HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss is looking to continue its home cooking this weekend in Reed Green Coliseum, where it is 7-0 with all wins coming by double-digits. Next up is a Thursday battle with Rice at 7 p.m. CT.
Fans unable to make it to the game can catch the action on CUSA.tv and the Southern Miss IMG Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel) with John Cox on the call. Thursday's game is also 80s Night, featuring the best music and all other exciting activities.
– The 7-0 home start is the best-such run since the 2011-12 squad went 15-0 en route to making the NCAA Tournament. This year, the Golden Eagles are out-shooting visiting opponents 51.6 to 41.6 percent with Tyree Griffin, Cortez Edwards and Dominic Magee each averaging at least 18 ppg.
– The three games with Rice last season were each an entertaining battle. The Owls led 42-18 in the first meeting (Jan. 21, 2017), the same day as the F3 tornado that struck Hattiesburg early in the morning. Southern Miss came within a narrow miss on a half-court shot of forcing overtime. In the second battle, this time in Houston on Feb. 23, the Golden Eagles rallied from 18 points down with 13 minutes left to force overtime, but Marcus Evans’ layup at the buzzer gave the Owls a 72-71 lead. It was the team’s only overtime lead and first field goal since the 7:42 mark of the second half.
– Naturally, the two teams were paired again in the first round of the C-USA Tournament in Birmingham. Southern Miss trailed by one with 6:25 to play, but the Owls got all 18 of their remaining points at the free-throw line for an 86-75 win.
– LaDavius Draine picked two big league opponents (on the road, no less) to truly explode onto the scene in his collegiate career. The 6-foot-5 silent assassin had played just nine minutes since November, yet scored a career-high 19 at UAB on 8-for-11 shooting, then led all scorers at halftime in Murfreesboro with 13 points on the two-time defending C-USA champs. He also finished just one rebound shy of his first double-double in that contest. Prior to this weekend, Draine had scored 30 points in 79 minutes. The 19 points against UAB were the most by a Southern Miss freshman since Tim Rowe had 20 at FAU on Jan. 14, 2016.
– Griffin’s 109 assists puts him 23 away from having the most of any player in a single season of the Doc Sadler era. He is currently one of four in C-USA to rank in the top-10 for scoring (eighth, 18.7 ppg) and assists (sixth, 5.7 apg) against league foes. This past weekend, Griffin scored 23 points at UAB and another 21 at Middle Tennessee, giving him five, 20-point games on the year. He went 5-for-6 at the three-point line at UAB. It’s the second time this year he has had back-to-back 20-point games.
– Southern Miss has shot 80 percent or better from the free-throw line in five consecutive games. Included in that mark is a 29-for-35 clip in the Jan. 6 win over UTSA (30 of those attempts came in the second half, with D’Angelo Richardson going 10-for-10 on the day).
– Southern Miss has moved to fourth and ninth nationally for fewest turnovers per game (9.6) and assist-turnover ratio (1.55). Against WKU, the squad committed no turnovers in the second half. Florida State has been the only team so far to edge the Black and Gold in the turnover battle. Southern Miss’ 21 assists at UAB marked its most against a Division I team since Feb. 26, 2015 versus UTSA. It also had 32 versus Rust on Dec. 3, 2017.
– Saturday’s win over UTSA marked the first time in seven games that the Golden Eagles did not have a higher second-half shooting percentage than the first. With the exception of the UTSA game, Southern Miss has shot 34.0 percent in every first half dating back to Dec. 16 with a 51.7 percent clip in those second halves. The Black and Gold resumed the trend at UAB and MTSU as well.
Fans unable to make it to the game can catch the action on CUSA.tv and the Southern Miss IMG Sports Network (Rock 104.5 in Hattiesburg/Laurel) with John Cox on the call. Thursday's game is also 80s Night, featuring the best music and all other exciting activities.
– The 7-0 home start is the best-such run since the 2011-12 squad went 15-0 en route to making the NCAA Tournament. This year, the Golden Eagles are out-shooting visiting opponents 51.6 to 41.6 percent with Tyree Griffin, Cortez Edwards and Dominic Magee each averaging at least 18 ppg.
– The three games with Rice last season were each an entertaining battle. The Owls led 42-18 in the first meeting (Jan. 21, 2017), the same day as the F3 tornado that struck Hattiesburg early in the morning. Southern Miss came within a narrow miss on a half-court shot of forcing overtime. In the second battle, this time in Houston on Feb. 23, the Golden Eagles rallied from 18 points down with 13 minutes left to force overtime, but Marcus Evans’ layup at the buzzer gave the Owls a 72-71 lead. It was the team’s only overtime lead and first field goal since the 7:42 mark of the second half.
– Naturally, the two teams were paired again in the first round of the C-USA Tournament in Birmingham. Southern Miss trailed by one with 6:25 to play, but the Owls got all 18 of their remaining points at the free-throw line for an 86-75 win.
– LaDavius Draine picked two big league opponents (on the road, no less) to truly explode onto the scene in his collegiate career. The 6-foot-5 silent assassin had played just nine minutes since November, yet scored a career-high 19 at UAB on 8-for-11 shooting, then led all scorers at halftime in Murfreesboro with 13 points on the two-time defending C-USA champs. He also finished just one rebound shy of his first double-double in that contest. Prior to this weekend, Draine had scored 30 points in 79 minutes. The 19 points against UAB were the most by a Southern Miss freshman since Tim Rowe had 20 at FAU on Jan. 14, 2016.
– Griffin’s 109 assists puts him 23 away from having the most of any player in a single season of the Doc Sadler era. He is currently one of four in C-USA to rank in the top-10 for scoring (eighth, 18.7 ppg) and assists (sixth, 5.7 apg) against league foes. This past weekend, Griffin scored 23 points at UAB and another 21 at Middle Tennessee, giving him five, 20-point games on the year. He went 5-for-6 at the three-point line at UAB. It’s the second time this year he has had back-to-back 20-point games.
– Southern Miss has shot 80 percent or better from the free-throw line in five consecutive games. Included in that mark is a 29-for-35 clip in the Jan. 6 win over UTSA (30 of those attempts came in the second half, with D’Angelo Richardson going 10-for-10 on the day).
– Southern Miss has moved to fourth and ninth nationally for fewest turnovers per game (9.6) and assist-turnover ratio (1.55). Against WKU, the squad committed no turnovers in the second half. Florida State has been the only team so far to edge the Black and Gold in the turnover battle. Southern Miss’ 21 assists at UAB marked its most against a Division I team since Feb. 26, 2015 versus UTSA. It also had 32 versus Rust on Dec. 3, 2017.
– Saturday’s win over UTSA marked the first time in seven games that the Golden Eagles did not have a higher second-half shooting percentage than the first. With the exception of the UTSA game, Southern Miss has shot 34.0 percent in every first half dating back to Dec. 16 with a 51.7 percent clip in those second halves. The Black and Gold resumed the trend at UAB and MTSU as well.
