University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles Play First C-USA Road Game
1/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Eagles Play First C-USA Road Game
Hattiesburg, Miss. - Southern Miss plays its first league road game of the season against a South Florida team that has provided some memorable games for the Golden Eagles. Southern Miss leads the series that started in 1992, 14-9.
The Golden Eagles won seven of the first eight games the two teams played, but the Bulls have won five of the last seven games. The two teams split a pair of games last season, with USF winning 74-54 in Tampa, Fla., Jan. 8, and Southern Miss closing the season with, arguably, its best game of the season, resulting in a 92-75 victory, in Hattiesburg.
In the game in Hattiesburg last season, Elvin Mims had a career-high 35 points as the Eagles shot .632 (36-57) from the field and limited the visitors to .400 (26-65) shooting to end the season on a positive note. In the early-January game in Tampa, Fla., the Bulls did much the same to the Eagles. Only Brad Richardson managed to get into double figures, with 11 points, and the Eagles shot just .400 (18-45), while the Bulls made 31-of-63 (.492) .
South Florida brings a 7-6 record into the game, and is coming off a 96-63 loss at Marquette, while Southern Miss is 9-4, and fresh from an 84-67 victory over Memphis.
For the Bulls, only Will McDonald (17.1) and Jimmy Baxter (13.2) are averaging in double figures, for a team that averages 71.9 points a game.
Southern Miss now shows three players in double figures. Charles Gaines is averaging 14.6 points a game, Greg Johnson 12.0 and Jasper Johnson 11.0, for a Golden Eagle squad that averages 67.6 points a game and has improved its shooting to .424.
Southern Miss enjoys a 4.5 rebound-per-game advantage over the combined opposition, and had one of its best shooting games of the season, against Memphis, hitting .476 (30-63) from the floor, and a season-best .875 (21-24) from the line. Gaines leads the regulars in field goal percentage, at .543, and Jasper Johnson ranks among the top free throw shooters in the league, at .839 (26-31).
