Men's Basketball Opens Road Trip at Troy on Thursday Night

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss men's basketball team (19-4, 8-2 SBC) opens its two-game road trip on Thursday night at Troy (13-10 5-5 SBC). Tipoff at Trojan Arena is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

How to Follow
- Stream the game on ESPN+ at 6 p.m. CST, with Barry McKnight and Jerry Miller on the call
- John Cox will call 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 for updates

Golden Eagle Nuggets
- Through 10 Sun Belt games, Austin Crowley is averaging 19.5 points per game and DeAndre Pinckney is averaging 16.3 points per game
- Southern Miss is in a tie for first with Louisiana at 8-2 in Sun Belt play
- Crowley is coming off a 24-point performance in Saturday's nine-point win over Texas State. He had 12 in the win over Arkansas State on Thursday
- Pinckney (Jan. 10) and Crowley (Jan. 3) have both been named Sun Belt Player of the Week this season
- The Golden Eagles are coming off a 73/57 win over Arkansas State and a 67-58 win over Texas State
- Denijay Harris picked up the first double-double of his career on Thursday night with 11 points and 10 rebounds
- Four Golden Eagles scored in double figures the first time Southern Miss and Troy met. Those four included Crowley (17), Felipe Haase (16), Harris (12) and Pinckney (10)
- Southern Miss is off to its best conference start since the 2011-12 season when it opened C-USA play 9-2
- 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 14 games, including a career-high 30 against App State
- Crowley (17.6), Haase (14.5) and Pinckney (14.0) are the only Golden Eagles averaging double-digit points per game
- As of Tuesday afternoon, Southern Miss ranked 33^rd in scoring defense (63.3), 19^th in scoring margin (12.0), 27^th in steals per game (8.8), 23^rd in turnover margin (3.7) and 44^th in turnovers forced per game (15.4)
- Haase (1614 -810-309) became 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 63.3 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 (7.0) and Haase (6.8) pace the Golden Eagles on the glass, while Pinckney leads the with 162 total rebounds
- Jay Ladner went back to his usual starting five with Crowley, Arnold, Harris, Pinckney and Haase. That grouping is 9-2 when it starts for Southern Miss this season

Scouting the Trojans
- Troy is coming off a pair of tough losses at Louisiana (57-72) and South Alabama (60-77) last week
- Through 23 games, the Trojans average 2.8 blocks per game after accumulating none in two of their last three games
- Zay Williams paced Troy in the Dec. 29 meeting with 19 points. Kieffer Punter (14) and Aamer Muhammad (11) both added double-figure scoring totals
- Christyon Eugene leads all healthy players in scoring at 12.1 ppg
- Despite losing their last two games, including one where they allowed the opponent to shoot 52.6 percent (South Alabama), the Trojans still sit first in the SBC in field goal percentage defense since league play started. Through 10 games, they allow just 39.3 percent

Series History
- This is the 18th meeting between the two Sun Belt rivals. Southern Miss leads the series 16-1
- The Golden Eagles have won nine of the last 10 meetings, including the Dec. 29 game earlier this season
- Southern Miss is 3-1 in games played in Troy, including an 81-66 win in 2018 on the road

Up Next
- The Golden Eagles will travel to Georgia State on Saturday, Feb. 4 for a 1 p.m. CST tip on ESPN+

- @SouthernMissMBB / @USMGoldenEagles -

University of Southern Mississippi Athletics

Men's Basketball Opens Road Trip at Troy on Thursday Night

Related News

Players Mentioned

Austin Crowley

Felipe Haase

Denijay Harris

DeAndre Pinckney

Related Videos