University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Saturday, December 12
Reed Green Coliseum
2 p.m.
Southern Miss
vs
South Alabama
Southern Miss Hosts Regional Rival South Alabama Saturday
12/11/2020 10:44:00 AM | Men's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss is returning home to the friendly confines of Reed Green Coliseum Saturday to host South Alabama (2 p.m. CT).
Fans can follow the game with the Voice of the Golden Eagles, John Cox, who will have the call on CUSA.tv and the Southern Miss Learfield IMG Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel).Â
NOTABLE
–    The Golden Eagles suffered a 58-38 defeat at Tulane on Wednesday that was not kind to either team offensively. Southern Miss held the Green Wave to 4-for-22 shooting from deep and forced 15 turnovers, but on the other end scored its fewest points since 2015 at Old Dominion. The plus-side was freshman and New Orleans native Jaron Pierre Jr. going 4-for-8 from the field (3-for-5 from deep) for 11 points off the bench, all career-highs.
–    A fast start in Saturday's game would be paramount to the team's success. When USA last came to Hattiesburg, Southern Miss rode a 17-1 lead that led to a 71-67 win. Eight of Jay Ladner's 10 wins have come when leading or tied at the half. In the Golden Eagles' two defeats this year, it trailed 21-9 and 22-9 to Jacksonville and Tulane, respectively.
–    Tyler Stevenson was a beast in the paint in the last home outing, going 11-for-13 from the field to tie a career-high 27 points. He earned 12 free-throw attempts, the most by a Golden Eagle since Leonard Harper-Baker in a Jan. 12, 2019 win over UAB. Artur Konontsuk also scored 14 points off the bench, including matching a career-high with three treys (other time was against No. 7 Gonzaga in the Bahamas). Each of Southern Miss' last five wins have coincided with Konontsuk's last five double-figure scoring games.
–    LaDavius Draine enters the game with 942 points while seeking to become the program's 38th member of the 1,000-point club. The most-recent addition was Cortez Edwards, who reached the milestone in November 2018 at Troy. Draine also has 182 three-pointers to his name, which is 12 away from tying Casey Fisher (1984-88). Bernard Haslett holds the record (316 from 1990-94).
–   Southern Miss has used eight starters over the first two games, with four doing it for the first time as Golden Eagles. Tae Hardy, Justin Johnson and DeAndre Pinckney are highly-touted junior college prospects, while Harris took a medical redshirt last year. He had 10 rebounds against William Carey, a team-high in the young season. Konontsuk, who earned 20 nods as a freshman last year, entered the fray on Wednesday.
–   The last meeting between the teams saw Southern Miss drop a 75-69 defeat that was a one-point margin with 44 seconds left. The Jaguars took advantage of two turnovers to go 4-for-5 at the foul line to close it out. Harper-Baker had 12 points and 14 rebounds to pace the Black and Gold, while Konontsuk added 14 points as well in his second-collegiate game, including an elbow jumper with 44 ticks remaining. Southern Miss only allowed five treys on 22 attempts, but the Jags went 22-for-24 at the foul line compared to the visitors' 7-for-10.
–  Ladner and third-year USA coach Richie Riley are quite familiar with each other from their Southland Conference days. Ladner was 3-1 against Nicholls from the 2016-18 seasons, including out-shooting Riley's squads 37.5 to 28 percent from deep.
–   South Alabama has found offensive success so far with an impressive 80.5 ppg, led by Michael Flowers (22.7). Only two players on their season stat sheet played against the Golden Eagles last year. USA has also shot 40.9 percent from three, while opponents are at a 37.4 percent clip that includes 37 attempts per game. Conversely, Southern Miss is trying 16.3 per game from deep compared to opponents' 15.3.
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Fans can follow the game with the Voice of the Golden Eagles, John Cox, who will have the call on CUSA.tv and the Southern Miss Learfield IMG Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel).Â
NOTABLE
–    The Golden Eagles suffered a 58-38 defeat at Tulane on Wednesday that was not kind to either team offensively. Southern Miss held the Green Wave to 4-for-22 shooting from deep and forced 15 turnovers, but on the other end scored its fewest points since 2015 at Old Dominion. The plus-side was freshman and New Orleans native Jaron Pierre Jr. going 4-for-8 from the field (3-for-5 from deep) for 11 points off the bench, all career-highs.
–    A fast start in Saturday's game would be paramount to the team's success. When USA last came to Hattiesburg, Southern Miss rode a 17-1 lead that led to a 71-67 win. Eight of Jay Ladner's 10 wins have come when leading or tied at the half. In the Golden Eagles' two defeats this year, it trailed 21-9 and 22-9 to Jacksonville and Tulane, respectively.
–    Tyler Stevenson was a beast in the paint in the last home outing, going 11-for-13 from the field to tie a career-high 27 points. He earned 12 free-throw attempts, the most by a Golden Eagle since Leonard Harper-Baker in a Jan. 12, 2019 win over UAB. Artur Konontsuk also scored 14 points off the bench, including matching a career-high with three treys (other time was against No. 7 Gonzaga in the Bahamas). Each of Southern Miss' last five wins have coincided with Konontsuk's last five double-figure scoring games.
–    LaDavius Draine enters the game with 942 points while seeking to become the program's 38th member of the 1,000-point club. The most-recent addition was Cortez Edwards, who reached the milestone in November 2018 at Troy. Draine also has 182 three-pointers to his name, which is 12 away from tying Casey Fisher (1984-88). Bernard Haslett holds the record (316 from 1990-94).
–   Southern Miss has used eight starters over the first two games, with four doing it for the first time as Golden Eagles. Tae Hardy, Justin Johnson and DeAndre Pinckney are highly-touted junior college prospects, while Harris took a medical redshirt last year. He had 10 rebounds against William Carey, a team-high in the young season. Konontsuk, who earned 20 nods as a freshman last year, entered the fray on Wednesday.
–   The last meeting between the teams saw Southern Miss drop a 75-69 defeat that was a one-point margin with 44 seconds left. The Jaguars took advantage of two turnovers to go 4-for-5 at the foul line to close it out. Harper-Baker had 12 points and 14 rebounds to pace the Black and Gold, while Konontsuk added 14 points as well in his second-collegiate game, including an elbow jumper with 44 ticks remaining. Southern Miss only allowed five treys on 22 attempts, but the Jags went 22-for-24 at the foul line compared to the visitors' 7-for-10.
–  Ladner and third-year USA coach Richie Riley are quite familiar with each other from their Southland Conference days. Ladner was 3-1 against Nicholls from the 2016-18 seasons, including out-shooting Riley's squads 37.5 to 28 percent from deep.
–   South Alabama has found offensive success so far with an impressive 80.5 ppg, led by Michael Flowers (22.7). Only two players on their season stat sheet played against the Golden Eagles last year. USA has also shot 40.9 percent from three, while opponents are at a 37.4 percent clip that includes 37 attempts per game. Conversely, Southern Miss is trying 16.3 per game from deep compared to opponents' 15.3.
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Players Mentioned
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