Golden Eagles Fly West to Battle UTEP on Thursday

Thursday, January 9

El Paso, TX

8 p.m. CT

Southern Miss

UTEP

Golden Eagles Fly West to Battle UTEP on Thursday

1/8/2020 9:53:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Game Notes (PDF)

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss Men's Basketball has begun its trip to the Mountain Time Zone, where it will face UTEP on Thursday night. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. CT from the Don Haskins Center.

Fans can watch the live stream through ESPN Plus with Duke Keith and Leonard Owens on the call. John Cox, the Voice of the Golden Eagles, will carry the game through the Southern Miss Learfield IMG Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel) as well as with the Gameday app.

Game Notes
– Southern Miss fell in back-to-back games to LA Tech to open C-USA play. The Bulldogs on Saturday led 27-24 with three minutes left in the half before an 11-0 run helped them to a 41-26 intermission lead. Another 11-0 spurt with seven minutes remaining created more separation for an eventual 78-50 win.

– Gabe Watson tied a career-high with 20 points (also happened against Texas Tech), while Tyler Stevenson earned his first double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds (also the team's sixth of the year). Southern Miss also went 10-for-12 from the foul line, pushing its season mark to 70.3 percent (sixth in C-USA). It also marks a 4.7 percent increase from last year's 20-win team. This year's squad has 195 attempts on the year, with five C-USA teams having a greater-or-equal amount of makes.

– Despite the Golden Eagles coming up short on Saturday, it bears noting that last year's team started 0-3 before ultimately finishing tied for second in C-USA. They were the third team since 2010 (including UTEP in 2017-18) to earn a bye in the tournament despite having such a start.

– Leonard Harper-Baker is No. 4 in C-USA for rebounding with 7.5 per game. He was the team leader last year with 8.0 per contest and has produced five games with double-figure boards this season (14 for his career). LaDavius Draine also rose to No. 5 in school history for career-three-point makes with 140 after tying a career-high seven against Tougaloo. He needs three to tie Jimmie Floyd (1994-98) for No. 4 all-time.

– Out of Southern Miss' eight road/neutral games, Watson leads the way with 14.4 ppg in 33.4 mpg. The Golden Eagles are still shooting 42.3 percent, while opponents are at 46.8. Last year's squad was a combined 9-10 away from Hattiesburg. Since going into a more-shooting guard role for the William Carey game, the sophomore has shot 47.2 percent (up from 31.8) for 14.8 ppg (previously 8.8).

– Last year's meeting was a wild one. Southern Miss led 54-12 at the half and upped its lead to 50 with 12 minutes left en route to the 77-47 final. It was the second time the Golden Eagles led or defeated a C-USA team by 50 on the year, and Draine tied a career-high of seven treys on nine attempts. Both he and Harper-Baker (six and five, respectively) had more made shots than the Miners at the break.

– Opponents are averaging 7.5 more free-throw attempts per game. Southern Miss has four games of 20-plus tries this year, with the 35 against Tougaloo serving as its first of 30-plus since the 2018-19 opener. By comparison, Jay Ladner's 2018-19 Southeastern Louisiana squad averaged 19.4 foul shots per contest, and that will continue to be an emphasis on his young Southern Miss squad (which is averaging 13.0).

– The home team has won each of the last nine meetings, dating back to the 2014-15 season. Only Draine and Clay Weatherspoon have stepped foot in the Don Haskins Center, as teammates Harper-Baker and Boban Jacdonmi were redshirting the 2017-18 season. While UTEP is undefeated at home and Southern Miss is searching for its first road/neutral win, Ladner did lead SE Louisiana to a 72-56 win at UTEP in 2016, snapping the team's 19-game non-conference losing skid.

– Southern Miss' non-conference opponent average ranks No. 3 in the nation, according to the NET (formerly RPI). It includes road games at defending national runner-up Texas Tech, South Alabama (preseason Sun Belt favorite) as well as two versus North Florida, picked to finish third in the A-Sun. Now-No. 1 Gonzaga and Seton Hall are also expected to make deep runs in the NCAA Tournament, and Tulane and Iowa State have earned top-25 votes this year.