University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles End Non-League Action, Against UNO
1/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Eagles End Non-League Action, Against UNO HATTIESBURG, Miss. --
The two teams have been playing since 1970, but the series encompasses only 18 games, with the Privateers leading the series, 10-8.
Southern Miss won the most recent game between the two teams, an 82-68 victory at UNO, in Dec. 2000. The Golden Eagles also took a 61-51 victory in 1999, in Hattiesburg, but had lost the three games previous to that one.
The Privateers bring a 6-5 record into the game, after losing to Auburn, 70-55, Jan. 2, at Auburn. Southern Miss lost to the same Auburn team, 78-60, in USM's final game of 2003.
The Privateers continue a lengthy road trip with the Southern Miss game, having played only three of their 11 games at home, and, with the exception of a Dec. 27 game against Loyola, Coach Monte Towe's team will have played 10-of-11 games, including five straight, on the road before returning home for a Jan. 12, game against LSU.
Three UNO players currently average in double figures, led by Johnell Smith's 14.8 average. Kyle Buggs follows at 12.4, and Bo McCalebb at 10.0. Nathaniel Parker leads the team in rebounding at 4.9 a game. The visitors average 65.5 points and 35.5 rebounds a game.
Southern Miss is coming off the Auburn loss, and now has three players averaging in double figures, led by Charles Gaines, at 17.7. Jasper Johnson is at 13.7 and Clement Carter is at 13.1. Carter has pushed his average into double figures, thanks to back-to-back games in which he scored 30 and 21 points.
Through 10 games, Southern Miss is averaging 71.7 points a game, while giving up 71.3 points a game, and the Eagles own a solid 37.0-to-32.9 edge in the rebounding department. Gaines continues to lead the Eagles with 10.5 rebounds a game.
Following the UNO game, the Eagles open C-USA play Jan. 7, at Louisville, and, including that game, will play six of the first eight C-USA games on the road. That stretch, in addition to Louisville, includes games at Saint Louis, Marquette (in Green Bay, Wisc.), Tulane and Houston, and home games against Memphis and Cincinnati.
