El Moutaouakkil leads Jacksonville State against Sam Houston after 27-point showing

Jacksonville State Gamecocks (13-13, 8-7 CUSA) at Sam Houston Bearkats (18-8, 10-5 CUSA)

Huntsville, Texas; Saturday, 3:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Jacksonville State faces Sam Houston after Mostapha El Moutaouakkil scored 27 points in Jacksonville State's 77-71 loss to the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.

The Bearkats have gone 10-1 at home. Sam Houston is the CUSA leader with 36.9 rebounds per game led by Kashie Natt averaging 7.3.

The Gamecocks are 8-7 against CUSA opponents. Jacksonville State is 1-1 in games decided by less than 4 points.

Sam Houston makes 46.6% of its shots from the field this season, which is 6.3 percentage points higher than Jacksonville State has allowed to its opponents (40.3%). Jacksonville State has shot at a 43.8% rate from the field this season, 2.3 percentage points higher than the 41.5% shooting opponents of Sam Houston have averaged.

The teams meet for the second time in conference play this season. Sam Houston won 77-62 in the last matchup on Jan. 15. Veljko Ilic led Sam Houston with 18 points, and El Moutaouakkil led Jacksonville State with 17 points.

TOP PERFORMERS: Po'Boigh King is shooting 41.7% and averaging 14.0 points for the Bearkats. Ilic is averaging 12.1 points over the last 10 games.

El Moutaouakkil is averaging 18.3 points and 7.2 rebounds for the Gamecocks. Anthony Bryant is averaging 2.9 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Bearkats: 9-1, averaging 79.1 points, 33.0 rebounds, 16.3 assists, 6.8 steals and 3.1 blocks per game while shooting 48.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.0 points per game.

Gamecocks: 5-5, averaging 69.9 points, 29.9 rebounds, 10.4 assists, 6.4 steals and 2.7 blocks per game while shooting 42.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 69.2 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.