After a ten break as students took their semester exams, the Clark Atlanta University Panthers are back on the court today when they visit Tuskegee at 3 p.m. central time today.

The game marks to full end of the Panthers' (1-8, 1-0 SIAC) non-conference schedule as it's all about Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foes such as Tuskegee (4-5, 1-1 SIAC) from here on out.  During that first nine games, CAU did face one SIAC opponent, Lane who they defeated 74-71 on Dec. 2.

"I'm excited about it," said CAU Head Coach George Lynch.  "We had a rough non-conference schedule, so to get into conference play, I told the guys that it's a new season.  We did our first conference win a couple of games ago.  We're hoping to go on the road now and get good performances at Tuskegee and Spring Hill." 

CAU faces a Tuskegee team that is coming off a 70-50 victory over Columbus State Wednesday, a game in which the Golden Tigers never trailed and led by as many as 23 points.  James Eads, a 6'4" senior guard, led Tuskegee with 19 points, and is the SIAC's second-leading scorer with 20.7 points per game so far this season.   The Golden Tigers have three of the SIAC's top 18 scorers on their squad – Eads, Myles Thomas and DeShawn Millington, both averaging 12.7 points per game.

The Golden Tigers are also setting the pace defensively as they lead the conference in allowing opponents to hit just 36 percent of their shots from the floor.

Clark Atlanta is one of the SIAC's better rebounding teams as they are fifth in the conference and boast the SIAC's leading rebounder in senior forward Romaine Thomas.  Thomas has grabbed 8.7 boards per game – 6.8 of them on the defensive boards – while at the same time placing sixth in the SIAC in scoring at nearly 13 points per game.   Thomas has had a double-double four of the Panthers nine games this season.

Tyler Singleton is one of the SIAC's top players in assists while also in the top 25 in scoring.  Traylen Warren is also scoring in double digits for CAU.

"Tuskegee plays a smaller lineup," Lynch said.  "It's going to be a challenge as to which teams is able to impose their style.  I try to go with traditional bigs.  Hopefully our guards can get the ball into Colin Bell and we can be successful.  If not, then I'm going to have to go with a smaller lineup."

With Tuskegee playing in the SIAC's West Division, CAU played the Golden Tigers only once last season – a 69-56 defeat at home to Tuskegee on Nov. 26, 2018.   It was Tuskegee's first win over CAU since 2016.

After today's game, CAU heads to Mobile, Ala., where they will take on Spring Hill on Monday, Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m. central time.  Clark Atlanta returns home for the final two games of 2019 when they host Miles on Thursday, Dec. 19^th at 8 p.m. and then LeMoyne-Owen College on Saturday, Dec. 21^st at 4 p.m.