* This is the 32nd season of West Florida Basketball. UWF has an all-time record of 433-404 (.518) in 837 games. UWF is 121-181 (.400) in 21 seasons of Gulf South Conference play. The Argonauts have made nine conference tournament appearances.
YEAR ONE OF THE JEFF BURKHAMER ERA
• The Argos are in the first season under Jeff Burkhamer, who was announced as the fourth head coach in program history on April 15, 2015. The 31-year coaching veteran entered the year with a 218-153 (.588) record in 13 seasons as the head coach at Lander and Armstrong State. He also has a record of 155-41 in six seasons as a junior college head coach at North Greenville College and Santa Fe Community College. The Ohio native has Division I experience as an assistant at Winthrop (1984-85), Charleston Southern (1985-87) and Morehead State (1987-89), and was on the coaching staff for the Grand Rapids Hoops (1991-94) in the CBA.
ABOUT UNION
• Standing at 9-3 on the season, the Bulldogs have posted the best scoring defense in the GSC and the 24th-best in D2, as the team has allowed just 66.7 points per game. Union started off hot and picked up a win against then-No. 5 Drury on the road in late November as well as a 20-point victory over Lee. The Bulldogs have slowed down, however, dropping their last three contests to Delta State, West Georgia and West Alabama.
• Marterrace Brock has been an elite scoring threat for Union, as he has averaged 20.6 points per game while shooting nearly 47 percent from the field. Brock has also been a force on the defensive end and leads the team with 1.9 steals per game. That mark ranks tied for fourth in the GSC, while Brock's teammates Roy Bullock and Jordan Montgomery have also averaged more than a steal per game. Brock and Montgomery have been tough in the paint as well, with each recording 9 blocks in 12 games.
SERIES HISTORY VS. UNION
• nWest Florida is just 2-4 against Union since the Bulldogs moved to D2 in the 2012-13 season. While the Argos earned the first two wins of the series (Dec. 2012 and Feb. 2013), the Bulldogs have bested the Argonauts in the last four.
• The Argos shot 45.5 percent from the floor in their 82-63 loss at Union last February. Lendward Griffin led UWF with 20 points and came just a rebound short of a double-double in the game, while Deangelo Legrier went for 15 points and 12 boards, and Erin Straughn scored 14 with a team-best 4 assists.
ABOUT CHRISTIAN BROTHERS
• Though CBU has struggled to score this season (67.7 points per game), the Buccaneers defense has been one of the stingiest in the league. CBU is allowing 68.5 points per contest and is holding them to just 43 percent shooting.
• Jeff Larkin leads the Bucs with 17.4 points per game and has done so while shooting 45.4 percent from the floor. CBU's second threat is Drew Hildreth, who has averaged 14 points per game and has led the Bucs with 8.5 rebounds per game. Hildreth also leads CBU with 18 steals and 18 blocks and a .414 shooting percentage from three-point range.
SERIES HISTORY VS. CHRISTIAN BROTHERS
• CBU has held the edge over UWF in the series history, as the Bucs are 9-2 and won 6 straight from January 2012 until January 2015. West Florida split with the Bucs last year for the first time in program history, as the Argonauts picked up a 67-63 win at home in January before falling in Memphis a month later.
• Jason Laatsch led UWF with 16 points in the January win against CBU last year, going 6-12 from the field and 3-5 from the charity stripe. The UWF defense did its part in the victory, holding current CBU leading scorers Drew Hildreth and Jeff Larkin to 12 points and 1 point, respectively. nDespite losing the second matchup of the season, West Florida had a few strong showings in Memphis. Deangelo Legrier led UWF with 16 points while picking up 7 rebounds and recording 5 blocks, and Tyler Funk scored 13 and grabbed 8 rebounds.
REBUILDING PROCESS ENDURING SOME GROWING PAINS
• As is the case with many new coaching changes, dramatic results may take some time to take affect and that appears to be the case this season at UWF.
• While head coach Jeff Burkhamer has praised his team's ability to keep fighting and battling game-in and game-out, the squad has dropped four-consecutive games, along with five games overall by five points or less and two overtime decisions.
• UWF has experienced some struggles at the free throw line at times in those five setbacks, missing eight in a 1-point OT loss to Fort Valley State, 11 in a 9-point home loss to UAH, seven in a 2-point OT defeat at Lee, three in a 3-point home loss to Miss. College and 11 in a 5-point setback to Delta State before the Holiday break.
• The program is 0-3 on the road this season and has dropped its last 12 road games dating back to mid-December of 2014. UWF was very close to earning road wins in two of the games this year, holding second-half leads of as many as seven at Fort Valley State and 15 at Lee before dropping both games in overtime.
SOMERFIELD BECOMING HARDER AND HARDER TO GUARD
• Junior Austin Somerfield is UWF's leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 16.9 points and a GSC-best 10.0 rebounds per game, making him the only player in the GSC averaging a double-double. He has four double-doubles this season. He ranks fifth in the league in scoring.
• Somerfield went off against Fort Valley State on Nov. 14, scoring a career-high 35 points and grabbing a career-high 18 rebounds. He has since added two 20-plus point games (in the last four UWF games) and a pair of 17-rebound efforts.
• Somerfield has recorded double-digit point totals in eight out of nine games this season.
• The Greenville, Mich. native stands 33rd in NCAA Division II in rebounds per game and 45th in offensive rebounds per game (3.3).
PRUITT THE LION TAMER
• Jelani Pruitt scored a career-high 30 points in a 96-85 win over North Alabama on Saturday. Pruitt's previous career-best was 26 points, which he did during his freshman campaign at Neosho Community College two years ago.
• Pruitt also set a career high in rebounds against UNA, pulling down 15 boards.
• Pruitt's first half against UNA entailed 17 points and converting seven of his first 10 shots. Prior to facing UNA, Pruitt had totaled 19 points over the span of three games, while battling an ankle issue suffered in the season opener against Benedict in Valdosta, Ga.
JUSTIN WILLIAMS NAMED TO ALLSTATE NABC GOOD WORKS TEAM
• Justin Williams was named to the 2016 Allstate NABC Good Works Team® as announced by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the Allstate Insurance Company in early December.
• Williams is one of 257 players named and one of 48 non-NCAA Division I players recognized.
• Williams is a physics and mathematics major with extracurricular activities including volunteering at Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen, a mission trip to Nicaragua last August, vice president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and helps out with the Miracle League of Pensacola.
JAN. 23 DOUBLEHEADER AT UAH TO BE TELEVISED NATIONALLY ON ASN
• The UWF basketball programs will receive some national exposure when their games at Alabama Huntsville on Jan. 23 will be televised as part of the American Sports Network's Division II Basketball Showcase.
• To accommodate the television broadcast of the doubleheader, the women's game will now tip-off at 1 p.m. followed by the men's contest at 3 p.m.
• The games will stream live on NCAA.com and the NCAA Sports Mobile App. WFGX MyTV 35 in Pensacola/Mobile Ala. has carried ASN broadcasts in the past.
2015-16 SCHEDULE ANALYSIS
• UWF will play 26 games this season, including 12 at home in the UWF Field House.
• The Argonauts will play nine games against five teams that qualified for the 2015 NCAA Division II Championship - Alabama-Huntsville, Benedict, Union, West Alabama, West Georgia.
UWF PICKED 11TH IN GSC POLL
• UWF was picked to finish 11th in the Gulf South Conference in the preseason coaches poll. The Argonauts received 26 total poll points and one first place vote.
• Alabama Huntsville received nine of 11 first place votes and was picked to finish first with 95 points. West Georgia (78 pts), Union (76) and Delta State (73) were bunched together in the next three spots.
NEW LOOK FOR UWF FIELD HOUSE FLOOR
• The UWF Field House floor received a new paint scheme over the summer, with an emphasis on cleaner design and less color. The court now features a darker wood stain in the lane and a similar darker stained GSC logo near midcourt on opposite sides of the floor.
• The 4-foot restricted arc in the lane was added in preparation for its implementation at the Division II level next season.
• The Argonaut head at midcourt remained in color as did the navy blue border that surrounds the court.
• Social media identifiers of '#GoArgos' and '@GoArgos' were placed in front of the bench areas.
NCAA RULES CHANGES
• The NCAA made a number of rules changes to both the men's and women's games this season. Some of the more visible changes in the men's game include:
• Shot clock reduced from 35 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Restricted area arc expanded from three feet to four feet - Division I in 2015-16; D-II & III in 2016-17.
• Timeouts:
- Reduction of 30-second timeouts from four to three; only two carry over to the second half.
- A 30-second timeout called within 30 seconds of a media timeout will become the media timeout.
- Coaches can only call timeouts during a dead ball situation.
• The 10-second backcourt count resets except when:
- Defender causes the ball to go out of bounds;
- Offense retains possession on a held ball; or
- A technical foul is called on the offensive team.
Note: A charged timeout by the offensive team results in a new 10-second count.
• Removed the five-second closely guarded count on a dribble.
• Guarding in the post: Arm bar allowed in post area when offense has back to the basket with or without the ball.
• The offense can no longer score on a charging foul.
• Removed the prohibition against dunking the ball while the ball is dead; teams will be allowed to dunk during pregame and halftime.
