University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles, Blazers Continue League Play
1/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Eagles, Blazers Continue League Play
Hattiesburg, Miss. - Southern Miss tries to quickly get back in the win column when the Golden Eagles visit UAB for a 7:05 p.m., Jan. 18, Conference USA game.
That game will be televised on CSS, and can be seen in Hattiesburg on Channel 25.
The Golden Eagles are coming off a disappointing 74-65 loss at South Florida Tuesday night, while UAB absorbed a 78-58 home loss at the hands of Charlotte. The Blazers currently are 10-4 overall, 2-1 in C-USA play. Southern Miss is 9-5, and also 2-1 in the league.
In the South Florida loss, Greg Johnson put up a Southern Miss career-high 27 points and added 11 rebounds. Charles Gaines added his seventh double-double of the season with 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Southern Miss easily won the rebounding battle, 46-33, but again had trouble from the field, shooting just .364 (24-66).
Charlotte handed UAB an even worse defeat, beating the Blazers 78-58, in Birmingham, Ala. UAB also had shooting trouble, managing just 23 baskets in 62 shots (.371), while the 49ers hit 26-of-51 (.510), to hand UAB just its fourth loss of the season, and first in the league.
UAB has just one player averaging in double figures. Morris Finley is averaging 18.1 points a game. However, UAB shows four other players at 8.3 points a game or better. The Blazers have outscored their combined opposition, 76.9-to-67.1 points a game. Prior to the Charlotte loss, UAB had won seven of its last eight games.
For the Golden Eagles, three players remain in double figures, led by Gaines, at 14.6 points a game, to go with a team-best 10.0 rebounds a game. Greg Johnson, who had his best game of the season with 27 points and 11 rebounds at South Florida, is at 13.1 points a game and Jasper Johnson has pushed his average to 10.5 points. Jasper Johnson injured his right shoulder in the South Florida game, and his practice time has been limited.
UAB is coached by one of four first-year coaches in the league, Mike Anderson, and his Blazers and the Eagles have played 18 times previous to tonight's game and UAB leads the series, 11-7. The two teams split a pair of games last season, with UAB winning at home, 66-56, and Southern Miss winning in Hattiesburg, 50-36. Southern Miss limited the Blazers to just 12 baskets and .273 shooting in the win in Hattiesburg, behind Elvin Mims' 25 points, but then shot just .365 and got just 11 points from game-high scorer Brad Richardson in the game at UAB.
Following the UAB game, the Eagles don't play again until a Jan. 25 game against Houston. That game will be played in the Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Miss., and will mark Southern Miss' first appearance in the facility since a Dec. 7, 1994, game against Mississippi State.
