Game Notes

MOBILE, Ala. – Its three-game win streak snapped Wednesday, the University of South Alabama men’s basketball team will look to start a new one Sunday when Alcorn State comes to the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars (4-3) will attempt to finish their four-game homestand with a 3-1 record before heading back out on the road Dec. 15 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Sunday’s contest will be carried by 105.5 WNSP FM on a tape-delayed basis after the New Orleans Saints game. USAJaguars.com will be hosting a live chat during the game and fans can get live updates on the athletic department’s twitter feed (@USAJaguarSports) and via live stats.

While South Alabama is finishing up a long stretch at home, Alcorn State (1-6) is wrapping up a run of seven straight games on the road. The Braves have lost all six since opening the season with a home win over Blue Mountain College.

“It’s good to play at home. I’d rather play at home than anywhere in the country,” said USA head coach Ronnie Arrow. “I have a pretty good idea of how they feel playing on the road that much and I’m sure they’re ready to get back home.

“We have to keep working on our offense. We have to be able to score. Late in the (Southern Miss) game we got some stops but we either threw the ball away or we didn’t score. We have to go to work on our halfcourt offense.”

The Jaguars fell into a 27-point hole against Southern Miss thanks to 12 Golden Eagle 3-pointers, but USA's massive comback fell short, despite outscoring USM 31-14 through a stretch of the second half. South Alabama shot 51.9 percent from the floor in the second half and had nine assists to just six turnovers.

“I think only played about 24 of the 40 minutes the other night,” said Arrow. “Needless to say, there was an avalanche of threes going up. Seven of their 11 threes in the first half were not contested. But we did a good job of keeping them off the boards and guarded them better from the threes in the second half. We started to limit them to one shot and were able to catch up one at a time. I was proud of the fact that we fought back because we could have been buried the way they were shooting the ball.”

Senior Antione Lundy (Saginaw, Mich.) scored 12 of his career-high 16 points after halftime and made 7 of 12 shots from the floor. In his last two games, he is averaging a team-best 14.5 points in his last two games.

“If we can get everyone to play as hard as he is playing, we’ll be where we want to be,” commented Arrow. “Good things happen when you play hard. He’s a terrific example of that. Shooting, and things like that, take precision; playing hard doesn’t take precision, it just takes heart.

Sunday marks the fourth straight year the two schools have met. All four have come in Mobile and the previous three were USA wins. The Braves are led by first-year head coach Luther Riley.

“They’re a very quick team,” Arrow said. “Their coach is new and does a good job with them. They’ll run their offense. I think they’ll try to put pressure on our guards and we’ll have to show up and play. They have two kids that can get hot from the outside and I’ve seen enough of that from Wednesday to last me another five years. They play hard and the bottom line is, we’ll have to be ready to play.”

Alcorn State has one player averaging double-digits: senior Marquiz Baker, who tallied 19 points against South Alabama last season. Baker, who is scoring at a 14.7 per-game clip in 2011-12, has converted just 28.6 percent from the floor, but has missed the last four games.

KeDorian Sullivan is averaging 10.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in his last two outings, and Twann Oakley is second on the team in scoring (9.2 ppg).

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

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