The toughest two-week stretch of the season continues Tuesday for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff with a long trip to the Pacific Northwest.
The UAPB men's basketball team will face Gonzaga at 8 p.m. CST at McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, Wash. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
UAPB (4-5) will be facing its second-straight ranked opponent after its 107-86 loss to then-No. 25 Oklahoma on Nov. 30. OU has since moved up to No. 19.
No. 7 Gonzaga (6-1) has won four-straight games after defeating USC 89-76 Saturday. UAPB will be the first of three SWAC opponents the Bulldogs will host this season. Gonzaga will host Mississippi Valley State on Dec. 11 and Jackson State on Dec. 20.
The Bulldogs' high-powered offense will be another big test for UAPB, which has struggled defensively. Gonzaga averages 83.9 points per game and has five players averaging double digits. Graduate student forward Anton Watson averages 14.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, both team highs. Junior guard Ryan Nembhard averages 13.3 points and 5.6 assists per game.
UAPB enters this game ranked 17th nationally in scoring offense but 347th in scoring defense. The Golden Lions' four starting guards all average 10 points or more, led by junior Kylen Milton with 21.2, but getting stops and rebounds has been a problem at times.
Junior forward Ismael Plet is the team's leading rebounder with 5.7 boards per game. He and sophomore Robert Lewis each have eight blocks, tied for the team lead. Lewis has started most of UAPB's games, but Plet made his second start this year against OU after recording a double-double the game prior against Arkansas Baptist.
Plet can be a force in the post and on the glass, provided he can avoid early foul trouble. The 6-foot-8-inch, 230-pound Oral Roberts transfer was 2 points short of a double-double against OU after collecting 10 rebounds.
Plet was part of ORU's Sweet 16 team -- alongside UAPB head coach Solomon Bozeman, who was an assistant coach -- that beat 2-seed Ohio State and 7-seed Florida before falling 72-70 to 3-seed Arkansas. He has seen what it takes to compete with the best teams in the country.
"We gotta defend," Plet said. "We gotta defend and rebound as a team and have each other's backs, and then I think good things will happen for us. We have plenty of talent."
UAPB and Gonzaga have an interesting historical connection. Frank Burgess, a 1988 inductee into the Gonzaga athletic hall of fame, played his freshman season at UAPB, then called Arkansas AM&N. He played for the Golden Lions in the 1953-54 season before leaving to serve in the U.S. Air Force.
After leaving the service, the Eudora native played for the Bulldogs from 1958-61, leading the team in scoring all three seasons and winning the national scoring crown his senior year. He later returned to Gonzaga to complete a law degree and became a judge.