Alabama A&M started March Madness early with a regular-season finale upset that propelled the Bulldogs into the Southwestern Athletic Conference basketball tournament in Birmingham.
There, they’ll join their A&M women counterparts in the event at Bartow Arena.
The Alabama A&M men (10-21 overall, 9-9 SWAC) advanced over the weekend by knocking off Southern 66-56 and also getting a little help when Arkansas-Pine Bluff lost.
The No. 7-seed Bulldogs take on No. 2 Alcorn State (14-17, 13-5) at 2 p.m. today. The tournament is being streamed live on ESPN+. Last year, the Bulldogs lost to the Braves in a SWAC opener and haven’t advanced past the first round since 2020.
“It’s either win, stay, have the shortest trip there or the longest trip there,” A&M head coach Otis Hughley Jr. said. “We’re playing some pretty decent basketball, it just has to be a little bit more consistent and we’ve got to learn to close deals. It’s like you walk through the door, you close it but you leave it cracked.
“We’ve got to learn when we get that opportunity to close that door, that we shut it and lock it and hopefully this is what these last couple games have taught us.”
In other men’s action, SWAC regular-season champion and No. 1-seed Grambling State takes on No. 8 Alabama State, No. 3 Texas Southern plays No. 6 Jackson State and No. 4 Southern faces No. 5 Bethune-Cookman.
If the Bulldogs win, they’ll play the Texas Southern-Jackson State winner Friday at 8 :30 p.m. The championship game is Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
A&M women seeded fifth
The Alabama A&M women (15-15 overall, 10-8 SWAC) earned the No. 5 seed and will open against No. 4 seed Arkansas-Pine Bluff (16-15, 11-7) at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
Other games have No. 1 Jackson State-No. 8 Prairie View A&M, No. 2 Grambling State-No. 7 Florida A&M and No. 3 Southern-No. 6 Alcorn State. If Alabama A&M wins, it will play the Jackson State-Prairie View winner Friday at 5:30. The final is Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs went into the 2023 tournament as the No. 2 seed but lost 62-55 to Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
“I think this will be huge for us to go in this first round and make a statement and advance,” head coach Margaret Richards said. “(The players) feel like they’ve got unfinished business because they went to the (tournament) last year and, again, we have unfinished business for not even advancing.”
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