Southern Miss Set for Rare Sunday Battle at UTEP

Sunday, March 1

El Paso, TX

3 p.m. CT

Southern Miss

UTEP

Southern Miss Set for Rare Sunday Battle at UTEP

2/29/2020 9:46:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Game Notes (PDF)Watch

EL PASO, Texas -- The Southern Miss Men's Basketball team has arrived safely in the Sun City in advance of its Sunday afternoon contest at UTEP. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. CT from the Don Haskins Center.

The Golden Eagles' only other Sunday contest was an 83-64 win over William Carey on the eve of its Thanksgiving trip to the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Fans can watch via CUSA.tv with Jon Teicher and Steve Yellen on the call. John Cox will carry the game on the Southern Miss Learfield IMG Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel) and Gameday app.

Game Notes
– Southern Miss did not start bonus play the way it would have liked, falling 61-53 at home to Middle Tennessee last Saturday. The Golden Eagles led 17-9 in the first eight minutes, but the Blue Raiders' zone defense and press was too much for the home team. Southern Miss scored the first seven points of the second half to get within 33-32, but never any closer.

– Tyler Stevenson, a walk-on last year, ranks third and eighth in C-USA play for rebounding (8.1 rpg) and field-goal percentage (57.9), respectively. He has scored in double-figures in every C-USA game with the exception of the previous UTEP matchup and had 16 points with six boards and three assists his last game. He has increased his scoring by 9.7 ppg since his freshman year, which ranks fourth among sophomores nationally, and is No. 33 in the country for overall shooting (56.3 percent).

– UTEP won 76-64 in the previous meeting (Jan. 9), the 10th consecutive win by the home team in the series (previous game vacated). After a 30-28 halftime deficit, there were eight lead changes and six ties through the first 12 minutes before UTEP's 12-1 run separated the game. The Miners went 34-for-37 at the foul line, three makes shy of the Golden Eagle opponent record.

– The Golden Eagles can take solace in that despite the free-throw barrage, their 19 field goals allowed in El Paso were a season-low. All of their wins have come when out-shooting their opponent, and every Black and Gold win against Division I opposition has come when allowing less than 70 points. In last Saturday's Middle Tennessee contest, the two squads scored 28 points in the second half, the fewest in any period by either team since the Jan. 16 North Texas game.

– The game was also curious in that despite the Blue Raiders moving to 2-0 in the season series, each of those defeats have been Southern Miss' best defensive performances by field-goal percentage (35.1 on Jan. 25, 36.9 on Saturday). Middle Tennessee overcame it by forcing 18 turnovers and pulling down 15 offensive rebounds.

– Since Southern Miss went to a seven-man rotation on Jan. 23, five Golden Eagles are averaging 32.3 minutes or better per game. Gabe Watson leads with an incredulous 40.1, while LaDavius Draine sits at 39.6 (with a team-high 16.9 ppg), and four of his nine-career, 20-point games have been in that time. Stevenson is averaging 15.4 points with 7.8 rebounds on 62.0 percent shooting. Walk-on senior Bill Muse Jr. had played 16 minutes all year, then had 13 at WKU and five against MT (Feb. 22). Each of the Golden Eagles' last four wins have coincided with Artur Konontsuk's last four double-figure scoring games as well.

– The Golden Eagles and Blue Raiders were tied in rebounding, but Southern Miss held a plus-32 margin over the previous three games. The FIU game was 41-26, Southern Miss' highest against a D1 team on the year. The squad has also found its way to the fourth-best field-goal defense in C-USA (42.0 percent), adjusting from facing the 12th-toughest non-conference schedule according to KenPom.

– Southern Miss, in league play, is fourth with a 76.9 free-throw percentage (173-for-225) after being at the top for much of the slate. It was at 68.6 percent in non-conference action. The 73.3-percent clip trails only the 2011-12 NCAA tourney squad for the best in program history (73.6). The Golden Eagles are 34-for-53 over the last three games (64.2 percent) and will need to reverse that trend over the last few pivotal regular-season games.

– Draine has 172 three-pointers in his career, which ranks third in school history. Next up is Casey Fisher (1984-88) with 194. Draine had also made 23-straight foul shots, all in league play, before missing his second attempt on Saturday (first miss since his last try against Tougaloo) to take sole possession of fifth in school history. He has continued to diversify his game with more steals (29-20) and assists (51-26) than the previous two years combined.