University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
Old Dominion
Men's Basketball Continues Road Trip at Old Dominion
1/18/2019 11:18:00 AM | Men's Basketball
NORFOLK, Va. -- The Southern Miss men's basketball team, winners of three-straight games, boarded the bus in Charlotte Friday morning to head to the Tidewater region, where it will face Old Dominion on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT.
Fans can tune into the game via ESPN Plus, while John Cox will have the call on the Southern Miss IMG Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel) and the USM Gameday app.
– Southern Miss won a nail-biter at Charlotte on Thursday night. The Golden Eagles led 30-22 early in the second half, then trailed by nine with less than 13 minutes to play. After a crucial defensive stop and timeout, Tyree Griffin pulled up and swished a three-pointer with one second left to take the game. It gave the Golden Eagles a fourth true-road win this season after registering five the previous four years. Only North Texas (5) and Marshall (4) have that many in C-USA this year.
– Draine is shooting 48.6 percent from beyond the arc this season (and 58.1 in league play), which rank No. 2 and 3 in C-USA. As for the latter number, his 18 makes are more than the top two players have in attempts. Ten of the sophomore's 14 double-figure scoring games have come away from home, and another 12 of those have come against C-USA foes. Since last season, he has improved his 3FG percentage from 40.0 to 48.6, his scoring from 5.5 to 10.1 ppg, and he has committed just five turnovers in 384 minutes.
– Many things will have to give in Saturday's bout. The last three meetings between Southern Miss and ODU have been decided by 11 points, with the Monarchs taking the last two. ODU has always been arguably the most consistent and fundamentally-sound team in C-USA, and this year it holds a 9-1 home record as well as a road win at No. 25 Syracuse. Out of its five league games, four have been decided by three points or less.
– In C-USA play, ODU holds the fourth-best rebounding margin (+4.8). While it's a testament to their physicality, the Monarchs have a league-low 60 free-throw attempts (but have made 70 percent of them). Southern Miss leads C-USA with a 43.4 three-point percentage, and ODU's 38.9 percent allowance ranks No. 13. The Golden Eagles have allowed 155 deep attempts but have maintained the No. 4 defense in that regard (33.5 percent).
– Southern Miss shot 73 percent in the first half of last year's meeting to lead 39-30 at the break, but the Monarchs, who improved to 18-5 with the win, held the Golden Eagles to 31 percent shooting and just 24 points over the final period to come out on top. Cortez Edwards has led the Black and Gold in scoring each of the last two ODU matchups, scoring 18 last season and 13 the year prior.
– Leonard Harper-Baker has proven to be an X-factor for the team. In eight Division I wins, he is 17-for-25 at the foul line and shooting 61 percent from the field (10.7 ppg). In losses against such competition, he has a 34 percent clip from the field with 2-for-15 foul shooting (5.6 ppg). Harper-Baker had a clutch career-night in the UAB game, going 8-for-12 at the line en route to his first double-double (17 points, 10 rebounds), then went 2-for-2 at Charlotte. He had been 4-for-21 the previous eight games.
– Southern Miss is the only C-USA school to have not allowed 80 points in a game this season. It happened to the Golden Eagles eight times in each of the last two seasons, and this current 15-game streak is a single-season best since the 2011-12 squad did so in its final 24 games. The Golden Eagles are allowing their opponents a 40.0 percent shooting clip this season after it was 46.1 last season.
– Southern Miss is No. 1 nationally for assist-turnover ratio (1.74) and No. 4 for fewest turnovers (9.5 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 in 2017-18 (first time averaging less than 10 per game since the 2008-09 season).
– Griffin against C-USA opponents is first in assists (7.0), second in assist-turnover ratio (2.8) and fifth in steals (2.2), while Edwards ranks sixth in swipes (1.7) and ninth in rebounding (7.2). Griffin has 321 dimes in less than two years with the program (12 away from cracking the top-10), with his 201 last season ranking as the second-most in school history, and his 6.8 assists per game is No. 8 nationally. Edwards is averaging 7.3 ppg in three C-USA Thursday games, but has averaged 21.0 in each of the last two Saturday contests.
