University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles Play Final '02 Game, At Auburn
12/28/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Eagles Play Final '02 Game, At Auburn
Hattiesburg, Miss. - The Golden Eagles will shoot for their second-ever victory over Auburn when they meet the Tigers at Memorial Coliseum Saturday night. The game starts at 7 p.m., and will be the final game of the 2002 part of the current season.
Auburn leads the series with Southern Miss 11-1, including last season's 64-55 victory. Southern Miss won its only game in the series, 84-73, in the Blue Angels Holiday Classic, in Pensacola, Fla., in 1989. The two teams first played in 1963 and have played 10 times since that 1989 game, including each of the last five seasons.
In last year's game, Clement Carter and Elvin Mims had 12 points each to lead Southern Miss, while Adam Harrington and Derrick Bird had 24 and 20, respectively, for the Tigers.
Southern Miss shot just .392 (20-51) in the game, and the Tigers weren't much better, at .333 (18-54).
Through 11 games this season, Auburn is averaging 79.3 points a game, while holding the combined opposition to 65.3 points a game. The Tigers are shooting a solid .515 (321-623) from the field, and opponents are managing just .388 (263-677) shooting.
Auburn shows four players in double figures, with Marquis Daniels leading the way at 20.1 points a game.
For the Golden Eagles, who have not played since a 70-54 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock, Dec. 21, Charles Gaines leads the way at 17.2 points a game, and Greg Johnson is the only other Southern Miss player in double figures, at 12.4 points a game.
Southern Miss shoots .445 (209-470) from the field, a solid .717 (175-244) from the line and leads the rebounding battle, 38.8-to-33.2.
Following the Auburn game, Head Coach James Green's team will open 2003 play with the final non-conference game of the season, Jan. 4, at home, against Murray State. The Eagles then quickly get into Conference USA play with a Jan. 8, home game against TCU, the first of 16 league games that will determine which teams will play in the C-USA postseason tournament, as well as tourney seeds.