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ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Fresh off of a 2-0 start to conference play, Henderson State returns home on Saturday to take on Arkansas Tech at 3 p.m. inside the Duke Wells Center.
REDDIES REPORT
- The Reddies are riding high after a thrilling victory last Saturday on the road against Southern Arkansas. HSU held the Muleriders to eight points in the final 12 minutes of play and got a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Ryan Boyce to leave Magnolia with a huge 65-62 win. SAU was 35-5 at home since 2018 prior to falling to HSU last weekend.
- Henderson's defense has been fantastic early in conference play. The Reddies are No. 2 in the GAC thus far in scoring defense (56 points per game) and lead the league in steals with 25 total (12.5 per game). HSU's turnover margin of +6.5 is tops in the GAC through two contests and its 3-point field goal percentage defense ranks second (28.1%).
- HSU is off to a 2-0 start in spite of some tough shooting from the field. The Reddies have overcome 39.5% shooting to open conference play and rank 11th in the GAC in scoring offense through two games (59.5 points per game). Henderson trailed at the half in each of its first two league contests, but rallied to win both times.
- Henderson is one of just three teams to begin the GAC slate with two wins, joining Oklahoma Baptist and Southeastern Oklahoma. A win on Saturday over Arkansas Tech would give the Reddies their first 3-0 start to conference play of Jimmy Elgas's tenure, which began in 2015-16. HSU's last 2-0 start came in 2019-20 when it won the GAC title.
- The Reddies have dominated the series with the Wonder Boys in recent years and have won nine of the last 10 meetings overall. HSU defeated Tech all four times the teams met during the 2021 spring season.
SCOUTING ARKANSAS TECH
- Arkansas Tech makes the trip to Arkadelphia on Saturday with a 3-4 record and 1-1 mark in GAC play. The Wonder Boys downed Ouachita 72-54 in their league opener, but fell to UAM 58-55 last Saturday in Monticello, Arkansas.
- ATU is led offensively by senior guard Czar Perry, who leads the team in both scoring (15.6 points per game) and assists (6.2 per game). Through two contests, Perry leads the GAC in assists with 13 total. Tech also has the 2021 GAC Freshman of the Year, guard Cejay Mann. Mann averaged 11.3 points per game during the spring season.
- The Wonder Boys are 0-3 away from home this season and 1-22 overall in road contests since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. Their only road victory in that span came last season in double overtime at Harding. Tech has not beaten Henderson in Arkadelphia since Feb. 18, 2017.
