Game Notes
MOBILE, Ala. – With a three-game nine-day cross-country road trip behind them, the University of South Alabama men's basketball team will host Howard Tuesday night as part of the Gotham Classic.
Tipoff is at 7:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast on 710 AM in Mobile and on iHeartRadio.com on the Internet. In-game updates can be found via live stats on USAJaguars.com or on Twitter at @SouthAlaMBK.
Tuesday's contest will be the Jaguars' first at the Mitchell Center since a loss to Middle Tennessee on Dec. 6 that started the team's current four-game losing skid.
"It's going to be nice to play on our home court," USA head coach
Matthew Graves said. "We need to come out with a better focus and our effort needs to be at a high level. The old saying is, 'Getting a win right before Christmas makes it a little bit better.' We're looking forward to the chance to just get back home and get in more of a routine after the cross-country trip last week."
The Jaguars lost all three Gotham Classic games away from home last week, dropping decisions at Pepperdine, Richmond and IUPUI. South Alabama rallied from double-digit deficits in the latter two to briefly take the lead before eventually falling, and lost to IUPUI in overtime.
"We demonstrated that we have the ability to play good basketball in stretches," Graves said. "We know what we need to do and how to play the game appropriately, but we've got to be able to do it more consistently. In all three games last week, we had stretches where we did different things to be ineffective and it was different guys, so that certainly compounds the problem. We've got a core group of guys moving forward that we feel like can put us in a position to play good basketball, we just have to tweak a few things and get it to a full 40 minutes."
The offense had arguably its best performance of the road trip on Saturday, where it shot 41.8 percent from the floor—its third-highest percentage of the year—and converted 10 times in 21 attempts from behind the 3-point arc.
Both sophomore
Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) and freshman
Taishaun Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.) enjoyed career nights against IUPUI, putting up new personal bests in points and 3-pointers. Williams recorded 23 points—17 after halftime—on six trifectas, and Johnson, playing in his hometown, tallied 18, with 11 coming in the first half.
"Certainly a guy like Ken gained some confidence making some shots and Taishaun made a few shots," Graves noted. "Any time a shooter sees the ball go in, you gain a little more confidence and hopefully we can carry that into the game against Howard. They play all zone and it's pretty aggressive. The tendency is to shoot a lot of 3s—we're going to take a lot of 3s—but we have to balance that with getting the ball inside whether that's on the pass to the post or on the drive and getting to the free throw line."
Howard enters Tuesday with a 6-7 overall record and is one of the tougher defenses in the country, ranking 20th in the nation in field goal percentage defense, 53rd in 3-point defense and 66th in scoring defense.
"Defensively they're unique with their matchup zone," Graves noted. "It's 2-3, it's 3-2; there are some similarities to Georgia State in the way they play defense. We have to be very diligent at attacking and not settling for 3-point shots. We have to be aggressive and get to the free-throw line."
James Daniel III does a little bit of everything for the Bison, leading the team in points (16.4), field goal (59), 3-pointers (26), assists (30) and steals (24). He scored 23 and 22 points in road losses at William & Mary and Duquesne, and is averaging 18.0 points in his last two games.
"For us defensively, Daniel is a big key," Graves said. "We have to contain him off ball-screens, make shots difficult for him and give him one tough shot."
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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