PRINCETON, NJ - Game times for the season opening SportsTime Ohio Black Coaches Association (BCA) Classic were announced today. IUPUI will open the eight-team event by playing the Alabama A&M Bulldogs at noon on Nov. 10 at Value City Arena on the Ohio State campus.
The Jags will face either Kent State or future Mid-Continent Conference member South Dakota State in round two of the three-day tournament. Host Ohio State, VMI, Princeton and Loyola (Ill.) round out the field.
Both semifinals will be televised on SportsTime Ohio on Saturday, Nov. 11, while the championship game will also be aired on STO on Sunday. The final game will tip-off at 8:00 p.m..
The BCA Classic is rapidly becoming one of the more prestigious exempt tournaments in college basketball, having attracted participants including Kansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Arizona, UConn, Wake Forest and Xavier since 1994. Plus, the event has averaged better than 14,000 fans per night over the past 12 years.
Head coach Ron Hunter's Jaguars return four starters off last season's Mid-Con Championship squad, including First Team All Mid-Con guard George Hill. As a sophomore, Hill averaged 18.9 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game, while hitting 51.8 percent from the field.
Joining him in the backcourt is senior point guard David Barlow, who averaged 10.2 points and 3.3 assists per game in his first season as a starter. The third guard, senior Matt Burks poured in 8.6 points per game on 37.7 percent shooting from three-point range, while Xavier-transfer Angelo Smith averaged 4.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game in his first season at IUPUI.
The crop of newcomers includes transfers Austin Montgomery and Gary Patterson. Montgomery averaged 4.7 points per game at Bowling Green as a freshman and will have two years of eligibility remaining. Patterson made 25 appearances at Butler in 2004-05, hitting 43.8 percent from three-point range.
Connors State-transfer Fred Kounkorgo provides a 6-foot-6 athlete who finishes well at the rim, while true freshmen Jon Avery and Billy Pettiford will compete with redshirt freshman Andy Hampton for action.
Alabama A&M is coming off a 13-13 season, including an 11-7 mark in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). They're led by senior swingman Michael Ford, who averaged 15.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game last season. They return three of five starters from a year ago.
