FAMU basketball looks to leave Louisiana trip with first SWAC wins after opening losses

Conference ball has come.

The Florida A&M basketball teams opened their Southwestern Athletic Conference schedules on Monday against familiar rivals Bethune-Cookman with defeat.

Rattlers' men's hoops (2-10, 0-1 SWAC) lost to the Wildcats, 67-59 inside of the Al Lawson Center.

"I'm disappointed in how we played against Bethune-Cookman and fully expected that we would have played better," FAMU coach Robert McCullum said. "We had too many defensive breakdowns and gave them open looks and quite frankly, didn't play well enough to win or do the things we have to do things we have to do in conference play."

The shortcoming came on the heels of a three-game trip to Louisville, Kentucky, and No. 1 Purdue. While away, the team got to visit the Muhammad Ali Center, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and be a guest on the John Calipari Radio Show.

"We gave ourselves a realistic chance to get back and win against Louisville and I couldn't be more pleased about how we played at Kentucky," McCullum said. "We saw different players step up and the team fought with the will to make those games competitive. That gives you the confidence on who you can call on in similar situations down the road.

"It was an outstanding trip. Although, we came back 0-3, I thought we got better as a team and a number of players improved individually."

Rattlers women's basketball (2-10, 0-1 SWAC), on the other hand, faltered to Bethune-Cookman, 85-50 on Monday inside of the Al Lawson Center.

"That was the first time that effort was ever an issue," FAMU coach Shalon Pillow said. "We won't really know what type of team we really have until the next time we step on the court. It's all about how we react to that adversity and fight or lay down again.

"That's going to be the real telltale on what type of team we have."

The conference opening loss came after FAMU played 11 non-SWAC games and winning two in the process against Georgia State and Tuskegee.

"Non-conference is always tough, but we get to play some really good competition and see some cool cities," Pillow said. "We had a lot of adversity, but we fought and played hard every time we stepped on the court in non-conference."

Next on the plate for FAMU basketball is a trip to Louisiana to take on SWAC opponents Southern on Saturday and Grambling State on Monday.

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Connors State (Oklahoma) transfer guard Jordan Tillmon is the Rattlers' leading scorer through the team's first 12 games, averaging 10.6 points per game.

He saw his team show grow together while playing inside of prestigious college basketball venues during FAMU's non-conference schedule.

"Playing in those type of environments was good for team bonding and a time to get better," Tillmon said. "It was a big time for exposure and a dream come true."

Tillmon, from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, is familiar with SWAC hoops being from the native city of a conference school.

He played his first ever SWAC game in Monday's loss to Bethune-Cookman and had the game-high 19 points.

"We got to stop getting punched in the mouth and start punching people first," Tillmon said. "We got to go in and get right to it and bounce back ― don't get too high or too low and stay level-headed."

FAMU was swept by Southern, but swept Grambling State in the 2021-22 season. Now, the Rattlers have nine of 13 roster newcomers are experiencing their first SWAC road game.

Southern (6-9, 2-0 SWAC) and Grambling State (8-6, 1-1 SWAC) both scored victories over Power 5 squads in their non-SWAC games. Southern defeated California of the PAC-12, 74-66 on Nov. 18 and Grambling beat Vanderbilt from the SEC, 64-62 on Dec. 9.

"The upcoming trip to Louisiana will be very, very challenging," McCullum said. "This will be the first experience of playing a road game in SWAC play for the bulk of our team, so hopefully we can ready ourselves for the challenges that lie ahead."

FAMU women to find identity in road games at Southern and Grambling

Ball State transfer guard Ivet Subirats got her first taste of SWAC basketball in Monday's loss.

Subirats, from Cerdanyola del Valles, Spain, is in her first year with the Rattlers and averages 7.9 points, three rebounds, and 2.4 assists through 12 games.

"I don't think (Bethune-Cookman) was about missing shots or bad plays," Subirats said. "It was effort. We were just trying to chill when we went out to play and that's not the good way to do it."

Subirats is one of seven new transfers on the Rattlers' 13-woman roster and feels that the team is on track to gaining the necessary chemistry to be a competent team as they take the Louisiana trip to Southern (4-9, 1-1 SWAC) and Grambling State (3-10, 2-0 SWAC).

"We're a new team," Subirats said. "We didn't get the outcome that we wanted in non-conference, but I think we learned how to play with each other.

"Dylan (Horton) and Staysha (Allen) told me those games are tough. We don't have anyone in our corner. The fans are going to talk to you and try to get in your head. But I'm excited and think we're going to do good.

"If we go in motivated and play hard, it's going to go our way."

Already a game back in the SWAC, Pillow knows the importance of taking homecourt advantage from at least one of the Rattlers' upcoming opponents.

"It was very important that we took care of home because those road games are very difficult," she said. "The fact that we let one get away against Bethune means that we got to pick up one on the road.

"It's even more important that we play together and be tough because we're all we have ― nobody's cheering for FAMU."

FAMU Basketball Upcoming Games Information

Saturday, Jan. 7 at Southern

Women: 4 p.m. ET, Men: 6:30 p.m. ET

Venue: F.G Clark Activity Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Monday, Jan. 9 at Grambling State

Women: 6 p.m. ET, Men: 8 p.m. ET

Venue: Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center, Grambling, Louisiana

Gerald Thomas III covers FAMU Athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at gdthomas@gannett.com or on Twitter @3peatgee.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU Basketball: Teams aim for first conference wins in Louisiana trip