Basketball Game Preview: Head-Royce Jayhawks vs. Athenian Owls

Having just played yesterday, the Head-Royce Jayhawks will head out on the road to face off against the Athenian Owls at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.

Head-Royce will head out to face Athenian after giving up their first home loss of the season on Monday. Head-Royce opened the new year with a less-than-successful 67-60 loss to San Ramon Valley. While losing is never fun, the Jayhawks can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 369th, while the Wolves are ranked 50th).

Meanwhile, after a string of three wins, Athenian's good fortune finally ran out back in December of 2024. They took a 63-59 hit to the loss column at the hands of San Domenico.

Head-Royce will have to keep a close watch on Eshaan Anand and Teni Salako, a pair of players who had a big impact on Athenian's prior game. Anand posted 19 points, while Salako earned 23 points. The dominant performance gave Anand a new career-high in points. Another player making a difference was Ali Algaal, who put up eight points.

Athenian's defeat dropped their record down to 6-4. As for Head-Royce, their loss ended a 22-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 6-7.

Everything went Head-Royce's way against Athenian when the teams last played back in February of 2024, as Head-Royce made off with a 66-46 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Head-Royce since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.