University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Men's Basketball Set to Host South Alabama on Wednesday Night
11/27/2018 2:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss (4-2) continues its four-game homestand Wednesday night at 7 p.m. CT when it hosts South Alabama.Â
Promotions for the game include free t-shirts to the first 200 fans, as well as an opportunity for a student to win $20,000 on the court. Fans unable to make it to the coliseum can follow along with the CUSA.tv video stream or the radio call on the Southern Miss IMG Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel) and USM Gameday app.
– This is the 43rd edition of the regional rivalry. Both teams are looking to avenge defeats their last time out, with South Alabama falling 74-62 at Texas A&M on Friday, and Southern Miss 78-72 to William Carey on Sunday.
– The Golden Eagles trailed 15-6 to the Crusaders and eventually took a 52-42 lead early in the second half. WCU's 13-for-28 shooting from beyond the arc proved to be the difference, and were the most triples allowed by Southern Miss since Jan. 27 at LA Tech.
– Last year's game against South Alabama saw Southern Miss trail 29-4 to start and 40-19 at the break. However, it was the team's fourth game in six days (played in South Dakota Friday-Sunday before the up-and-back trip to Mobile on Wednesday). The last time these two teams played in Hattiesburg, Tim Rowe blocked five shots, the most by a Golden Eagle since Gary Flowers in 2009.
–  Cortez Edwards became the 37th member of Southern Miss' 1,000-point club at Troy, going 11-for-16 from the field with 26 points at Troy. He is the first since Flowers in 2011 to reach that mark, and is now 34th in school history with 1,036. Edwards now needs 18 more to catch Roy Danforth (1958-62).
– Edwards needs 35 rebounds to become the fourth player in Southern Miss history to register 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 200 assists over their career. Edwards also finished his junior season with single-season school records for steals (71) and minutes (1,219). He has also increased his scoring totals from 1.9 to 11.0 to 16.6 ppg his first three years.
– Southern Miss is No. 11 nationally for assist-turnover ratio (1.76) and No. 13 in assists per game (19.0). The Golden Eagles also lead C-USA in fewest fouls per game (14.6) and turnovers (54). The Golden Eagles also got 28 free-throw attempts in their last game, a five-point win over Western Carolina, after getting to the line just 24 times the previous three contests.
– Doc Sadler has emphasized getting to the free-throw line as a contributor to success. He notes that last year's team vastly improved on foul shooting as the year went on, and this year's team is primed to do the same. It was the eighth game of last season when Southern Miss crossed 70 percent for the first time, and it ultimately did it 17 times over the final 27 games. The current squad has reached that mark twice in six games, but is shooting 62 percent and will look to push the ball all 40 minutes.
–  Richie Riley is in his first year as the South Alabama head coach following a highly-successful stint at Nicholls. Last season, the team averaged a Southland-best 82.5 ppg while claiming the regular-season conference co-championship. It was the Colonels' first winning season in nearly a decade (quick look at Golden Eagle/Jaguar stats available on Page 4).
– The Black and Gold continued its trend of improving its C-USA win total in each season Doc Sadler has been in charge (3-5-6-7) after inheriting a two-year NCAA postseason ban and loss of scholarships amongst other sanctions, and are one of 11 teams in the nation to hold such distinction. The team's 16 wins last season marked its most since the 2011-12 NCAA Tourney squad.
