Golden Eagles Drop Home Contest to North Texas

Thursday, January 16

Reed Green Coliseum

7 p.m. CT

Southern Miss

-414, 05 CUSA

North Texas

-108,41 CUSA

North Texas

Southern Miss

Golden Eagles Drop Home Contest to North Texas

1/16/2020 9:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)Photo Gallery

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Just as the Southern Miss crowd hit its loudest levels of the night with a seven-point deficit at the 11-minute mark, North Texas scored eight-straight points and maintained the pressure for a 72-52 win over the Golden Eagles on Thursday night.

"We've got a lot of coaches and players new to each other, and a lot of guys as well that are new to Division I basketball," head coach Jay Ladner said. "We went through a five-minute stretch where we got outscored 10-1 or so. It went from seven to 17 in a hurry. We left a lot of points on the board offensively, whether it was turning the ball over, not seeing an open man or just missing the shot. Defensively, we left guys open. It's a multitude of things with the youth on our team."

Southern Miss (4-14, 0-5 C-USA) was within 34-30 at 3:31 after a 9-2 run, but the Mean Green countered to take a 44-34 lead at the half. North Texas scored on the opening possession of the second half and not again till 14:49, and despite a couple of fastbreak layups off a block and turnover to get within 52-45 at 10:59, it was the closest Southern Miss would get.

"We have a hard time getting caught in the flow of the game, whereas a good team will dictate the flow of it," Ladner said. "We had similar situations late with a lead at UTEP and a small deficit at UTSA, and the same thing happened tonight with nine minutes left. We look at the film, lineups and everything, but we just have to find consistency and it's my job as the head coach to figure that out."

Southern Miss out-shot North Texas (10-8, 4-1 C-USA) 54.2 to 50 percent in the first half but were held to 30.4 in the second. The Mean Green have won four in a row and entered the night with three-straight games of holding its opponent to a season-low in scoring.

The Golden Eagles will have a chance for redemption Saturday at 2 p.m. when they host Rice.

NOTABLE
-Southern Miss had won the previous three home meetings against North Texas.
-Tyler Stevenson (10 points, 10 rebounds) posted his second double-double. It was also the 13th time this season he has scored in double-figures (15th of career).
-Southern Miss attempted just five three-pointers, the first time it had single-digit tries since a Feb. 14, 2015 win over FAU.