HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – With the close of the 2021-22 campaign, the Alabama A&M Sports Information Office is counting down the Top-10 stories from the campaign throughout the summer. Today, we continue the No. 6 story of the season - Men's Basketball Delivers Impressive Historical Season.
 
Make sure to check www.AAMUSports.com every Friday to catch the latest release.

Story No. 6: Men's Basketball Delivers Impressive Historical Season
Alabama A&M men's basketball produced major accomplishments during the 2021-22 season, achieving success both individually and as a team. While they were 12-18 overall, they went 10-8 in Southwestern Athletic Conference play earning the No. 5 seed in the SWAC Tournament.
 
The Bulldogs kicked off the season with an 82-73 victory over Tennessee State at the 6,000-seat Von Braun Center. That win would begin a very aggressive non-conference portion of the season that featured trips to Cincinnati and three straight against in-state foes North Alabama, Samford and Troy.
 
The Bulldogs earned double-digit wins during SWAC play with the highlight being them tying an NCAA Division I Era record with a six-game win streak from February 12 through March 3. That stretched kicked off with an epic 94-92 four overtime victory over Mississippi Valley State. The other wins in the streak included a 71-63 victory over Grambling (3/3), an 80-65 win over Alabama State (2/26) while also defeating Florida A&M (2/21) by a 71-63 decision.
 
The Bulldogs would then defeat No. 4 seed Florida A&M (3/10) in the SWAC Tournament with a 61-56 decision and earn a berth in the semifinals for the first time since 2014. One day later AAMU would take on No. 1 seed Alcorn, battling them for all 40 minutes before falling by a narrow 69-64 decision.
 
It would be a season that would see them finish with the third-best defense in the SWAC, allowing only 67.0 points per game.
 
Individually, the accomplishments stacked up as junior forward Jalen Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.) led AAMU in scoring and was one of the leading offensive threats in the SWAC. He averaged 15.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 0.7 assists while shooting .468 from the field. Johnson was third in the SWAC in field goal percentage and fourth in rebounds per game.
 
The 6-7 post player also became just the second multi-time player from AAMU and just one of three from the SWAC to be selected to the BOXTOROW Men's Basketball All- American Team. He was also named to the Lou Henson Award Mid-Season Watch List, making him one of just 41 student-athletes selected nationwide.
 
Alongside junior guard Garrett Hicks, (Madison, Ala.), who was a Second-Team choice, Johnson was also named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 22 First-Team who named to the First-Team.
 
The latter added to program history as he was named to the All-SWAC First-Team, becoming just the eighth individual to earn multiple All-SWAC honors before being named to the SWAC All-Tournament Team for his performances during the Bulldogs quarterfinal game against the Rattlers.
 
He led AAMU with 15 points and nine rebounds and played 35 minutes to help them qualify for the semifinal round. One day later he produced a double-double of 20 points alongside 11 rebounds while playing 36 minutes as he helped the Bulldogs almost upset Alcorn before falling by a narrow 69-64 decision.
 
On top of all that, Johnson earned 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.

Another key contributor to the Bulldogs success was Hicks 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.
 
On the year he averaged 14.0 points and 3.9 rebounds per game and was ranked ninth in the SWAC in field goal percentage. Hicks was dominant for AAMU in three-point percentage with a mark of .357 which also ranked third in the SWAC in that category.
 
He also played the most minutes of any Bulldog, logging 999 minutes and averaging 35.7 minutes per game. Both statistics ranked second in the league and his average of 2.0 steals also placed him in sixth in the SWAC. 
 
He played a key role in the Bulldogs success during the SWAC tournament notching 12 points and nine rebounds against Florida A&M to qualify for the semifinal round before delivering 20 points and three boards to nearly upset the Braves in a narrow close 69-64 decision.
 
Hicks 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). He also earned the first weekly honors for men's basketball, being named Impact Player of the Week on November 19 after averaging 13.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals over two games.
 
Alabama A&M men's basketball despite an overall record that was not indicative of their play, delivered performances and honors rarely seen since the program moved to NCAA Division I and set a standard for years to come.
 
The Schedule
Every Friday throughout the Summer and leading up to the 2022-23 preseason, the SID Office will release the list one at a time beginning with the No. 10 story on June 3. The No. 1 story in Alabama A&M Athletics, as chosen by the Sports Information Office, will be released on Friday, August 5.
 
Countdown to the Top-10 Alabama A&M Athletics Stories from 2021-22
No. 1 – Coming August 5
No. 2 – Coming July 29
No. 3 – Coming July 22
No. 4 – Coming July 15
No. 5 – Coming July 8
No. 6 – Men's Basketball Delivers Impressive Historical Season (July 1)
No. 7 – Women's Basketball and Lewis Attack the Record Books (June 24)
No. 8 – Bowling and Men's Golf Net Honors Not Seen In Years (June 17)
No. 9 – Baseball Delivers Strong Efforts In 2022 Campaign (June 10)
No. 10 – Men's Tennis Delivers Impressive Accolades (June 3)
Honorable Mention (May 27)