Game Notes

MOBILE, Ala. – Just two days after suffering a close overtime loss at Texas State, the University of South Alabama men's basketball team will try to rebound Saturday when the Jaguars welcome in-state rival Troy to the Mitchell Center.

USA enters the contest with an 8-18 record overall and a 2-11 mark in Sun Belt Conference play. Troy sits in a tie for eighth place in the league standings at 9-16 and 4-9.

"I hope we're fired up and ready to go," Jaguar head coach Matthew Graves said. "We're certainly playing for our tournament hopes. This is a must-win game, there are no ifs, ands or buts about it. You could probably come up with some statistics that show that it's not a must-win game, but in our minds it's a game we've got to have if we want to go and compete in New Orleans for a championship. I'm anticipating all of our guys will be on board and ready to go."

Tip-off Saturday is at 7:05 p.m. Fans can listen to the game on 105.5 FM and WNSP.com or watch a live videostream on USA's All-Access subscription service. Updates will also be provided via twitter at @SouthAlaMBK and live stats on USAJaguars.com.

The Jags went for their second straight road win Thursday at Texas State and rallied from a five-point deficit with 36.7 seconds left to force the extra frame but were done in by two free throws with 2.6 seconds on the clock.

Junior Mychal Ammons (Vicksburg, Miss.) recorded his second straight double-double with 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds while senior Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) poured in a team-high 22 points on 9 of 18 shooting and blocked four shots.

"When you're down five with 35 seconds to go, that doesn't look real good," Graves said, "but we came down, ran a little action and Mychal was able to get open and make a '3.' Then we fouled and they missed one, and we came back, ran a ball-screen and they happened to switch and Barrington (Stevens III) took advantage of a guard-on-big and made a big '3.' We showed an ability to come back and make two big plays there and I'm really proud of the guys on those two plays."

South Alabama will be looking to shut down Hunter Williams, Troy's leading scorer at 12.6 points per game, who lit up the Jags for 26 points—21 after halftime—in the Trojans' 79-74 win Feb. 6 in Troy. Williams made seven 3-pointers and dished out four assists.

In four of their five games, the Jaguars have allowed an opposing player to hit five or more triples, including Reid Koenen of Texas State who made seven in 10 attempts.

"You've got to have an awareness of where (Williams) is at at all times, whether you're playing man or zone or in transition," Graves said. "He's an outstanding shooter; he's one of the top 3-point shooters in the entire league, and once he gets his feet set, he's going to make it, and sometimes he doesn't even need his feet set and he'll get in a rhythm like we saw in the second half. We've got to have a constant awareness and we can't let him get started—that's the thing. We gave him two easy ones and he got in a really good rhythm. Some of the other ones weren't quite as easy but he was feeling good about his shot, so we've got to make it tough right from the opening jump with him."

Rubit has scored 20 or more points in three of the last four games, including a high of 25 in the first meeting at Troy. He is averaging 20.5 points and shooting 51.6 percent from the floor over that span.

"We've had a better emphasis of getting him the ball and a lot of it has been on him," Graves said. "He's done a better job the last several games of attacking and trying to score around the rim and we need him to do more of it. I think last night he left some points on the board—the same against Western Kentucky—but we need him to continue to be in attack mode, be aggressive around the rim and get to the free-throw line. Good things happen when he's aggressive and we need him to do that against Troy. He had a very good game up there and hopefully we'll get the same tomorrow."

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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