Game Notes

MOBILE, Ala. – After winning the last two games against Denver with comebacks of 22 and 15 points, the University of South Alabama men’s basketball team is looking for a more straight-forward win Saturday without the drama.

The game will tip off at 3:30 p.m. and can be seen on the Sun Belt Network or ESPN3.com (subject to blackout). Fans can also follow the action via live stats, twitter (@USAJaguarSports) or live chat on USAJaguars.com.

South Alabama (8-5, 0-2 SBC) leads the all-time series 12-10 and needed huge comebacks to win the last two games. In the 2009-10 regular-season finale, the Jags trailed by 22 points early in the second half before outscoring the Pioneers 31-7 to end the game. Last year in Denver, USA fell behind by 15 in the first half and 14 at intermission before rallying for a one-point victory.

“As always, they bring a very patient, deliberate style,” said USA head coach Ronnie Arrow. “For the last two years, we’ve had to come way back to win the game, which showed a lot about our teams then, but hopefully we don’t have to come 15 to 22 points back to win. The press late in the game has hurt them and we’ll look at that, but the main thing is, we have to get back on the winning track.”

The Jaguars will be searching for their first Sun Belt win of the season after losing consecutive games for the first time in 2010-11. On Thursday, North Texas hit a shot with 1.5 seconds left to force overtime and went on to a 78-73 victory.

USA had to play the final 33 minutes without sophomore Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas), who left with a back injury, and junior Xavier Roberson (Houston, Texas), who reinjured his foot in overtime. Rubit is expected to play while Roberson will miss the rest of the season.

“I thought the guys—without probably our two best players—played admirably,” Arrow noted. “They played hard and did some good things. We did enough good things to win the game, except for turnovers and free throw shooting. At the beginning of the year we were turning the ball over 12 times a game and shooting 76 to 78 percent at the line and we were winning. Now those two categories are not good and we’ve lost two games because of that. We have to find a way to make better decisions with the ball shoot our free throws.”

Denver (12-3, 2-1 SBC) comes in having won six of its last seven games, including a three-point road win at Arkansas State Thursday. The Pioneers rank in the top 30 nationally in six categories, including 3-pointers per game (8.5) and 3-point percentage (48.1%).

“They aren’t going to make too many mistakes,” said Arrow. “They don’t turn the ball over and they don’t take bad shots. You have to try and pressure them as much as you can on defense. On offense, you have to take good shots. You have to take advantage of their matchup zone. People focus on that Princeton offense, but you better score against that defense.”

Saturday’s game will feature the Sun Belt Conference’s top two shot blockers in USA junior Javier Carter (Dallas, Texas) and DU sophomore Chris Udofia. Carter tops the league and is 15th in the nation with 2.9 rejections per contest. He moved into fourth place on the school’s all-time block list Thursday with three blocks. Udofia has 2.7 blocks per game.

“We have guys that are just as good for shot-blocking and guys that are just as physical,” Arrow said. “Udofia’s just a sophomore so we have experience on him inside that we have to use. Our inside game has been our strength, although with Aug out against North Texas, they outscored us 40-24 in the paint.”

Udofia is also a prolific scorer, averaging 14.0 points per outing, just behind teammate Brian Stafford at 14.1 ppg. The pair rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in the conference in scoring. Stafford, however, hasn’t hit double-digits in his last two games.

“We need to pressure him,” Arrow said. “We don’t need to come off of him and give him open looks. He’s had some games lately where he hasn’t shot the ball quite as well, but we can’t let him come in here and make five 3s and let him feel good about himself. We have to make them get up and down the court and if we can get them to take bad shots, then it’s less time we have to guard.”

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).

—USA—