Jan. 3, 2006

Charleston, S.C. - The Citadel basketball returns home looking for a win after a three-game road trip leaves them with a 0-3 losing streak. Hoping that this week's match-up against the University of Pennsylvania will provide some relief, the Bulldogs will make their first home appearance since mid December against the Quakers on Wednesday, Jan. 4 at McAlister Field House. Tip-off is set for 7:15 p.m.

Wednesday's match-up will be the fourth time The Citadel has taken on Penn, with the Quakers leading the series 0-3.The last time these two teams met was on Jan. 10, 1978 when the Quakers defeated the Bulldogs in Charleston, 103-73.

Penn (5-4 overall; 0-0 Ivy) comes to Charleston after spending five days in Hawaii, where they had two stellar performances defeating Hawaii, 58-55, on Thursday and BYU-Hawaii, 72-62, on New Year's Day. Leading the Quakers is junior guard Ibrahim Jaaber, averaging 19.2 points and 4.6 boards a game. Jaaber is the only Quaker averaging double figures for Penn, while junior forward Mark Zoller averages 9.3 points and 4.8 boards a game.

The Citadel (6-6 overall; 0-1 SoCon) is coming off a 70-84 loss to Navy on Dec. 31. The Bulldogs, who returned to the court after a 10-day holiday break, had no answer for Navy's Greg Sprink, who dominated the court with 31 points in Saturday's New Year's Eve match-up in Annapolis, Md. Sprink, a sophomore guard from Cardiff, Calif., made six 3-pointers and scored 18 points in the first half to help Navy take a 42-29 lead. The Bulldogs were never able gain a lead. Finishing 10-17 from the field, Sprink's performance led the Mids to a season high 11 3-pointers.

The Bulldogs' leading scorer against the Midshipmen was senior guard Kevin Hammack, who played for only the third time this season after returning from an injury that caused him to miss the first six weeks. Hammack, who played 25 minutes on Saturday, the most so far this season, totaled 13 points and four rebounds against Navy. Junior forward J'mel Everhart added 10 points, while junior Joseph Thompson scored all seven of his points during an 11-0 run that cut the Bulldogs' deficit to 61-50 at the 10:49 mark.

Leading the Bulldogs in scoring for the season is senior guard Dante Terry with 12.0 points a game. Sophomore forward Demetrius Nelson is averaging 11.4 points a game and leads The Citadel in rebounding, averaging 7.9 boards. Freshman standout Vytautas Valiulis, who averages 4.5 points a game, totaling 11 steals on the season as a Bulldog starter, did not compete for the Bulldogs on Saturday after breaking his hand during the Christmas break.

Results from Wednesday's match-up will be available at www.citadelsports.com.