Men’s basketball lost to Alcorn State 66-57 Saturday afternoon in Charles Koch Arena.

The Shockers were the second team this week upset by a team from the Southwestern Athletic Conference after Grambling State beat Colorado at home 83-74.

“We talked about [the upset] all week long,” head coach Isaac Brown said. “I knew Alcorn State was a good basketball team. Give them all the credit. They were tougher than us tonight. They played harder. I thought the [team] knew how good this team was.”

Besides a 14-0 run at the end of the first half, the team had a hard time finding consistency. They shot 40.7 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from the three-point line.

Sophomore forward Kenny Pohto led the team in scoring with 13 points, one shy of his career high.

“Last game wasn’t too good for me but it doesn’t matter because we won,” Pohto said. “This time, I had a good game and it still doesn’t matter because we still lost. I’m trying to be more of an offensive threat, be more aggressive like always. I try to take advantage of smaller teams but it wasn’t enough.”

According to senior point guard Craig Porter Jr., shots weren’t falling and the team’s chemistry was lacking.

“Once we start missing everything, defenses can help in and make chaos because they’re just begging us to shoot it,” Porter said. “And you live and die by the three. In all honesty, we’ve practiced bad as a group. I feel like the game started last week in our eyes and we lost it from day one.”

Brown said he takes all the blame for this loss and wants the team to learn from this and move forward.

“Craig has been a fantastic leader and he has control of that locker room,” Brown said. “I told those guys don’t point fingers. I take all the credit for this loss. We just got to continue to try to get better. It starts in practice. Sometimes, it takes a loss like this in order for you to see it.”

The Shockers’ next game will be on Nov. 17 when they travel to play the Richmond Spiders. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and KEYN 103.7 FM.

“I feel like I’m being a little too nice,” Porter said. “Just this week alone, I didn’t really get on guys. I feel like this loss is going to hit me and [coach Brown], the whole coaching staff, and the whole team hard. I feel like we’re gonna bounce back in a great direction.”