THURS. VS. SHORTER: LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO
SAT. VS. LEE: LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO
PENSACOLA, Fla. – After two solid wins to open the 2022-23 season last weekend, the UWF men's basketball team will continue its 5-game homestand with Gulf South Conference opponents Shorter and Lee on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
UWF will face Shorter on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Lee on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Lee start time is a change from the originally scheduled time due to the UWF hosting the First Round of the NCAA Division II Football Playoffs at 1 p.m. UWF will also host Tuskegee on Tuesday at 2 p.m. on Education Day.
WEEKEND PROMOTIONS
* THURSDAY: Free pizza for the first 100 students.
* SATURDAY: Free admission with your NCAA Football Playoff ticket.
WHAT HAPPENED IN WEEK ONE
* UWF averaged 80.5 points and shot 47 percent in wins over Clark Atlanta (98-67) and Fort Valley State (63-57).
* Against CAU, the Argonauts made 13 3-pointers and every player who saw playing time scored. UWF scored 52 points in the first half.
* A day later against FVSU, UWF again shot the ball well, finishing at 42 percent with a 50 percent effort on 12-of-24 in the second half.
SOFIELD JOINS 1,000-POINT CLUB
* Late in Sunday's game against Fort Valley State, Daniel Sofield became the fifth player in UWF men's basketball history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
* The junior from Jackson, N.J. now has 1,003 points, 288 rebounds and 176 3-pointers in his 3-plus year Argo career.
BALANCED SCORING
* While it is just two games into the season, UWF appears to have a plethora of scoring options in addition to Daniel Sofield. Nine different players averaged at least 4.5 points per game over the weekend.
* Eight of the top 10 scorers made at least one 3-pointer as well.
SHARING THE ROCK
* UWF averaged 20.5 assists per game last week. Wendell Matthews led the team with nine and Daniel Sofield had eight.
* They assisted on nine of their first 10 shots against CAU (25 of 37 overall) and finished with 16 helpers on 22 makes against FVSU.
* A day later against FVSU, UWF again shot the ball well, finishing at 42 percent with a 50 percent effort on 12-of-24 in the second half.
BURKHAMER CONTINUES TO BUILD A WINNING CULTURE IN YEAR EIGHT
* UWF head coach Jeff Burkhamer is in his eighth season leading the program and has a 106-85 (.555) record. Included in that is a 73-70 in GSC play with a winning league mark in four of the last six seasons.
* Burkhamer was named the GSC Coach of the Year in 2017-18 after leading UWF to a 28-4 record and a second-place finish in the GSC with a 17-3 mark. The Argos won the GSC Tournament Championship that same season.
* Just the fourth coach in program history, he ranks third in victories behind Don Hogan (239 from 1993-2009) and Marvin Beck (126 from 1967-76).
* He has an all-time 481-279 coaching record that includes time as a ABA professional coach and time as a junior college head coach.
24-GAME GSC SCHEDULE
* The GSC men's and women's basketball coaches and administrators approved a record 24-game full round-robin schedule for the next two seasons where each school will play the other 12 both at home and away.
* The league schedule had 20 games for the past four full seasons and a league high 22 games in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17.
UWF PICKED 7TH IN GSC COACHES POLL, SOFIELD NAMED PRESEASON ALL-GSC
* The UWF men's basketball team was picked to finish seventh in the Gulf South Conference this season, according to the preseason coaches poll last month.
* UWF earned 93 poll points, just one point behind West Georgia in sixth. Alabama Huntsville was the unanimous top choice, earning all 12 possible first-place votes – coaches could not vote for their own team – with Lee in second as they grabbed the other first-place nod. Valdosta State, West Alabama and Union were in a cluster at third, fourth and fifth, respectively. After the Argonauts, Delta State, Mississippi College, Auburn Montgomery, Montevallo, Christian Brothers and Shorter rounded out the bottom six in the 13-team league.
* Senior Daniel Sofield was named to the 5-member preseason all-GSC squad. Sofield is both a 2-time all-region and all-conference selection and is UWF's career 3-point leader. A year ago he was a first team All-GSC pick after he averaged 16.5 points per game, 4.3 rebounds per game and connected on 42 percent of 3-point field goals with a career-high 70 made. The Jackson, New Jersey native entered the 2022-23 season with 962 points, 279 rebounds and 172 3-pointers in his 3-year Argo career.
ABOUT SHORTER
* Shorter is 1-2 on the season. The Hawks traveled to Tuskegee for a Crossover event where they lost to Lane (80-74) and Tuskegee (64-52). On Tuesday, they played their home opener and took down Trevecca Nazarene, 73-64.
* The 16-player roster has a veteran look to it with four graduates, two seniors and a junior who have all been with the program for at least two seasons.
* The Hawks are coached by former UWF assistant coach Wade Anderson. The Pensacola native and PCC graduate (2003) was an assistant under Bob Stinnett from 2007-15, following two years as a graduate assistant from 2003-05. He is in his sixth season at Shorter after a year at Christian Brothers as an assistant coach.
SERIES HISTORY VS SHORTER
* UWF is 12-6 all-time against Shorter and has won the last 10 meetings. This coming after the Hawks won six-in-a-row. UWF is 6-3 in Pensacola and 6-3 in Rome, Ga.
* UWF won both games a year ago, including the 92-60 win in Pensacola as the Argos scored at least 90 points against the Hawks for the seventh time in 18 meetings.
ABOUT LEE
* Lee went 1-0 last week, defeating Suwanee 86-60 on Homecoming. They led 50-32 at the half and ended the game shooting 52 percent as nine players scored at least five points.
* Lee went 19-9 and 14-6 in the GSC last year. They return the large majority of their team but leading scorer and All-GSC player Quay Kennedy transferred to Lincoln Memorial.
* Head coach Bubba Smith reworked his coaching staff this summer, adding for UWF standouts and 2-time UWF graduates Jason Laatsch and Josh Laatsch as assistant coaches.
SERIES HISTORY VS LEE
* Lee leads the series 13-5 and the teams are 4-4 in games played in Pensacola. The teams split the regular-season meetings last year, with each team winning on the road. Lee claimed a 72-67 win in the GSC Championship First Round in Cleveland, Tenn.
NEW RULES
* The Gulf South Conference will begin using Official Video Review in men's and women's basketball this season.
* In men's basketball, if a player is called for flopping, they are assessed a technical foul, giving the opponent one free throw.
