Game Notes

MOBILE, Ala. – With one exhibition victory under its belt, the University of South Alabama men’s basketball team will aim for another when the Jaguars battle Tuskegee Tuesday night in the Mitchell Center.

The clash with the Golden Tigers will be the Jags’ final preseason game before the official start of the 2010-11 season on Friday.

“We need continued improvement,” said USA head coach Ronnie Arrow. “Some of the positives from Thursday were we pushed the ball very good. One of the most important things was we shot 49 percent from the floor, which is good, and three of our better shooters, Tim Williams, Rico Sanders and P.J. Reyes, didn’t shoot well at all.”

The two schools have never met in an official contest. Tuskegee is a member of NCAA Division II’s Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC).

USA’s exhibition with Mississippi College last week went as planned, thanks to sophomore Martino Brock’s (Memphis, Tenn.) game-high 20 points and the Jaguars cruised to a 92-65 victory.

Offensively Arrow saw many positives, but thought the defensive end of the floor needed work.

“I thought that our defense was sporadic,” he said. “Once we got down and wanted to guard, we guarded well, but it wasn’t long enough or hard enough. We put 48 points on the board that we wanted to hold them to and they got 65. I want a consistent defensive effort. We held them to 41 percent (shooting overall), but we did not guard the 3-point line.”

Brock, whose 20 points was one off his career high, made seven of his nine shots and two of his three 3-point attempts.

“Martino has the ability to be as good as he wants to be,” said Arrow. “I think he only had one steal and two rebounds. He’s not using his athletic ability to get what he should. If he could get three to six steals a game and four to seven offensive rebounds a game, his points average would go up immensely. His outside shooting is improved. You put those two together and that’s the overall player he needs to be.”

Redshirt freshman Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) matched Brock’s seven-for-nine effort from the floor and added 16 points in his first appearance in a USA uniform.

“He has to continue to grow and develop,” Arrow said of Rubit. “He needs to get a lot more physical, as does Javier Carter. They’re feeling their way around. They’re both gifted players. The biggest thing they need to work on is being more physical at this level.

“But we have to get someone else besides Aug that can make moves and score for us down low,” Arrow continued. “Javier had 12 points but a good bit of that came on transition buckets and offensive rebounds. We need more people that we can throw the ball down there and can make moves and score.”

The Golden Tigers enjoyed their finest season in almost 30 years last season, accumulating 20 wins while reaching the NCAA Tournament. Led by fifth-year head coach Leon Douglas, Tuskegee won 20 games before losing to Arkansas Tech, the No. 1 team in the nation, in the first round.

TU returns three starters and its top four scorers, including Andrae Nelson, who led the team in points (11.3), rebounding (8.3), steals (41) and blocks (55).

“They have three players that can play in the Sun Belt,” said Arrow. “They are a team that’s going to come down and shoot the ball. We have to put pressure on them where they can’t get in a comfort zone and catch and shoot. They can shoot well and shoot with range.”

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).

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