THE HILL | The Alabama A&M University men's basketball team returns to action with a familiar foe as the Bulldogs visit rival Alabama State in a Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) game on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off against the Hornets is set for 2:30 p.m. from the Dunn-Oliver Acadome and streamed on HBCU GO.
 
With three games remaining in the regular season, Alabama A&M currently sits ninth in the standings, while Alabama State is tied for the fifth spot with Florida A&M but hold that tiebreaker over the Rattlers due to sweeping the season series.
 
Alabama A&M is seeking to avoid a season sweep against Alabama State since the 2020 season and the Bulldogs are seeking back-to-back wins in Montgomery for the first time since the 2015-16 seasons.
 
The Hornets are 6-4 in the last 10 meetings and have won six out of the last seven against the Bulldogs in Montgomery, with the lone AAMU victory coming in 2023.
 
In the first matchup, The Bulldogs shot nearly 27 percent in the second half and could not hold on to a 13-point first-half lead as Alabama State earned a 69-65 win in front of a record-crowd of more than 6,000 in the AAMU Event Center.
 
AC Bryant scored 17 points to lead AAMU, while the trio of Amarr Knox (14), Micah Simpson (14) and TJ Madlock (13) paced Alabama State.
 
Alabama A&M (10-18 overall, 6-9 SWAC) enters the rivalry game having won three out of its last four games, including a 77-66 rout over Florida A&M where the Bulldogs led wire-to-wire.
 
In the win over FAMU, Dylan Mclean scored a career-high 19 points, including three 3-pointers, and AC Bryant tossed in 13 points. Chad Moodie added nine points and a team-high seven rebounds as AAMU shot 48.1 percent in the opening half and built a 20-point lead.
 
Alabama A&M is averaging 75.8 points per game and shooting 41.0 percent from the field. 
 
The Bulldogs rank third nationally in turnovers forced per game, fifth ninth offensive rebounds per game and 10^th in bench points. Inside the conference, Chad Moodie ranks tops in blocks and blocks per game, while Bilal Abdur-Rahman is first in free-throw percentage.
 
Bryant paces the Bulldog offense at 14.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game, while Moodie is averaging 11.2 points, 6.0 boards, 1.9 blocks and 1.5 assists per contest.
 
Alabama State saw its four-game winning streak snapped on Monday, falling 70-68 to Bethune-Cookman as the Wildcats shot 51.1 percent from the floor.
 
Madlock paced ASU with 23 points and eight boards, while Knox and Hines recorded 17 and 13 points, respectively.
 
Knox leads three Hornet players in double figures, averaging 15.0 points, 2.3 assists, 1.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals, while CJ Hines is second at 14.4 points, 3.1 boards, 2.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game. TJ Madlock is posting 12.4 points, 6.7 boards, 2.6 assists and 1.0 steals.
 
Alabama State is shooting 40.5 percent from the floor and averaging 73.9 points per game.
 
Alabama State ranks fourth in NCAA Division I in turnovers per game and 13^th in turnover margin.
 
After Saturday's game, Alabama A&M will visit Grambling State on Thursday and end the regular season on Saturday, March 8 at Southern.
 
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