Game Notes

MOBILE, Ala. – The second-ever meeting between the University of South Alabama men’s basketball team and Mobile will take place Monday evening at the Mitchell Center. Tip time is 7:05 p.m.

The game can only be heard on WNSP.com—it will not be broadcast on 105.5 FM WNSP—but it can been seen online by Jaguar Athletics All-Access subscribers at USAJaguars.com.

The Jaguars (5-5) will be aiming for their fourth straight win Monday, something that hasn’t been done in over a year. Awaiting on the other side is USA’s Sun Belt Conference opener Dec. 30 at Arkansas State.

“We need to get this one so we can go into conference season with four straight wins,” USA head coach Ronnie Arrow before practice Sunday. “The most important part of the season is coming up so hopefully we’ll be able to win this one, get a couple of good practices under our belt and win our conference opener.”

The Rams, a member of NAIA Division I, are 7-3 on the year and have won three in a row. The game will be an exhibition for Mobile.

“They’ll definitely be gung-ho for us,” said Arrow. “We are a local Division I school that they want to prove they can beat. We have to be able to show up ready to play.”

Mobile is led by the scoring triumvirate of senior Donte Walker, junior Brock Dockery and sophomore Ji Kimbrough, all of whom average better than 11.0 points per game. Walker tops the trio with a team-best 14.3 scoring average while Dockery is second at 14.1. Dockery has hit 21 of 54 (38.9%) from 3-point land and pulls down a team-high 7.3 rebounds per outing.

“Dockery, Kimbrough and Walker can all shoot,” said Arrow. “They score in different ways and we have to be able to execute against them. We’ll go out today and go over their stuff. We need to go out and start doing what we do in practice to get ready for teams offensively and defensively and carry that over into games.”

The Jags’ rebounding stalwart this season has been redshirt freshman Augustine Rubit (Houston,Texas). The SBC’s leading rebounder, Rubit is averaging 14.8 boards in his last five games and averages a double-double per outing with 11.4 points and 11.3 rebounds. He scored a career-best 20 points vs. Alcorn State on Dec. 21 and added 17 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the year.

“The team is doing a better job of getting him the ball,” said Arrow. “He has the knack of being in the right place at the right time on rebounds and he can finish. We need to get our other post men to finish like he does. Aug can go through people and finish at the rim where our other guys are off-and-on with that. He has the capability, once you get it in there to him, to be quick and strong enough to be able to finish.”

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—