HBCU DI basketball: Appreciating North Carolina A&T’s run & Southern’s toughness

/ Alabama A&M, Basketball, CAA, Hampton, MEAC, News, North Carolina A&T, South Carolina State, Southern, swac / By

The final two weeks of HBCU Division I regular season basketball are upon us, and no one has officially clinched a regular season conference championship yet, so there’s plenty left for teams to play for heading into their respective conference tournaments.

Let’s take a look at last week’s most important games at the D1 level.

NC A&T continues to pace the CAA


Thankfully for us, there’s no HBCU Sports podcast jinx. We had the pleasure of being joined by North Carolina A&T women’s basketball coach Tarrell Robinson on our podcast as his Lady Aggies prepared for a road game at William & Mary followed by a Sunday home game vs. Delaware.

A&T won both—67-44 at the Tribe and 71-55 over the Blue Hens—to improve their Coastal Athletic Association record to 12-2, one game ahead of Drexel for the conference lead.

The Aggies, 16-9 overall this season, will travel to UNC-Wilmington on Friday, Feb. 28, and host Elon on Sunday, Mar. 2.

South Carolina State men victimize Delaware State on the road again

For the second straight year, South Carolina State stole a game at Delaware State’s Memorial Hall, overcoming an early first-half deficit to defeat the Hornets 94-88 in overtime Saturday. The Bulldogs did the same thing on Jan. 27, 2024, in taking a last-second 66-64 win in Dover.

SCSU, led by sophomore guard Mitchell Taylor’s 23 points off the bench, has won four straight and jumped both DSU and Howard for second place in the MEAC with a 7-3 mark. They’ll look to improve on that record with a visit to Maryland-Eastern Shore Monday night.

Alabama A&M women set record in new coach’s first season

Dawn Thornton’s first season as Alabama A&M women’s basketball coach has probably gone beyond her expectations, as the Bulldogs are just one game out of first place in the SWAC.

Thanks to wins over Florida A&M (70-67) and Bethune-Cookman (70-62) last week, the Lady Bulldogs have set a new program record for wins in their Division I era with 19. AAMU is 12-3 in SWAC place, a half-game behind second-place Southern and one full game behind first-place Texas Southern.

Also, my HBCU Sports colleague Jarrett Hoffman interviewed Thornton before the season began. We might be good luck with a few basketball programs. Just sayin.’

Hampton is a hot streak

Speaking of new head coaches and winning streaks, the Hampton Pirates men are making some noise in the CAA, winning four straight conference games under first-year head coach Ivan Thomas.

HU coasted to an 83-70 win over UNC-Wilmington Saturday, improving their overall record to 15-13 and 7-8 in CAA play. They’ll look to even their conference record and run their win streak to five with a Monday matinee game at Stony Brook.

Southern maintains SWAC lead with rival victory

The Southern men opened their SWAC lead to 2 ½ games with a 71-64 win at blood rival Grambling Saturday. JUCO transfer Jordan Johnson was on fire, making six of eight three-point attempts and 8 of 12 from the field overall for a team-high 22 points.

The Jaguars are 13-1 in conference play (18-9 overall), with Jackson State next at 10-4.

Next up for the Jaguars is a Florida road trip with a visit to Bethune-Cookman Sat. March 1, and surprisingly, Florida A&M will host them on Monday, Mar. 3.

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