University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles Open Quick, Three-Game Road Trip, At TCU
1/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Southern Miss - TCU Game Notes
Eagles Open Quick, Three-Game Road Trip, At TCU
HATTIESBURG, MISS. -- The road ahead gets no easier for Southern Miss as Coach James Green and his Golden Eagles follow Saturday's 83-47 home loss to Cincinnati, with a quick, seven-day, three-game road trip that starts with a Wednesday night (Jan. 28) game at TCU.
The history of the series between the two teams is a short one, just four games, and each team has won two of them. Last season, Southern Miss won in Hattiesburg, 72-64, thanks to a 19-point, early-second-half run and 22 points by Jasper Johnson, but then lost in Fort Worth, Texas, 85-78. The teams also won at home the previous season, the first year they played.
Southern Miss and TCU will play only one game this season, and the Horned Frogs go into the game with a 6-10 overall record, and a 2-3 C-USA mark. TCU has three players averaging double-figure points, led by Corey Santee at 12.4 points a game. In addition, Marcus Shropshire averages 12.0 points a game, and Chudi Chinweze 10.4. Chinweze also leads the Horned Frogs in rebounding, at 4.7 a game.
TCU averages 65.2 points a game, and give up 69.1. That compares closely with Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles average 66.9 points a game, and give up 69.4. TCU lost its most recent game, a 61-54 decision to DePaul. By way of comparison, TCU also lost, 85-57, on Jan. 17, to the same Cincinnati team that beat Southern Miss in USM's most recent outing.
For Southern Miss, Charles Gaines continues to lead the Eagles in both scoring and rebounding, despite failing to score a field goal in the Cincinnati game, only the second time in his 45-game USM career that he has not had a basket. The last time he didn't have a field goal was in the Dec. 7, 2002, game at Iowa. He did lead both teams with 10 rebounds in the Cincinnati game.
He also is averaging 14.8 points and a league-best 9.8 rebounds a game through 16 games. Jasper Johnson is the only other Golden Eagle in double figures, at 12.9 points a game. Southern Miss continues to shoot a respectable .441 (386-875) from the field and to hold a 36.0-to-32.8 edge in the rebounding department.
Following Wednesday's game, the Eagles stay on the road for a Jan. 31 game at Tulane and then heads back to Texas for a Feb. 3 game at Houston.
