BRINGING IT DOWNCOURT—Southeastern’s Brandon Fortenberry drives downcourt against Dillard’s Corey Williams. Fortenberry, who averages over 5 assists a game, and the Lions host Millsaps in the second game of a doubleheader with the Lady Lions tonight in the University Center. The Lady Lions play Southern at 5:30 p.m. By Mike Kiral

Not too many people would be happy about leaving sunny Florida this time of the year but Southeastern head coach Jim Yarbrough is glad to be back in Hammond.

The Lions (4-4) will be back in the University Center tonight, where they are 3-0 on the season, hosting Millsaps. The game will follow 30 minutes after the Lady Lions' game against Southern which has a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.

Southeastern will also host Jackson State Saturday before embarking on a three-game road trip to close out pre-Southland Conference play. The Lions are at Minnesota Dec. 23, Auburn Dec. 31 and LSU Jan. 3.

"This will be a good game for us to come back and hopefully get a little bit of confidence," Yarbrough said. "They are another quality opponent at home before we go to Minnesota. We have a lot to learn about ourselves and these next two games are perfect timing for us for sure."

Southeastern is coming off one of its most disappointing outings of the season, losing at Florida Atlantic, 72-58. The loss dropped the Lions to 1-3 on the road in 2008-09 and snapped a three-game winning streak.

Southeastern had tied the game at 38 with 16:20 remaining before allowing Florida Atlantic to go on a 12-0 run. The Lions did not get any closer than nine the rest of the way.

Southeastern shot 41.8 percent from the field and were 1-of-11 on 3-pointers, 0-for-8 in the second half. The Lions also shot 61.1 percent from the free throw line. Southeastern also had 13 turnovers to just seven assists.

Florida Atlantic, conversely, lit up the nets in the second half, shooting 73.7 percent in the final 20 minutes and 59.2 percent overall. The Owls also out-rebounded the Lions, 29-25.

Patrick Sullivan led Southeastern with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Millsaps (2-6) has also struggled away from home this season, going 0-3. The Majors are coming off a 70-66 win over LaGrange (Ga.) Saturday. Chad Songy led Millsaps with 14 points while Chris Ingle had seven rebounds.

Millsaps is shooting 40.6 percent from the field but is averaging eight 3-pointers a game. The Majors also average 33.5 rebounds per contest and have a plus-.08 turnover margin.

Junior guard Blake Martinez, a Mandeville native, leads Millsaps with 14.9 points per game. Ingle, a sophomore forward from Archbishop Hannah, is averaging 11.0 points a contest. Ingle is also the top rebounder with 6.1 boards a contest.

SLU is 10-0 against Millsaps, defeating the Majors, 73-55, at home last season.