University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Wednesday, December 19
Manhattan, Kan.
7 p.m. CT
Southern Miss
at
Kansas State
Men's Basketball Takes on Kansas State Wednesday Night
12/18/2018 3:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Watch Link (FOX Sports Go)
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- The Southern Miss men's basketball team has completed its two-hour drive from Wichita to Manhattan in advance of Wednesday's 7 p.m. contest at Kansas State.Â
The Wildcats (7-2) are ranked as high as No. 28 in the AP poll and are coming off an Elite Eight appearance. Fans can catch the action on both FOX Sports Kansas City (and through FOX Sports Go) as well as ESPN3. John Cox will also have the radio call on the Southern Miss IMG Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel) as well as the USM Gameday app.
–    Southern Miss is off to its best start (7-3) through 10 games since the 2011-12 NCAA Tournament season, excluding vacated seasons of 2012-13, 2013-14 and the first six wins of 2014-15. This year's team is 2-1 in true road games, after averaging just 1.5 over the last four seasons.
–    Saturday's game was one of heartbreak for the Golden Eagles. Southern Miss found itself down 16 with 10 minutes to go, then unleashed a 14-0 run that was capped off by Cortez Edwards' backdoor cut and dunk with five minutes remaining. Dominic Magee's reverse layup with 53 seconds left put Southern Miss up by one. Tyree Griffin was fouled on a game-tying three-pointer, but injured on the play, and Wichita State elected to send Leonard Harper-Baker to the line, where he was unable to convert.
–    This is Southern Miss' first game against a Big 12 opponent since facing K-State in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, and the first in regular-season play since battling the Wildcats on Dec. 11, 2008 in Kansas City. Griffin's final game at Oklahoma State came against K-State in the 2016 Big 12 Tournament, where he recorded his first-career double-double (11 points, 10 assists). He also scored 18 points in the first meeting between the schools his sophomore season, an OSU-high for him.
–    This is the second installment of a six-game road swing for the Golden Eagles. The Jan. 10 home game versus Middle Tennessee will be its first in 30 days, the longest-such stretch away from Hattiesburg since a seven-game span in the 1997-98 season (31 days). The 1978-79 team also went 38 days between home contests.
–    This is the eighth all-time meeting between the schools, and a rematch from the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Future NBA talent Rodney McGruder's 30 points on 11-for-16 shooting carried the Wildcats to a 70-64 win in Pittsburgh. It was the year before current head coach Bruce Weber took over the program. Doc Sadler is 1-1 against Weber, with both meetings coming in the 2011-12 season as Sadler led Nebraska into its first Big Ten season. He avenged a five-point loss in early January with an 80-57 win later in the season, and also served on the Kansas and Iowa State staffs from 2012-14 before taking the reins at Southern Miss.
–     Edwards is the first since Gary Flowers in 2011 to reach the 1,000-point mark, and is now No. 32 in school history with 1,106. Next up for Edwards is John Vitrano (1967-70) at 1,117.
–    Edwards needs eight 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 increased his scoring totals from 1.9 to 11.0 to 16.6 ppg his first three years, and his 152 steals rank No. 5 all-time.
–    Southern Miss is No. 2 nationally for assist-turnover ratio (1.80) and No. 9 for fewest turnovers (10.1 pg). As for the latter category, the Black and Gold have made major improvements over the course of Sadler's tenure. The team was No. 296 in the 2014-15 season, then finished No. 245, 117 and No. 5 for the 2017-18 campaign (first time averaging less than 10 per game since the 2008-09 season).Â
–    The Golden Eagles currently rank first or second in C-USA for assist-turnover ratio, assists per game, defensive rebounds per game, fewest fouls, field goal percentage defense, three-point field goal percentage, and turnovers per game.
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MANHATTAN, Kan. -- The Southern Miss men's basketball team has completed its two-hour drive from Wichita to Manhattan in advance of Wednesday's 7 p.m. contest at Kansas State.Â
The Wildcats (7-2) are ranked as high as No. 28 in the AP poll and are coming off an Elite Eight appearance. Fans can catch the action on both FOX Sports Kansas City (and through FOX Sports Go) as well as ESPN3. John Cox will also have the radio call on the Southern Miss IMG Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel) as well as the USM Gameday app.
–    Southern Miss is off to its best start (7-3) through 10 games since the 2011-12 NCAA Tournament season, excluding vacated seasons of 2012-13, 2013-14 and the first six wins of 2014-15. This year's team is 2-1 in true road games, after averaging just 1.5 over the last four seasons.
–    Saturday's game was one of heartbreak for the Golden Eagles. Southern Miss found itself down 16 with 10 minutes to go, then unleashed a 14-0 run that was capped off by Cortez Edwards' backdoor cut and dunk with five minutes remaining. Dominic Magee's reverse layup with 53 seconds left put Southern Miss up by one. Tyree Griffin was fouled on a game-tying three-pointer, but injured on the play, and Wichita State elected to send Leonard Harper-Baker to the line, where he was unable to convert.
–    This is Southern Miss' first game against a Big 12 opponent since facing K-State in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, and the first in regular-season play since battling the Wildcats on Dec. 11, 2008 in Kansas City. Griffin's final game at Oklahoma State came against K-State in the 2016 Big 12 Tournament, where he recorded his first-career double-double (11 points, 10 assists). He also scored 18 points in the first meeting between the schools his sophomore season, an OSU-high for him.
–    This is the second installment of a six-game road swing for the Golden Eagles. The Jan. 10 home game versus Middle Tennessee will be its first in 30 days, the longest-such stretch away from Hattiesburg since a seven-game span in the 1997-98 season (31 days). The 1978-79 team also went 38 days between home contests.
–    This is the eighth all-time meeting between the schools, and a rematch from the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Future NBA talent Rodney McGruder's 30 points on 11-for-16 shooting carried the Wildcats to a 70-64 win in Pittsburgh. It was the year before current head coach Bruce Weber took over the program. Doc Sadler is 1-1 against Weber, with both meetings coming in the 2011-12 season as Sadler led Nebraska into its first Big Ten season. He avenged a five-point loss in early January with an 80-57 win later in the season, and also served on the Kansas and Iowa State staffs from 2012-14 before taking the reins at Southern Miss.
–     Edwards is the first since Gary Flowers in 2011 to reach the 1,000-point mark, and is now No. 32 in school history with 1,106. Next up for Edwards is John Vitrano (1967-70) at 1,117.
–    Edwards needs eight 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 increased his scoring totals from 1.9 to 11.0 to 16.6 ppg his first three years, and his 152 steals rank No. 5 all-time.
–    Southern Miss is No. 2 nationally for assist-turnover ratio (1.80) and No. 9 for fewest turnovers (10.1 pg). As for the latter category, the Black and Gold have made major improvements over the course of Sadler's tenure. The team was No. 296 in the 2014-15 season, then finished No. 245, 117 and No. 5 for the 2017-18 campaign (first time averaging less than 10 per game since the 2008-09 season).Â
–    The Golden Eagles currently rank first or second in C-USA for assist-turnover ratio, assists per game, defensive rebounds per game, fewest fouls, field goal percentage defense, three-point field goal percentage, and turnovers per game.
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Players Mentioned
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