Golden Eagles Welcome Arkansas State to Town Thursday Night

Thursday, January 26

Reed Green Coliseum

7 PM

Southern Miss

Arkansas State

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Southern Miss Golden Eagles guard Neftali Alvarez (2) celebrates the three point shot of Southern Miss Golden Eagles guard Austin Crowley (1) in a game between the Southern Miss Golden Eagles and the James Madison Dukes . January 21, 2023 (Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com)

Photo by: Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com

Golden Eagles Welcome Arkansas State to Town Thursday Night

1/25/2023 1:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss (17-4, 6-2 SBC) will look to continue its perfect home start when Arkansas State (9-12, 1-7 SBC) comes to Reed Green Coliseum on Thursday night to take on the Golden Eagles at 7 p.m. The men's basketball team is off to its best home start since the 2011-12 season when they went 17-0 in the Greenhouse.

How to Follow

- Follow the game on ESPN+ at 7 p.m. CST, with Lee Roberts and Larry Boyd on the call

- John Cox will carry the game on the Southern Miss Learfield Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel) and the Gameday App
- Follow @SouthernMissMBB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

Golden Eagle Nuggets

- Through eight Sun Belt games, Austin Crowley is averaging 19.9 points per game and DeAndre Pinckney is averaging 16.9 points per game

- Pinckney is coming off a career-high 28-point performance against James Madison last Saturday

- The Golden Eagles are coming off an 83-70 win against the Dukes. They led by as many as 19 late in the second half before a late James Madison rally

- Pinckney (Jan. 10) and Crowley (Jan. 3) have both been named Sun Belt Player of the Week

- Crowley went for 25 points in the Thursday win over South Alabama and added five assists

- Against Arkansas State on Jan. 14, Denijay Harris poured in a career-high 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the floor

- Southern Miss is off to its best conference start since the 2011-12 season when it opened C-USA play 7-1

- The 13 wins before New Year's Day tie the 2011-12 team for wins recorded before the holiday

- The Golden Eagles picked up their first Sun Belt win in program history in a 64-60 win against Troy on Dec. 29, 2022

- Crowley has scored at least 10 points in each of his last 12 games, including a career-high 30 against App State

- Crowley (17.6), Haase (14.4) and Pinckney (14.0) are the only Golden Eagles averaging double-digit points per game

- As of Wednesday morning, Southern Miss ranked 41^st in scoring defense (63.9), 21^st in scoring margin (12.0), 27^th in steals per game (9.0), 25^th in turnover margin (3.7) and 40^th in turnovers forced per game (15.7)

- Haase (1531 -797-301) is closing in on becoming the sixth active player in Division I basketball to have at least 1,500 points, 800 rebounds and 300 assists since the 2017-18 season.

- The Golden Eagles lead the Sun Belt in scoring defense at 63.9 points per game

- Southern Miss had a record-breaking day in the steals department against Lamar on Dec. 10 as its 21 steals was the fourth most in a single game in program history
- Three days later it set a program record for three-point attempts when it tried 42 at Lamar on Dec. 13

- Pinckney (7.3) and Haase (7.0) pace the Golden Eagles on the glass, while Pinckney leads the with 146 total rebounds

- Jay Ladner went back to his usual starting five with Crowley, Arnold, Harris, Pinckney and Haase. That grouping is 8-2 when it starts for Southern Miss this season

Scouting the Red Wolves

- Arkansas State heads to Hattiesburg with at 9-12 overall and 1-7 in Sun Belt play

- Its coming off an 87-78 overtime loss to Marshall on Saturday and a nine-point loss against Louisiana on Thursday

- The Red Wolves' lone conference win was a 60-57 victory at Old Dominion on the first day on Sun Belt play

- Caleb Fields (12.0) and Omar El-Sheikh (11.0) lead Arkansas State in scoring as the only two players averaging double figures

- El-Sheikh's 9.8 rebounds per game ranks third in the Sun Belt and 23^rd in all of Division I

- Avery Felts went for 15 points in the first meeting. El-Sheikh pulled down 11 rebounds to lead all players

Series History

- Thursday's game marks the 29^th all-time meeting between the two schools

- Southern Miss leads the series 15-13, including a 10-3 record in Hattiesburg

- Southern Miss won the first meeting this season, 74-57, in Jonesboro

- It's the first game in Hattiesburg since Southern Miss' 48-64 loss in 2002

Up Next

The Golden Eagles finish their four-game homestand on Saturday, Jan. 28 against Texas State at 2 p.m.

Single-game and season tickets are available through SouthernMissTickets.com, calling 1-800-844-TICK or visiting the Pat Ferlise Center during normal business hours.