Weeks Drops 31 Points; Golden Eagles Beat JMU to Advance at Sun Belt Tournament

Thursday, March 5

Pensacola, Fla.

5 p.m.

Southern Miss

17-15,9-9Sun Belt

(9) James Madison

18-15,9-9Sun Belt

James Madison

Southern Miss.

Weeks Drops 31 Points; Golden Eagles Beat JMU to Advance at Sun Belt Tournament

3/5/2026 8:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Postgame Notes Game Book

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Tylik Weeks dropped 31 points on Thursday night as Southern Miss (17-15, 9-9) picked up an 86-80 win over James Madison (17-15, 9-9 ) in the third round of the 2026 Visit Pensacola Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Championship Presented by Air Force Reserve.

Weeks' 31 points are the most by a Golden Eagle in conference tournament history since Nick Revon scored 35 in the Gulf States Conference Tournament on Feb. 29, 1952. It was also Weeks' second 30-point game in the Pensacola Bay Center this season after dropping 37 points against North Florida back in November.

The Win advanced the Golden Eagles to the fourth round against No. 5 Texas State. The two will meet at 5 p.m. CT on Friday, which marks the third meeting this season. Southern Miss won the first contest in overtime at Reed Green Coliseum, and then Texas State came from behind to win seven in San Marcos nine days later.

Notables
- Southern Miss went with the same starting five as recent games - #0 Izzy Hart, #4 Tylik Weeks, #10 Isaac Taveras, #13 Dylan Brumfield, #15 Djahi Binet
- The first Golden Eagle points were scored by Djahi Binet on a layup. It was his sixth time opening the scoring and Southern Miss' 16th time scoring first on a layup
- Southern Miss' first subs were Chiante' Tramble, Tegra Izay, and Curt Lewis at the 9:30 mark in the first half
- Southern Miss' six turnovers were the fewest committed this season and the third-fewest by a Jay Ladner team over the last seven seasons
- Southern Miss moved to 2-3 all-time at the Sun Belt Tournament
- Southern Miss moved to 4-1 all-time against James Madison
- The win guaranteed Southern Miss its second winning season under Jay Ladner as they are two games above .500
- Izzy Hart went 1-for-2 from deep as he moved his makes to nine over the last four games
- Djahi Binet scored 11 points to reach double figures for the 18th time this season and for the eighth consecutive game
- Tylik Weeks reached double figures for the 29th time after scoring 31 points. He scored 30+ for the third time this season
- Weeks' 31 points are the most by a Golden Eagle in a conference tournament since Nick Revon scored 35 over 60 seasons ago
- Isaac Taveras finished with 17 points to reach double figure scoring for the 17th time this season
- Taveras led the Golden Eagles in rebounding with eight boards
- Tegra Izay posted a career-high three steals

How it Happened
Southern Miss and James Madison went over 10 minutes before a whistle came for the first media timeout. The Golden Eagles got the scoring started off a Djahi Binet layup, but it went back-and-forth after that with seven lead changes before the first media timeout.

Izzy Hart and Binet each had five points as James Madison held a three-point lead with 9:30 left in the half. Tegra Izay stopped a 7-0 Duke run with a big slam to cut the James Madison lead to four at the next media timeout, which only took a little over one minute off the clock. Southern Miss answered with a 6-0 run of its own that tied the game at 22-22.

Another run from the Dukes erased the work Southern Miss had done as James Madison quickly pushed it to a 29-24 lead. Southern Miss, though, did take a brief 24-22 lead before the 7-0 run. Chiante' Tramble had a pair of baskets in that Golden Eagle stretch – James Madison was on a stretch of 6-for-8 shooting when it took the five-point lead at the under-four media timeout.

Like clockwork, it continued to be a game of runs as the Golden Eagles ended the half on an 11-4 stretch. Tylik Weeks got it started with a pair of free throws and then a three-pointer. Isaac Taveras flipped the lead back to Southern Miss' side with a layup to move the run to seven-straight.

James Madison went almost four minutes without a field goal before the Dukes got a put-back bucket to make it a 35-33 game. That score stuck as Southern Miss went into the half with a two-point lead. Both teams shot 48.3 percent from the floor, and each had two three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes.

Southern Miss sprinted to a 9-0 run early in the second half as the Golden Eagles took a 52-43 lead just over five minutes into the half. Izay had a big put-back slam that got the bench going, and then Weeks scored an and-one to cap the run. Taveras later extended it to a 12-2 run with a tough and-one of his own.

The Golden Eagles extended their lead to 10 on two separate occasions with about 13 minutes left in the game, but then went on a 0-for-7 stretch shooting the ball. That let James Madison cut the advantage to five before Curt Lewis drained a three to stop the Dukes' momentum. Weeks started to take over as he scored seven-straight points for Southern Miss to give the Golden Eagles an 11-point lead at the under-eight timeout.

That lead jumped to 13 with 5:32 to play as Taveras answered a James Madison basket. Southern Miss went over two minutes with only one field goal, which allowed the Dukes to make it a 74-66 game with 2:36 minutes on the clock – the Dukes were on a 5-for-7 stretch when they cut it to eight and called a timeout.

Southern Miss went the final 3:31 without a field goal but scored 11 points from the free throw line down the stretch. A few miscues late let James Madison get back into the game, as it ultimately ended in a six-point difference.

Up Next
Southern Miss will play No. 5 Texas State in the fourth round of the Sun Belt Tournament on Friday at 5 p.m.

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