University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
WKU
Men's Basketball Begins Homestand Thursday versus WKU
1/23/2019 2:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- After playing eight of its last 10 games on the road, the Southern Miss men's basketball team is back home for a pivotal two-game homestand against arguably two of Conference USA's top teams. First up is a 7 p.m. CT Thursday battle versus WKU.
Fans unable to make it to Reed Green Coliseum can watch the game multiple ways. Noah Coslov and Tim Doyle will have the call on Stadium, which can be accessed here or Facebook.com/LiveCUSA. It is also available locally on FOX 23 and Comcast 219.
John Cox, the Voice of the Golden Eagles, will go on the air at 6:30 p.m. CT on the Southern Miss IMG Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel) and the USM Gameday app.
– Southern Miss dropped a 78-60 decision Saturday at Old Dominion, falling to 11-3 when out-shooting its opponent. The difference was the Monarchs' 23 offensive rebounds, which accounted for a 24-9 advantage in second-chance points. The Golden Eagles trailed 7-0, then went up 22-15 before ODU took a 40-29 lead at the half. Southern Miss was down six with 15:56 left, but couldn't close the gap any further.
– The Thursday win at Charlotte gave the Golden Eagles a fourth true-road win this season after registering five the previous four years. It's tied for the second-most in C-USA. The Black and Gold are tied with Florida Atlantic (also 6-1) for having the fewest home games this season in C-USA. Eight of the team's last 10 games have been away from home, and its 30-day away stretch from Dec. 11 to Jan. 10 was its longest since 1997-98.
– LaDavius Draine is shooting 48.0 percent from beyond the arc this season (and 55.9 in league play), which both rank No. 2 in C-USA. 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 48.0, his scoring from 5.5 to 9.7 ppg, and he has committed just seven turnovers in 410 minutes. Teammate Kevin Holland is also No. 3 in C-USA play for three-point shooting (11-for-21 / 52.4 percent).
– Southern Miss has scored more points in the second half compared to the first in seven of its last eight games (only exception at Rice). The Golden Eagles' 36.8 percent deep shooting is both the best mark of the Doc Sadler era and second in C-USA.
– Southern Miss fell behind 32-25 at halftime of last year's meeting in Bowling Green and was unable to keep pace the rest of the way as the Hilltoppers stretched it to an 82-66 win. Five of their seven players to see action scored double-figures. The Golden Eagles were out-rebounded 38-34, and will have their hands full this go-around with potential-high draft pick and freshman center sensation Charles Bassey.
– Leonard Harper-Baker has been coming along lately, most recently setting and tying career-highs of five blocks and 14 rebounds at ODU, respectively, another sizeable foe. He is also 15-for-25 (60 percent) from the field the last four games. Tim Rowe over that same span is 11-for-23 in FG shooting (47.8 percent) and 7-for-9 from the foul line.
– 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 36 percent clip from the field with 4-for-18 foul shooting (5.7 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), went 4-for-5 at Charlotte and ODU. 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 40.2 percent shooting clip this season after it was 46.1 last season.
– Southern Miss is No. 2 nationally for assist-turnover ratio (1.69) and No. 5 for fewest turnovers (9.7 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).
– Tyree Griffin against C-USA opponents is first in assists (7.0), first in assist-turnover ratio (2.6) and sixth in steals (2.0), while Cortez Edwards ranks 12th in rebounding (6.6) and 13th in assists (3.0). Griffin has 328 dimes in less than two years with the program, which is five away from No. 10 in school history, and his 6.8 assists per game is No. 9 nationally.
