MOBILE, Ala. --- The start of the 2009-10 campaign is just a few days away and University of South Alabama men’s basketball coach Ronnie Arrow is hoping to build on the second half of last week’s exhibition win, rather than the first.

“I saw some good things last week,” said Arrow. “Our defense was good. We started out very slowly with our execution the first half. The second half we came back and executed better. We were more patient on offense. The first half we just missed some wide open shots – we need to put those shots in the hole. We were more patient in the second half and hit our open shots and got after it a lot better defensively. We’re going to have to rebound and score in transition better.”

The Jaguars defeated West Florida 79-63 Thursday thanks to a 51-point outburst in the second half, something Arrow attributes to the team settling down and playing his preferred style.

“I was disappointed that we ended the first half with only one assist; we wound up with nine. This team, the way we play, should have someone lead the conference in assists. We need to have more than nine assists per game. The second half was indicative of how we need to play all the time. We need to be between 16 and 20 every game.”

As for what the team will be focusing on in the remaining days before the season starts, Arrow said, “We’re looking for consistency and the best five guys to play with energy, quickness. We have to work on our assists – getting the ball to the open man – and this team has got to rebound well so we can push the ball. We have a lot of new guys that we’ve had to introduce a lot of stuff. Some have picked it up better than others, which is to be expected, but now we have to go win some ballgames.”

The new season begins Friday against Houston Baptist.

POWER PLAYERS

The team’s shortage of true post players translates into added quickness at the power forward position. Several can play both the ‘3’ and the ‘4’, giving the Jaguars a strategic advantage against taller, slower opposition.

“The four spot has been interesting because a lot of times that won’t be a tall player,” said Arrow. “It’s going to be more of a ‘3’ man playing the ‘4.’ We need to beat them off the dribble and make them guard us. There shouldn’t be any ‘4s’ that should be able to guard us – we should be more skilled and be able to shoot the ball better at those spots.”

Among the players best suited for power forward is freshman Javier Carter. The Dallas, Texas native scored 10 points with six rebounds and four blocks in the exhibition win over West Florida last week.

“We hope that Javier can continue to come along like we hope,” said Arrow. “He gives us a dimension inside that no one else on the team besides DeAndré Hersey gives us.”

Freshman Martino Brock (Memphis, Tenn.) struggled from the floor Thursday, hitting just one of his nine attempts, but blocked two shots, nabbed two steals and grabbed three rebounds.

“Martino is such a good athlete that nobody inside should be able to guard him off the dribble. But he has to learn to ball-fake, get people in the air and get by them. He needs to be able to hit his open shots and do the things he can do.”

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

—USA—