The player space at North Alabama looks a little different from when Will Soucie and Dallas Howell entered the program in 2020.

One of the basketball players’ first impressions of the facilities?

“I had a neon sticky note that said ‘Will Soucie’ on it,” the senior laughed, talking about his locker as a freshman.

Some TVs, a pool table and a couch to play video games all flash the development of the facilities for players for the UNA men’s basketball team.

As Howell, Soucie and coach Tony Pujol know, the development of basketball in Florence is far more than some locker room space.

North Alabama’s reported home attendance has surpassed 2,000 seven times so far this season and in each of the last four home games, a mark reached only once last season: on Elementary Day against Rust College.

The Lions also lead in the ASUN Conference in average home attendance with 2,139 fans per game on average; UNA racked eighth last season, averaging 1,576 fans per game.

“We’ve been here and we’ve grown to love this place as much as we love this team and this sport,” said Howell, who has played in 98 games at UNA. “It’s something that we want to see grow even more; this stuff we’ve seen, we want it to be tenfold whenever we come back here in 20 years with our families.”

Pujol quickly pointed to the obvious: solid play on the court helps attendance.

After all, the Lions are 16-8 on the season and 8-3 in ASUN Conference play with a road win over Austin Peay on Wednesday.

As of that win, North Alabama ranks second in the ASUN Conference in average offense (79 points per game) and third in average defense (71.3 allowed points per game).

“We can do all the song and dance and put on all the light shows we want, but at the end of the day, they’re coming here to watch games,” the seventh-year UNA coach said. “If you can produce a product out there that people truly want to come out and see, that’s step number one.”

Led by one of the league’s leading playmakers in Jacari Lane (16 points per game), a veteran group is led by seniors Soucie, Taye Fields and Daniel Ortiz, who have all played in over 100 college basketball games each.

While suffering an injury against UT Martin, Howell — an Enterprise High alum — still travels with the team.

“When you have a core group of guys that can stay with the program, that helps,” Pujol said. “It gives you a competitive advantage because you have guys that understand the culture, they understand the day-to-day operations, and then they know how to get that message across to all the newcomers, especially in the world that we live in today, where it seems like every team every year has a new roster.”

Soucie said the veterans mixed with the regular additions — which include regular starter Corneilous Williams (Western Carolina transfer) and Homewood native Donte Bacchus (Snead State transfer) — has made for a great mix this season.

“When you have that amount of experience, you know the ropes a lot more and how to handle each game,” Soucie said. “Last year’s team, we had a very, very talented team, but we weren’t the most connected and probably consistent team that we had game to game. Now this year with Jacari, Dallas, myself coming back as some of the core guys, DJ coming back, we knew how to attack it, and I think that’s why we’re seeing more success.”

For those in the building, it quickly became evident this group was different from those in the past.

“One thing we did notice in practice was they were highly competitive,” Pujol said. “If you have that, it’s half the battle right now, it all comes down to preparation and execution. What we did know was with the amount of experience we had on our team, I thought the preparation and execution piece was going to fall right into place.

“Did I know this team was going to do this? No, I couldn’t have predicted that. I don’t know if anybody could, but what I can predict is that with every passing day, they seem to be understanding what’s needed. At the end of the day, that’s what you’re hoping for, is that they continue, no matter what happens — win or loss — they get up the next day and go through the process again.”

The differences didn’t stop on the basketball court for this year’s squad.

Outreach has been a key part of this year’s group on campus, with basketball players prioritizing getting their faces out there to the rest of the teams on campus, sitting front row at as many events as they can and ensuring students know who they are.

“That’s what it’s all about, is trying to go out and support other teams,” Lane said. “A lot of times, a lot of sports teams don’t support other sports, so we want to go out and support and hopefully we can get that in return.”

The coach, who was described by his players as “passionate,” “supportive” and a “great person,” made sure to push that support from the community goes both ways.

“Since we got here, they kept saying, it’s hard to get the students out here to the games,” Pujol said. “Well, how do we engage them? Do we always invite them to our space? And that was the case. Well, that’s not a relationship. A relationship is now, you’ve got to go and visit them in their spaces. You’ve got to go and do outreach, and that’s been our focus for the last four years. I think you’re seeing that work come to life, and I’ll tell you right now the guys don’t want to lose that.”

“What that does for them is that it completely energizes them for the game. For us, I think that’s so important to keep that base around while the guys got to go out there and earn it. Wins, losses, results are results. As long as the guys go out there and compete their tails off, and people feel proud of the fact that they go out there and compete their tails off, that’s all you can truly ask.”

With new athletic facilities being constructed on campus and around Florence, Lane expects the support to grow even more.

“I feel like each year the community gets more and more bought in,” Lane said. “Not only basketball, but the whole campus; it’s been growth everywhere, not only in the basketball side of it, but as far as dorms being built, new parking decks and stuff like that; it gets better and better every year.”

Described as “investment” by the Soucie, athletes are excited to see where the growth may take the program and fan involvement with sights set on an ASUN Conference title.

For North Alabama’s next home game against North Florida on Feb. 13, the veteran group will look to be greeted yet again by a roaring home crowd in CB&S Bank Arena.

After the game, Soucie will be greeted by a purple and white locker he and his program have worked so hard for.

“It’s everyone,” Soucie said. “It’s having an athletic department, athletic director, the coaching staff and the community investing into one thing, and when you have that support of everyone in that family, that’s when you see the growth. From day one we’ve been here, it’s night and day.”