University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Men's Basketball looking to bounce back Saturday versus UAB
2/16/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss men's basketball team will conclude its four-game homestand Saturday at 4 p.m. CT, when the Golden Eagles take on UAB.
All former men's basketball letterwinners can receive one complimentary ticket with their attendance. Also, all fans coming over from the 1 p.m. baseball game against Mississippi State can present their ticket stub for $5 admission to the basketball game.
Fans unable to make it to the game can tune in via CUSA.tv and the Southern Miss IMG Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel), with John Cox on the call for both. The USM Gameday app will also carry the action via audio.
-- Southern Miss is coming off a 72-62 defeat to No. 28 Middle Tennessee on Thursday. LaDavius Draine tied it at 62 with a three-pointer at the 7:15 mark, but the Blue Raiders scored the game's final 10 points. Southern Miss led by as much as 31-22 with four minutes to go in the first half as well.
-- UAB came out victorious in the previous meeting between the teams (Jan. 11). Southern Miss rallied from 22 down with eight minutes left to pull within eight at the 1:43 mark, but the Blazers prevailed. The big takeaway from the night was LaDavius Draine's coming-out party, scoring a career-high 19 points on 8-for-11 shooting. Prior to that game, the freshman had just 30 points over 79 minutes for the season.
-- Tyree Griffin and Kevin Holland each collected five three-pointers in that contest on a combined 14 attempts. It was one of Griffin's seven, 20-point games on the season, and Holland's big showing came on the heels of his school-record 7-for-7 game from beyond the arc against UTSA. The Golden Eagles' 15 three-pointers remain a season-high and their most since the 2015-16 finale at Marshall.
-- Griffin has 25 assists over his last three games, giving him 162 for the season. The previous-high for a player in Sadler's four years at Southern Miss was Khari Price's 131 in 2015-16. Griffin is currently No. 11 against C-USA foes for scoring (16.2 ppg), fifth in assists (6.2 apg) and fourth in steals (2.1 spg).
-- Junior Cortez Edwards now has 821 points for his career. The junior is seeking to become the 37th member of Southern Miss' 1,000-point club, and the first to have played under Sadler. Neil Watson was the most recent addition (1,157 points from 2011-14). In Saturday's win over Charlotte, Edwards picked up his fifth double-double (ninth of his career) via 12 points and 10 rebounds.
-- Richardson missed his final free-throw attempt on Saturday, snapping his made-streak at 24 (last miss was Jan. 4 vs. UTEP). He was the first Golden Eagle with 20 consecutive makes since Kourtlin Jackson at the end of his senior season (2015-16). Richardson, a walk-on and major contributor off the bench over his two years with the program, has five double-figure scoring games in his career (last at FAU on Feb. 3), and the Golden Eagles have won all of them.
-- The Golden Eagles need one more league win to continue the trend of Sadler improving the team's C-USA win total in each season he has been at the helm (3-5-6-6). The 13 overall victories are the most by a Golden Eagle team since the 2012 NCAA Tourney squad.
-- Against C-USA foes, Southern Miss ranks third in free-throw percentage (72.7), field-goal percentage (45.9), assists (15.1), steals (6.8) and turnover margin (+3.6), while leading the way in assist-turnover ratio (1.6).
-- Southern Miss has moved to third and sixth nationally for fewest turnovers per game (9.5) and assist-turnover ratio (1.60). Florida State, FIU and ODU have been the only teams so far to edge the Black and Gold in the turnover battle. Southern Miss' 23 assists versus Rice were its most against a Division I team since Nov. 27, 2004 versus McNeese State (26). It also had 32 versus Rust on Dec. 3, 2017.
