The University of West Georgia men’s basketball team has hung its hat on defense early in the 2012-13 campaign, and that lockdown mentality will really be put to test today when Shorter University comes to The Coliseum for a 5 p.m. Gulf South Conference clash.

The high-flying Hawks (5-1, 1-0 GSC) are averaging 94.5 points per game this season, including 101.4 in their five wins, behind five players averaging double-figures offensively.

The former NAIA fireballers are making the transition to the Division II level and their first run in the GSC a smooth one thus far, highlighted by a 100-83 victory over West Alabama on Thursday night for the program’s first-ever league win in its inaugural year.

“They’ve been an NAIA powerhouse the last couple of years, ranked as high as No. 1 in the country — No. 1 or No. 2 in the last couple of years. They’re loaded. [Associate head coach] Andy Young watched them [Friday] morning with [UWG point guard] Quincy Hill, and they said they’re probably the most talented team that we’ve played this season,” West Georgia coach Michael Cooney said.

“We can’t let them score 100 points in here and expect to win the game. The problem is that it takes a lot of energy to slow people down, so we’re going to have to play a lot of guys and hope that we can make enough stops and score enough baskets to stay in the game.”

The Hawks were led by 24-point efforts from C.J. Davis and Anthony Banks in Thursday’s win, as both players are averaging 15.5 points per game this season, while Brandon Pullman (12.2 ppg), Kenny Leverette (11.2) and Dedric Ware (10.5) are also posting double-digit numbers offensively.

Shorter is shooting 51 percent from the field and 40 percent from downtown through six games this season, while it’s been a different story on the offensive end for West Georgia (2-3, 0-1), which is scoring at 66.2 points per clip. UWG is holding its opponents to 64.6 points a game, though, meaning something will have to give today.

“We just aren’t where we need to be offensively yet. We’re getting some good play out of Zach Taulien. Quincy Hill was terrific [Thursday] night. But we’ve still got to get more out of Taylor Cochran, Brett Seljak. We just have to be a lot more patient and learn to work harder for good shots on the offensive end,” Cooney said.

“We’re still trying to figure it out. I like the effort that my guys gave [Thursday] night. In all the games that we’ve played, they’ve played really, really hard. There’s not been any question about effort. Now it’s just we’ve got to start doing the things that we need to do.”