Game Notes

MOBILE, Ala. – Coming off back-to-back wins for the first time this season, the University of South Alabama men’s basketball team will go for three straight victories Tuesday night when the Jaguars host Alcorn State at the Mitchell Center.

The game, the Jags’ last before Christmas, will tip at 7:05 p.m. Lee Shirvanian and Pat Greenwood will call the action on 105.5 FM WNSP, with the pre-game show starting at 6:30 p.m. A videostream will also be available for Jaguar All-Access subscribers at USAJaguars.com.

“We’ve done some good things but we need to do it for 40 minutes,” USA head coach Ronnie Arrow said during Monday’s practice. “The second half Saturday showed what we can do when we want to get after it. Hopefully that’ll carry over for not only the next couple of games but throughout conference season also.”

South Alabama (4-5) picked up its first road win of the season Saturday at Georgia Southern and rallied from a 13-point deficit at halftime to do it. A 12-0 run to start the second half led to the Jaguars outscoring the Eagles 42-19 after halftime.

“The guys know how hard they have to work to get the outcome that we wanted,” Arrow said. “Hopefully they know now that it’s not easy to win. You have to play hard all the time to win. Now we have to do it consistently to win during conference play.”

An increase in defensive intensity helped USA pick up the win Saturday, holding GSU to 19 points and 20.8 percent (5-for-19) shooting in the second half, a huge improvement after the Eagles converted 60.9 percent before the break. The Jags forced three turnovers in the Eagles first four possessions, sparking the 12-0 spurt that closed the gap.

“Defense is going to win us games this year,” said Arrow. “When we play good defense, we score points. Some guys are still learning that we can score off of our defense.”

The Braves enter the contest with an 0-8 record and have not lost a game by fewer than 18 points. ASU is in the midst of a season-opening 10-game road trip and will not play at home until Jan. 4. They last played Dec. 8, a 78-57 loss at Nebraska.

“We’re going to have to show up,” Arrow said. “If our guys go into this game standing around, I guarantee Alcorn State will come out fired up. Everybody wants to go home a winner before Christmas, and that’s what we want to do, but we have to come out with intensity, and I’ll be really disappointed if we don’t.”

The lone bright spot for the Braves has been Marquiz Baker, the team’s leading scorer. Baker averages 17.6 points per game and had 32 points in his last outing.

“We can’t leave him alone,” said Arrow. “We know he can shoot and he’ll take enough shots to get that many. We have to stop him from getting that many points, but we can’t let someone averaging six points get 20 either.”

The Jaguars’ Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) had a dominating performance Saturday with a career-high 18 rebounds and 16 points for his fourth double-double of the season. He has reached double-digits in rebounding in each of his last four games and is averaging 14.3 rebounds during that stretch. His 18 boards are the most by a USA player since Dec. 20, 2007.

“He’s just getting better and better,” Arrow said. “When people have to worry about an inside force, it opens up the outside even more.”

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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