MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The University of Montevallo men's basketball hits the road this week for a pair of Gulf South Conference matchups in the Magnolia State against Mississippi College and Delta State.
 
UM will open the road slate in Clinton, Mississippi against the Choctaws on Friday, Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m. before concluding the road trip in Cleveland, Mississippi with Delta State on Sunday, Dec. 10 at 4 p.m.
 
The Falcons enter week three of the conference schedule 1-3 in league action after earning the first victory of the year against Shorter last week, 96-81.
 
GAME NOTES

So Far This Season…
 
Montevallo (1-6, 1-3 GSC) earned its first win of the year last week with a 96-81 victory at home over Shorter. In the win, Montevallo found success offensively with 96 points – the most since scoring 116 in a double-overtime loss to Clark-Atlanta on Nov. 17. Defensively, UM stepped up as well, holding the Hawks to just 81 points – a season-best for the Falcons so far. In the contest, turnovers proved to be the difference as the Falcon's defense forced 27 Shorter turnovers that resulted in 32 points for UM.
Montevallo has faced a brutal slate to begin the season with four of its first five opponents receiving national recognition in either of the three NCAA Division II Top-25 polls at some point this season. According to Masseyratings.com, UM's strength of schedule ranks 63^rd out of 297 in NCAA Division II. In the latest D2 CSC South Region Media Poll, five of UM's first seven opponents are ranked: No. 1 Nova Southeastern (6-0), No. 5 West Alabama (6-1), No. 6 Lee (5-0), No. 7 Clark-Atlanta (6-2), and No. 10 UAH (4-3).  
 
With the offensive bounce-back against Lee and Shorter, the Falcons are third in the league in scoring at 86.4 points per game but are still giving up the most points per game, 99.1.
 
Montevallo remains one of the better three-point shooting teams across the Gulf South with 11.3 made threes per game.
 
The Falcon's fast-paced play style has led to the most forced turnovers in the conference with 133 total at a rate of 19.0 per game. Against Shorter, UM forced a season-high 27 turnovers that led to 32 points and assisted in making up for the minus-10 rebounding margin. The win over Shorter marked the first win of the season in which UM did not win the rebound battle. Not only did Montevallo force turnovers against the Hawks, UM also protected the ball, only committing 10 turnovers themselves – a season-low.
 
 In the two-game road trip, UM its seeking its first win away from Montevallo this season.
 


Scouting Mississippi College:
 
In week three of the conference season, Mississippi College is 3-4 overall on the year and an even 2-2 in GSC action. The Choctaws earned their first win of the non-conference portion of the schedule against Central State, 59-56. In league action, MC picked up wins against Union, 78-71, at home and at West Florida 77-72. The Choctaws dropped inter-league battles with Christian Brother, 66-60 at home, and Valdosta State 77-69 on the road. MC enters this weekend following the Valdosta State loss and West Florida win.
 
The Choctaws currently sit in seventh place in the league standings at 2-2 and feature the league's worst offense at 66.1 points per game. On the flip side, MC is holding its opponents to 68 points per game, the fourth-best mark in the conference.
 
Series History Against Mississippi College:
 
The Dec. 8 matchup marks the 11^th all-time meeting between the two programs. Montevallo enters the road contest with a narrow 6-4 advantage all-time against the Choctaws but are just 2-4 in Clinton since the series began in 1993. The two sides have alternated the last three meetings with MC winning last time out, 75-67 on Jan. 28 at A.E. Wood Coliseum. In 2022-23 the series was split as UM took the home win, 80-72. UM's last road win of the series was on Jan. 15, 2018, 64-60.

 
Player Highlights Montevallo:
 
Jaylen Curry leads Montevallo in scoring so far this season at 16.0 points per game. In the final game last week, the sophomore dropped a career-high 32 points against Lee on 14-of-23 shooting from the field. Curry's 32-point outing is the most points scored by a Falcon this year, surpassing Justin Graham's 31-point, 11-rebound double-double output against Clark-Atlanta.
 
In the first game of last week, junior Cam Glover inched towards the 30-point mark when he tallied a season-high 28 points to help UM surge past Shorter. Glover sits just behind Curry at 12.7 points per game as one of three Falcons averaging double-figures per game.

On the boards, Justin Graham currently leads the Falcons with 4.8 rebounds per contest. In the home opener against Clark-Atlanta on Nov. 17, the Cloud County Community College Transfer dropped a career-high 31 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Glover rose to the top spot in the three-point collum this past week and is now UM's leader with 18 made three's on the year at a 40.9 percent clip.  
Albuquerque, New Mexico native Jack Henderson rounds out UM's top group of scorers at 12.1 points per game.
 
Player Highlights Mississippi College:
 
Despite having the lowest-ranking offense in the league, Mississippi College's Rashad Bolden currently leads the GSC at 22.9 points per game. Bolden enters the matchup against Montevallo coming off a week in which he averaged 18.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game.
 
Behind Bolden, MC's Cam Brown averages 12.1 points per game.
 
Scouting Delta State:
 
Delta State (5-2, 3-1) enters the weekend 3-1 on the year and currently sits in fourth place. The Statesman opened the year 2-1 in the non-conference slate with wins over LeMoyne-Owen College (99-80) and Ouachita Baptist (85-68).  DSU features a balanced attack so far with the fourth most points per game (84.1) in the league and a 7.4 scoring margin.
 
Series History Against Delta State:
 
Sunday's matchup marks the 21^st all-time meeting between the two programs. DSU holds the advantage all-time 14-6 with a 6-2 edge in Cleveland. In the last meeting, Montevallo earned its second-road win of the series, 87-78, on Jan. 26, 2023, to avenge a Dec. 4, 2022, loss in Montevallo, 67-60.
 
Player Highlights Delta State:
 
In the preseason, Maalik Cartwright was named to the preseason All-GSC squad but is currently second on the team, in scoring and fifth in the league at 19.6 points per game. Keithean Brooks currently leads the Statesman and ranks third in the league with 20.6 points per game.
 
Chris Terrell is averaging 17.1 points a game for DSU to round out a trio of double-digit scorers that all rank in the top ten of the league individually.
 
In addition to scoring nearly 20 points per game, Cartwright is second in the league on the boards at 8.4 per game and leads the GSC in blocks with 2.4 a game.