For an early season game, Wednesday's visit to No. 8 Alabama-Huntsville for the Clark Atlanta Panthers men's basketball is a big game.  (Tipoff in Huntsville is at 7 p.m. central time.  The game can be seen live, via web stream, at https://www.youtube.com/user/UAHChargers.)

Last week at L.S. Epps Gymnasium, the Panthers led the Chargers by 26 points in the first half, only to lose 74-71.  CAU (0-6) dominated UAH (5-0), who were then ranked 11^th in the country, before turning the ball over 11 times and making only seven baskets in the second half.

Wednesday, the Panthers seek redemption.

"This game means a lot," said CAU Head Coach George Lynch.  "[Last week, we] played a perfect first half, but we let it get away from us.  Hoping that we can play two halves.  If we can put two halves together, we can come out with a victory."

Not only would it be a big win for the Panthers.  It would be a huge win for the Panthers program to defeat one of the nation's top Division II basketball teams. Prior to this season, CAU had lost the previous three games with Alabama-Huntsville by an average of 15 points including a 96-81 loss in the 2017 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament.

Though CAU has each of their six games this season, the Panthers have had second-half leads in each game, except in their last game, a 65-54 loss at West Alabama in their last game last Thursday.

The Panthers are led by Romaine Thomas, a senior forward who averages 15.8 points per game and 6.8 rebounds per game, both bests for the squad.  He is one of three Panthers who averages double figures in scoring – newcomers Traylen Warren and Tyler Singleton both average 11.8 points per game.  Calvin White, who was injured earlier this season, has averaged 14 points in three games this season.  

This season, the Chargers are led by JJ Kaplan who averages 14 points and 13 rebounds per game.  Kaplan is fourth in the nation in rebounding. He had ten points against CAU last week but followed that up with 20 points and 17 boards against West Georgia and 14 points and 14 rebounds against Auburn-Montgomery. 

"We're going to try to play a bigger line up to rebound more," Lynch said.  "Hopefully, we might play a little zone to see if that works.  But the tough part of playing a zone is it's tougher to rebound out of a zone. So, we've got to make sure we know where our men are."

After Wednesday's game, the Panthers are off for the Thanksgiving break before returning to L.S. Epps Gymnasium on Monday, Dec. 2 to take on SIAC West foe Lane at 8 p.m.  The game is the second half of a double-header that night as the Lady Panthers will take on the Lane at 6 p.m.
 
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