Game Notes

MOBILE, Ala. – With its rivalry game against Troy on Sunday, University of South Alabama head coach Ronnie Arrow is looking for the team that started the season 8-3 and defeated LSU.

That squad has been missing since Christmas as the Jaguars have started Sun Belt Conference play 2-6 and look to snap a three-game losing streak Sunday at 5:05 p.m. at the Mitchell Center

“We need to find ourselves,” said Arrow. “We’ve talked about different things; what we should be doing with this and what we should be doing with that. It’s not the man-to-man defenses or the zone offenses, it’s us—we’re not playing hard. We have to go back and find the formula for when we were playing hard and executing offensively.”

Jaguars All-Access subscribers can watch the game online at USAJaguars.com. Fans can also follow the action via live stats, twitter (@USAJaguarSports) or live chat on the school’s web page.

The South Alabama coaching staff will be participating in the annual Suits and Sneakers Awareness Weekend, where coaches wear sneakers instead of dress shoes to demonstrate their support for the American Cancer Society and its vision of a world with less cancer and more birthdays.

South Alabama (10-9, 2-6 SBC) has eight more games left in the regular season before the Sun Belt Tournament begins March 3 in Hot Springs. Sunday is the first of two straight home games.

“This time of the year, all teams are mentally and physically fatigued,” Arrow said. It’s the strong-willed and the teams that can work through injuries and soreness that go on and win games later in the year.”

Sunday’s game comes just two weeks after the two teams previously met in Troy. The Jaguars put up 75 points, their most since Dec. 11, thanks in part to junior Freddie Goldstein’s (Milwaukee, Wis.) school-record nine 3-pointers and an up-tempo style missing recently.
 
“In that game, Freddie scored 30 points and shot the ball really well. The other thing we did that we haven’t been doing is pushing the ball. Our point guards have to be pushing the ball for us to score in transition. Our wings need to be running. We’re not doing that. We’re almost in slow motion. Our team has always been fast-breaking.”

On the defensive end of the floor, the Jaguars slowed down Troy’s (7-12, 2-6) attack, ranked second in the Sun Belt in points per game (71.5), and held the Trojans to 60 points. Troy, the third-leading 3-point team in the nation (9.6 per game), shot just 6-for-37 from 3-point land for a season-low 16.2 percent.

For another defensive performance of that scale, tactical adjustments are almost immaterial. For Arrow, an increased intensity is more important.

“It really doesn’t have a lot to do with what the other team is doing,” Arrow noted. “It’s us coming and playing with effort. We’re haven’t been playing with effort; we’ve been holding back. We’re not doing the things that Jaguar basketball should be.

“We haven’t won at home in awhile. It’s time that we stop that and start doing what we’re supposed to do to win at home.”

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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