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Men's Basketball

Men's Basketball Announces 2021-22 Schedule

NASHVILLE – With the final pieces in place, the Lipscomb men's basketball team and 3rd-year head coach Lennie Acuff announced on Thursday the full schedule for 2021-22.

The slate consists of 31 regular season games, including a 16-game ASUN Conference slate. The Bisons will host 14 contests in Allen Arena, highlighted by eight league matchups and two in-state battles.

"I've learned real quick that one of the biggest challenges at this level is trying to get a schedule you really feel comfortable with, particularly from a home-away balance," Acuff said. "When you look at this schedule, it's really challenging, but that's what you sign up for.

"Our entire staff worked extremely hard to put this thing together. We wanted to play against tough competition and take our guys to places they will remember. I feel like we've done just that."


SEASON TICKETS
Season tickets are NOW ON SALE and can be purchased by calling 615-966-5855 or by going to the online ticket link at LipscombTickets.com. Reserved seating is $175 per person or you could buy an All-Sports Gold Pass for $300 that allows you entrance to any Lipscomb game played on campus.


NONCONFERENCE PORTION
The Bisons will test themselves with a nonconference slate that includes a Multi-Team Event, three Power Five road trips, three games against potential preseason top-25 programs and an array of games against opponents expected to contend for conference titles this season.

Lipscomb renews an old NAIA rivalry in its season opener when Birmingham-Southern visits Allen Arena on November 9. Despite not having met on the court in over two decades, the Bisons own a 20-15 record all-time against the Panthers.

"We are excited about being able to have an unlimited capacity for the first time in two years," Acuff said. "We were looking for an opening night non-division I game and with Birmingham Southern, you have great basketball tradition and name recognition. And with the NAIA history between the schools, it will be a great opener for us."

Following the opener, the Bisons will be on the road for their next five games. They will travel to Charleston, South Carolina for a 3-day MTE where they will play College of Charleston (Nov. 12), South Carolina State (Nov. 13) and Loyola University Maryland (Nov. 14).

"The MTE in Charleston will be a great trip for our guys and will hopefully be three really competitive games," Acuff said.

The purple and gold will get a couple days off before making a stop in Ohio to face Atlantic 10 power Dayton on November 17. After seeing their historic 2019-20 season halted by COVID and losing key players, Anthony Grant's Flyers got through a loaded A-10 schedule last season and earned a trip to the NIT where they lost in the first round to eventual champion Memphis.

The Bisons close out the road trip November 23 at Tennessee Tech before returning home to face Kentucky Christian on November 28.

Lipscomb then turns its attention to a December gauntlet.

In their four home games during the month, the Bisons host the likes of Chattanooga (Dec. 5), Tennessee State (Dec. 12), Tennessee Wesleyan (Dec. 19) and Alabama A&M (Dec. 30).

Lipscomb's games away from Allen in December could arguably be the toughest collection of road contests in a single month in program history. The trips include three power five opponents, three potential top 25 teams, two NCAA Tournament programs from last season and the closest rivalry in college basketball.

On December 2, Lipscomb will make the two-mile trek to Belmont for an anticipated Battle of the Boulevard matchup that could see the Bruins ranked nationally. The Bisons then make their first-ever trip to South Beach to take on the University of Miami (Dec. 8). A week later, they return to the Sunshine State to face one of the top defensive teams in the country in Florida State (Dec. 15) before traveling to the bayou on December 22 to battle high-flying LSU.

"Those December road games…they're pretty challenging", Acuff said.

The Seminoles are coming off a 2nd-place finish in the ACC and their third straight Sweet 16 run, while the Tigers advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after losing by one point in the SEC title game to Alabama.
 

A NEW ASUN
"The ASUN is going to be really tough," Acuff said. "We added three new schools and they all bring their own challenges and had success in their old conferences.

"I feel like all nine teams coming back from the ASUN last year will be better too. This conference is very much on the upswing and when you add those three schools it just makes it that more difficult."

Lipscomb begins its conference slate at home against North Alabama on Jan. 4 before making trips to league newcomers Central Arkansas (Jan. 8) and Jacksonville State (Jan. 11). The Bisons will play home games against Bellarmine (Jan. 15) and Kennesaw State (Jan. 22) with a midweek road trip to newcomer Eastern Kentucky (Jan. 18) sandwiched in between. A third trip to the state of Florida closes the book on January with stops at Jacksonville (Jan. 27) and North Florida (Jan. 29).

The Bisons enter the final month of the regular season with a home-heavy slate, featuring 5-of-8 games inside Allen Arena. After hosting Stetson (Feb. 3) and FGCU (Feb. 5), the purple and gold will travel to Lynchburg to face reigning ASUN champ Liberty (Feb. 9) in the lone meeting of the regular season.

Lipscomb closes the slate with the back half of the ASUN North Division in the final five games. The Bisons welcome EKU (Feb. 12) and JSU (Feb. 16) before wrapping up their road contests at UNA (Feb. 19) and Bellarmine (Feb. 23). They then wrap up the regular season on February 26 against Central Arkansas.

 "We really want to be a good basketball team in January, February and March…'JFM'. We want to win every single game we play, but you just have to trust the process and know that playing these good teams will help prepare us for the conference season."

The 2022 ASUN Championship will feature all 12 conference teams and will be held at campus sites of the higher seeded teams. The four-round event is slated to run March 1-8.
 

NOTES & NUMBERS
  • A total of seven games (six opponents) against teams that played in their conference championship games last season.
  • The nonconference slate features games against nine different Division I conferences (A-10 | ACC | CAA | MEAC | Patriot | OVC | SEC | SoCon | SWAC).
  • Lipscomb will travel to nine different states this season (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia)
  • 16 games played in the state of Tennessee, including 14 at Allen Arena. The Bisons are 19-9 at home under Acuff.
  • With 15 road contests, the Bisons will travel more than 10,000 round trip miles this season with the longest distance being the 910-mile trip to Miami.
  • Lipscomb will face 11 teams for the first time in program history, including two ASUN opponents (Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky).
  • First meeting with Tennessee Wesleyan since 2000 and the first with Chattanooga since 2015.
  • The 16 ASUN contests will be the most since playing 18 in 2013-14.
  • Bisons return eight letterwinners from 2020-21, including three who started 20+ games
  • Lipscomb's trip to Conway, Arkansas on Jan. 8 will represent the first-ever home ASUN match for Central Arkansas.
 
TEAM OUTLOOK
Lipscomb returns a mixture of youth and experience to the floor in 2021-22 led by two-time ASUN first teamer Ahsan Asadullah. The big man averaged 14.1 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, leading the team in all three categories. He also led the ASUN in field goals made (165) and ranked second in field goal percentage (57.9) and total rebounds (217).

Also returning are guards KJ Johnson (13.5 ppg) and Greg Jones (7.8 ppg) and senior forward Parker Hazen (7.0 ppg / 5.2 rpg). Adding to the experience are returners Will Pruitt, Tommy Murr, Kaleb Coleman and Tanner Shulman.

The Bisons landed a pair of experienced transfers in Jacob Ognacevic (Valpo) and Jason Montgomery (Drury) to go along with four true freshmen (Grant Asman, Quincy Clark, Trae Benham and Gray Weaver).

"We have a group of older guys back and they will be a big part of what we're doing, but we are going to lean on some of these new guys as well," Acuff said. "They are going to have to learn quick as it will be experience by fire with the schedule we have, but it will be healthy for us."


 
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Players Mentioned

Ahsan Asadullah

#23 Ahsan Asadullah

Center
6' 10"
Junior
Kaleb Coleman

#5 Kaleb Coleman

Forward
6' 7"
Sophomore
Parker Hazen

#13 Parker Hazen

Forward
6' 8"
Graduate Student
KJ Johnson

#0 KJ Johnson

Guard
6' 3"
Sophomore
Greg Jones

#1 Greg Jones

Guard
6' 3"
Junior
Tommy Murr

#14 Tommy Murr

Guard
6' 1"
Freshman
Will Pruitt

#2 Will Pruitt

Guard
6' 3"
Freshman
Tanner Shulman

#4 Tanner Shulman

Guard
6' 4"
Freshman
Trae Benham

#3 Trae Benham

Guard
6' 3"
Freshman
Gray Weaver

#10 Gray Weaver

Guard
6' 3"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Ahsan Asadullah

#23 Ahsan Asadullah

6' 10"
Junior
Center
Kaleb Coleman

#5 Kaleb Coleman

6' 7"
Sophomore
Forward
Parker Hazen

#13 Parker Hazen

6' 8"
Graduate Student
Forward
KJ Johnson

#0 KJ Johnson

6' 3"
Sophomore
Guard
Greg Jones

#1 Greg Jones

6' 3"
Junior
Guard
Tommy Murr

#14 Tommy Murr

6' 1"
Freshman
Guard
Will Pruitt

#2 Will Pruitt

6' 3"
Freshman
Guard
Tanner Shulman

#4 Tanner Shulman

6' 4"
Freshman
Guard
Trae Benham

#3 Trae Benham

6' 3"
Freshman
Guard
Gray Weaver

#10 Gray Weaver

6' 3"
Freshman
Guard
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