MOBILE, Ala. ? University of South Alabama head men’s basketball coach John Pelphrey announced Thursday the suspension of three players for a violation of team curfew rules. Senior guard Carlos Smith, along with junior guards Demetric Bennett and Daon Merritt will miss the Louisiana-Monroe game scheduled for Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. in the Mitchell Center. Bennett, Merritt and Smith missed curfew after the Jaguars’ 70-64 win at Denver last Saturday.

The Jaguars (13-7, 7-2 SBC) currently are tied for the lead in the Eastern Division of the Sun Belt Conference with Western Kentucky and face a key stretch this week, entertaining Western Division leader ULM (12-8, 6-2 SBC) Thursday and host North Texas Sunday afternoon.