Game Notes

MOBILE, Ala. – Winners of six of its last eight games, the University of South Alabama men’s basketball team hopes that momentum carries over into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Four more wins and the Jaguars would go to the NCAA Tournament.

The road to the NCAAs begins Saturday night at the No. 6 seed Jaguars (16-11, 8-8) take on the 11th-seeded Troy Trojans (10-17, 5-11) at 6 p.m.

Saturday’s game can be seen online via SBC Extra ($5.95 for the game, $13.95 for the entire tournament) or heard on 105.5 FM WNSP or WNSP.com.

“We’re probably playing our best basketball, but some our weaknesses showed up in our last game,” said USA head coach Ronnie Arrow. “We have to be consistent on the things we did to win six out of our last eight games. The last game we didn’t do that. We didn’t shoot free throws, we didn’t take care of the ball and we didn’t guard. That’s not a good formula for winning. If we don’t guard then it’s going to be difficult for us.”

The Jags last ended a season on such a run in 2008-09. That year, they also won six of their last eight, had a four-game winning streak end in the season finale on the road and ended up advancing to the SBC championship game.

“This is the time of year that the good teams put it together,” Arrow said. “I don’t think that this team has had everybody playing on the same beat. When we do, we’ll be tough to stop and I hope it’s this time of the year. I’m sure everyone is using Arkansas-Little Rock as an example. We beat them by 14 here at the end of last season and they go to Hot Springs and sweep four games in a row. Everybody in this league is saying that they can be the Little Rock of last year and I hope that we’re one of those teams that can say that.”

USA swept the season series from Troy, getting nine 3-pointers and a then-career-high 30 points from junior Freddie Goldstein (Milwaukee, Wis.) to win 75-60 in Troy, while surviving a 20-point comeback from the Trojans in Mobile before winning 68-66.

“You can look at it two ways: they’re probably saying there’s no way they can beat us three times; I’m saying, if we beat them twice, why can’t we beat them again?,” Arrow commented. “Freddie had an exceptional game there, and at our place, we played without Javier (Carter) and our guys came together to win that one. It wasn’t pretty, but I’ll take four straight un-pretty wins in Hot Springs and go to the NCAA Tournament.”

The Trojans rank in the nation’s top 10 in 3-point field goals with 8.9 per contest. The Jaguars held them to a season-worst 6-for-37 night in Troy, but the Trojans converted 11 times from behind the arc in Mobile, their second-highest total in Sun Belt games.

“They’re a team that can get way behind or catch up in a hurry because of the 3-point shot,” Arrow noted. “We’ve got to guard the 3-point line. We have to know where their shooters are. They’ll probably put four guards out on the floor at one time. We have to guard the ball, which has been up and down for us. We have not guarded the ball well; hopefully Augustine (Rubit) and Javier will be able to protect the hole. When we’ve played our best ball, it’s been our defense that’s won it for us and our bigs have protected the hole.”

Troy was one of two teams in the league not to have a player named to an All-Sun Belt team, but have four averaging 9.8 points per game or better. Will Weathers leads the group with a 12.0 point-per-game average and tops the league with 5.7 assists per contest.

South Alabama’s representative on the all-conference team is sophomore Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas), who became the first Jaguar since 2008 to earn first team distinction. He leads the SBC in both rebounding (9.3 rpg) and double-doubles (11) and averaged 21.5 points and 13.0 rebounds in his last two games, including a 25-point, 14-rebound performance at Florida International in the regular-season finale.

The winner of Saturday’s game will face No. 3 seed Denver Sunday at 6:45 p.m.

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—