University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
Florida Atlantic
Southern Miss Continues Road Swing at FAU
2/1/2019 2:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BOCA RATON, Fla. -- The Southern Miss men's basketball team has completed its short trip up the Florida coast as it prepares to play at FAU on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT.
The game will air on CUSA.tv, and fans can also listen live with John Cox on the Southern Miss IMG Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel) and USM Gameday app.
– Southern Miss (13-9, 5-5 C-USA) couldn't have had much better execution on both ends of the floor the last two games. The 101-51 win over Marshall was both the program's largest margin of victory ever over a Division I team, as well as the widest between two C-USA schools. It also marked the Herd's fewest points since 2015. On Thursday, the Golden Eagles made 13 of their first 14 shots and, after a slow second-half start, made 18 of 25 to end the game. The 89 points were Southern Miss' most away from home since March 5, 2016.
– The Golden Eagles now have five true road wins, which is tied with ODU and North Texas for the league lead. The program had just five over the previous four years. Southern Miss is seeking its first C-USA road sweep of the Doc Sadler era, and the Owls are 7-2 at home this year.
– Leonard Harper-Baker, the defending C-USA Player of the Week for his two double-doubles against WKU and Marshall after an average of 16.5 points and 14.5 rebounds, picked up right where he left off. He went 10-for-11 from the field (90.9 percent) at FIU, tied for fourth-best single-game percentage in school history. Assistant coach Clarence Weatherspoon also did the same at Florida State in 1990. The 21 points were a career-high, and over the last three games he is leading the team in shooting (24-for-32), scoring (18.0 ppg) and rebounds (11.3).
– Southern Miss has scored more points in the second half compared to the first in nine of its last 11 games (only exception: at Rice and FIU). LaDavius Draine has continued to be arguably the best sixth-man in C-USA. Fourteen of the sophomore's 17 double-figure scoring games have come against C-USA foes. This year against league competition, he is second in three-point percentage in league play (28-for-55, 50.9 percent) and also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds at FIU on Thursday. Gabe Watson also had a career-high 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting off the bench at FIU. Southern Miss is 3-0 when the freshman scores in double-figures (also versus SMU and Middle Tennessee).
– Southern Miss went 4-for-13 from beyond the arc on Thursday, its second-fewest makes this year (two versus UNF and four versus Western Carolina, both in Cancun). When the Golden Eagles won last year's game at FAU, 77-66, it went 8-for-12, which marked its highest percentage (min. 5 makes) since Nov. 27, 2004. Dominic Magee scored all 16 of his points in the second half. The Black and Gold led 38-21 at the break.
– Edwards, a native of Kissimmee, Fla., has shot 58.6 percent (17-for-29) for 22 points and seven rebounds per game the last two meetings against FAU. He also had 18 points at FIU and 15 versus Marshall the previous game.
– FAU (13-9, 4-5 C-USA) is coming off back-to-back wins over FIU and LA Tech. The Owls, led by first-year head coach Dusty May, also have wins over first-place Old Dominion, Illinois and UCF. Their third-leading scorer, Xavian Stapleton (13.7 ppg) previously played at LA Tech and Mississippi State, scoring 12 points off the bench against Southern Miss last year. He played at Madison Central HS.
– 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 22-game streak is a single-season best since the 2011-12 squad did so in its final 24 games. The Owls are the league's top free-throw shooting team (73 percent) and got to the line 61 times over the last two games. FIU was leading C-USA with 25 attempts per game in league play before Southern Miss held it to just 12.
– Southern Miss, entering Thursday, was No. 1 nationally for assist-turnover ratio (1.77) and No. 4 for fewest turnovers (9.7 pg). In league play, the Golden Eagles have the best field goal percentage (46.8) while ranking third in steals (6.9) and fourth for three-point defense (32.8).
– Griffin against C-USA opponents is first in assists (7.6), first in assist-turnover ratio (3.2) and third in steals (2.1), while Edwards ranks fifth in assists (4.4) and second in assist/turnover ratio (2.6). Griffin now ranks No. 9 all-time in school history with 355 assists (despite less than two years with the program), and his 7.1 dimes per game rank 7th nationally. The 15 he had versus Marshall is a program-record against a Division I opponent. Kevin Holland is also now No. 3 in C-USA play for three-pointers (48.5 percent). He shot 31.4 percent in non-conference.
