in the SWAC in field goal percentage. He led AAMU in three-point percentage with a mark of .357 which also ranked third in the SWAC in that category.
• On the year Hicks played the most minutes of any Bulldog, logging 999 and averaging 35.7 minutes per game.
•  Both ranked second in the league and his average of 2.0 steals also placed him in sixth in the SWAC. 
• Hicks played a key role in the Bulldogs success during the tournament as he notched 12 points and nine rebounds against Florida A&M to qualify for the semifinal round before producing 20 points and three boards to nearly upset the Braves in a narrow close 69-64 defeat.
• He earned the first weekly honors for men's basketball on the season, being named Impact Player of the Week on November 19 after he put up strong numbers, averaging 13.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals over two games.
• He scored 15 points or more in 11 games and had a season high of 25 points against Southern (2/5) and made four or more three-pointers six times. Leading that performance were six treys against Florida A&M (2/21) and Alcorn (3/11).
• Sophomore guard Dailin Smith (Colorado Springs, Colo.) was the third best scorer for the Bulldogs averaging 8.2 points and 4.7 rebounds. He logged a total of 839 minutes and delivered 22 treys this season which was the second best on the team.
• Junior guard Cameron Tucker (Birmingham, Ala.) started 28 games for AAMU and averaged 8.1 points per game while playing a total of 981 minutes.

Schedule of Season in Review Releases
Football (May 25)
Women's Cross Country (May 30)
Women's Volleyball (June 1)
Women's Soccer (June 6)
Women's Basketball (June 8)
Men's Basketball (June 13)
Men's Indoor Track & Field (June 15)
Women's Indoor Track & Field (June 20)
Bowling (June 22)
Women's Tennis (June 27)
Men's Tennis (June 29)
Men's Outdoor Track & Field (July 2)
Women's Outdoor Track & Field (July 6)
Men's Golf (July 11)
Baseball (July 13)
Softball (July 18)
Athletics (July 20)