University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Hosts UAB in Nationally-Televised Tilt
1/14/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2012
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss men's basketball team looks to get back to its winning ways this Saturday, Jan. 14, when it hosts UAB. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net.
Southern Miss and UAB will meet for the 37th time overall, with the Blazers holding a 23-13 advantage. In Hattiesburg, the series is tied 8-8, but the Golden Eagles have lost three straight and five of the last seven. The teams split the season-series last year, with USM earning a 75-71 victory in Birmingham and UAB winning, 67-66, in Hattiesburg.
Southern Miss enters Saturday afternoon's contest with a 15-3 record, and 2-1 in Conference USA. The Golden Eagles had their 11-game winning streak snapped at Memphis, 60-58, Wednesday night.
LaShay Page led the Golden Eagles with 16 points. Angelo Johnson scored 11 and had three assists. Jenkins tied a career-high with nine points and five rebounds and Jonathan Mills added eight points and seven boards.
Page leads the Black and Gold with 13.8 points and leads the league in three-pointers made (3.0) and is seventh in three-point field goal percentage (.383). Darnell Dodson is scoring 12.0 points while pulling down 6.0 rebounds.
Maurice Bolden is scoring 11.2 points while grabbing a team-high 6.1 rebounds. He is also eighth in the league with 1.5 blocks per game. Johnson is also scoring 10.9 points and is ninth in the conference with 3.4 assists. Neil Watson is adding 10.3 points while connecting on 88.9% of his free throws, which leads C-USA. He is also fifth in assists (4.1).
As a team, Southern Miss is scoring 72.9 points and is allowing just 62.1. The Golden Eagles are hitting 42.0-percent of their shots and 37.5% of their three-pointers, which is third in Conference USA. Their opposition is connecting on 41.3% from the field and 33.1-percent from behind the arc. The Golden Eagles hold the advantage on the boards, as they are outrebounding their opponents 38.1-to-31.8, a difference of 6.3 per game. The Golden Eagles are also leading the league in free throw percentage (.750).
Head coach Larry Eustachy is in his eighth season at the helm of the Southern Miss men's basketball program. He has compiled a 132-107 (.552) record during his time as head coach. In 21 years, Eustachy has an overall record of 392-252 (.609).
UAB comes into Saturday's conference game with a 5-10 record, 0-2 in Conference USA. The Blazers have lost their last three games after falling to Marshall, 61-59, Wednesday night.
Senior forward Cameron Moore finished with a game-high 22 points while adding seven rebounds. Junior forward Ovie Soko notched a season-high with 18 points and added 11 rebounds for his team-leading fifth double-double of the season. Sophomore forward Jordan Swing added 11 points.
The Blazers are led by Moore with a league-leading 15.5 points and 10.4 rebounds, which are sixth and third in the conference, respectively. He also leads C-USA and is eighth nationally with 3.1 blocks (through 1/12) and is tops in minutes played (36.5). Swing is second on the team with 11.0 points while ranking fourth in Conference USA in free throw percentage (.846). Soko is scoring 9.9 points and is eighth in C-USA with 7.7 rebounds.
As a team, the Blazers are scoring 59.5 points per game while allowing 61.9. UAB is shooting 41.4-percent from the floor while allowing their opponents to connect on 40.7-percent. The Blazers are pulling down 35.5 boards per game, while allowing 32.7. UAB is also connecting on just 31.4-percent of its three-point attempts and allowing its opposition to hit on 34.3.
Head coach Mike Davis is in his sixth season at the helm of the UAB men's basketball program. He has compiled a 112-62 (.644) record as its head coach. In 12 years as a head coach, Davis owns a 227-146 (.609) record.
