University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Thursday, February 13
Reed Green Coliseum
7 p.m. CT
Southern Miss
vs
Florida Atlantic
Photo by: Joe Harper
Men's Basketball Hosts Florida Atlantic on Thursday
2/12/2020 1:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss has its most pivotal weekend yet of the men's basketball season, hosting Florida Atlantic on Thursday and FIU Saturday before C-USA bonus play is announced.
Promotions for Thursday include Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day tickets (4 for $10 bleachers or $20 chairbacks), as well as a $10,000 shootout series for students. It also serves as Southern Miss' dedicated #BlockCancer game, a prostate cancer awareness initiative through Conference USA and the Mike Slive Foundation.
Streaming is available through ESPN+ with Lee Roberts and Larry Boyd on the call. John Cox, the Voice of the Golden Eagles, will carry the game on the Southern Miss Learfield IMG Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel) and Gameday app.
Game Notes
– It was an agonizing defeat for Southern Miss at WKU on Saturday, as the Hilltoppers overcame a 10-point halftime deficit and made two clutch threes late for the 75-72 win. LaDavius Draine produced his first double-double with 21 points (five treys) and a career-high 10 boards, while Leonard Harper-Baker had nine rebounds and nine assists. The Golden Eagles started hot from three and went 10-for-28 at WKU, one make below season-highs set against Gonzaga and Tougaloo. They have made five-plus triples in five other C-USA games, winning three of them (UTEP, Rice, UAB, ODU, Charlotte).Â
– Over his last four games, Harper-Baker has averaged 10.5 points, 12 rebounds and 7.5 assists over 38.0 minutes. Southern Miss has stuck with a seven-man rotation for the past six games. In C-USA play, he is fourth in assists (4.3 pg) and seventh in rebounds (7.6 pg), the only one to hold such distinction.
– Over that span, four Golden Eagles are averaging 34.2 minutes or better per game. Gabe Watson leads with an incredulous 40.2, while Draine sits at 39.5 (with a team-high 18.3 ppg), and four of his nine-career, 20-point games have been in that time. Tyler Stevenson is averaging 14.2 points with 7.7 rebounds on 57.1 percent shooting (in league play, he is fourth with 8.1 rpg). Walk-on senior Bill Muse Jr. had played 16 minutes all year, then had 13 at WKU and knocked down a three-pointer, his second of the year and first since Seton Hall.
– Southern Miss has won the last two meetings, both in Boca Raton. Last season, the Golden Eagles led by as much as 14 before holding on, 74-72. Tyree Griffin and Florida native Cortez Edwards produced 20-point games, with Edwards scoring 16 in the second half. Harper-Baker calmly sank two free-throws with nine seconds left to make it a four-point game. That contest also capped off a three-game stretch where the Golden Eagles shot 60.8 percent from the field (110-for-181).
– When FAU came to Southern Miss in February 2017, the Owls went an absurd 15-for-22 from beyond the arc (68.2 percent). It is one off the opponent record in Reed Green Coliseum. FAU also went 14-for-36 in the aforementioned 2019 meeting.
– Stevenson, a walk-on last year, ranks fourth and 10th in C-USA play for rebounding (8.1rpg) and field-goal percentage (54.3), respectively. The UTEP game was his only league game in which he was held to single-digit scoring. He has also been the team's top performer in home games, leading the team in field goals (75), attempts (125), percentage (60.0), free-throws (32), attempts (42), percentage (76.2) and overall scoring (16.5 ppg).
– Southern Miss, in league play, leads C-USA with an 80.8 free-throw percentage (139-for-172). It was at 68.6 percent in non-conference action. The 74.7-percent clip for the year would be a program record, besting the 2011-12 NCAA Tourney squad (73.6). Several notable improvements have been made with four of the six returners. Draine is up 8.1 percent, Watson 12.2, Stevenson 23.0 and Boban Jacdonmi 44.2 (was 4-for-12, now 31-for-40).
– Draine has 165 three-pointers in his career, which ranks third in school history. Saturday at WKU marked the fourth time this year and sixth of his career in which he's made five treys, and it allowed him to pass Neil Watson (2011-14) on the all-time list. Next up is Casey Fisher (1984-88) with 194. Draine has also made his last 22 foul shots, all in league play, and it leads C-USA as well (missed final attempt in Tougaloo game). It's the fifth-best streak in school history, tying Kourtlin Jackson (22) in late 2016.
– The Owls are already realizing success in Dusty May's second year as head coach. The Owls started C-USA play 3-0, and had won back-to-back against WKU and Marshall before being swept by FIU in last week's home-and-home. Of their five leading scorers, only one (Cornelius Taylor, grad transfer from Lincoln Memorial) is a senior.
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Promotions for Thursday include Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day tickets (4 for $10 bleachers or $20 chairbacks), as well as a $10,000 shootout series for students. It also serves as Southern Miss' dedicated #BlockCancer game, a prostate cancer awareness initiative through Conference USA and the Mike Slive Foundation.
Streaming is available through ESPN+ with Lee Roberts and Larry Boyd on the call. John Cox, the Voice of the Golden Eagles, will carry the game on the Southern Miss Learfield IMG Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel) and Gameday app.
Game Notes
– It was an agonizing defeat for Southern Miss at WKU on Saturday, as the Hilltoppers overcame a 10-point halftime deficit and made two clutch threes late for the 75-72 win. LaDavius Draine produced his first double-double with 21 points (five treys) and a career-high 10 boards, while Leonard Harper-Baker had nine rebounds and nine assists. The Golden Eagles started hot from three and went 10-for-28 at WKU, one make below season-highs set against Gonzaga and Tougaloo. They have made five-plus triples in five other C-USA games, winning three of them (UTEP, Rice, UAB, ODU, Charlotte).Â
– Over his last four games, Harper-Baker has averaged 10.5 points, 12 rebounds and 7.5 assists over 38.0 minutes. Southern Miss has stuck with a seven-man rotation for the past six games. In C-USA play, he is fourth in assists (4.3 pg) and seventh in rebounds (7.6 pg), the only one to hold such distinction.
– Over that span, four Golden Eagles are averaging 34.2 minutes or better per game. Gabe Watson leads with an incredulous 40.2, while Draine sits at 39.5 (with a team-high 18.3 ppg), and four of his nine-career, 20-point games have been in that time. Tyler Stevenson is averaging 14.2 points with 7.7 rebounds on 57.1 percent shooting (in league play, he is fourth with 8.1 rpg). Walk-on senior Bill Muse Jr. had played 16 minutes all year, then had 13 at WKU and knocked down a three-pointer, his second of the year and first since Seton Hall.
– Southern Miss has won the last two meetings, both in Boca Raton. Last season, the Golden Eagles led by as much as 14 before holding on, 74-72. Tyree Griffin and Florida native Cortez Edwards produced 20-point games, with Edwards scoring 16 in the second half. Harper-Baker calmly sank two free-throws with nine seconds left to make it a four-point game. That contest also capped off a three-game stretch where the Golden Eagles shot 60.8 percent from the field (110-for-181).
– When FAU came to Southern Miss in February 2017, the Owls went an absurd 15-for-22 from beyond the arc (68.2 percent). It is one off the opponent record in Reed Green Coliseum. FAU also went 14-for-36 in the aforementioned 2019 meeting.
– Stevenson, a walk-on last year, ranks fourth and 10th in C-USA play for rebounding (8.1rpg) and field-goal percentage (54.3), respectively. The UTEP game was his only league game in which he was held to single-digit scoring. He has also been the team's top performer in home games, leading the team in field goals (75), attempts (125), percentage (60.0), free-throws (32), attempts (42), percentage (76.2) and overall scoring (16.5 ppg).
– Southern Miss, in league play, leads C-USA with an 80.8 free-throw percentage (139-for-172). It was at 68.6 percent in non-conference action. The 74.7-percent clip for the year would be a program record, besting the 2011-12 NCAA Tourney squad (73.6). Several notable improvements have been made with four of the six returners. Draine is up 8.1 percent, Watson 12.2, Stevenson 23.0 and Boban Jacdonmi 44.2 (was 4-for-12, now 31-for-40).
– Draine has 165 three-pointers in his career, which ranks third in school history. Saturday at WKU marked the fourth time this year and sixth of his career in which he's made five treys, and it allowed him to pass Neil Watson (2011-14) on the all-time list. Next up is Casey Fisher (1984-88) with 194. Draine has also made his last 22 foul shots, all in league play, and it leads C-USA as well (missed final attempt in Tougaloo game). It's the fifth-best streak in school history, tying Kourtlin Jackson (22) in late 2016.
– The Owls are already realizing success in Dusty May's second year as head coach. The Owls started C-USA play 3-0, and had won back-to-back against WKU and Marshall before being swept by FIU in last week's home-and-home. Of their five leading scorers, only one (Cornelius Taylor, grad transfer from Lincoln Memorial) is a senior.
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Players Mentioned
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