Game Notes

MOBILE, Ala. – Holders of a 2-0 record, the University of South Alabama men's basketball team will hold the Red Diamond Roundball Classic this weekend at the Mitchell Center.

Friday starts with Youngstown State vs. Jacksonville at 4:30 p.m., followed by South Alabama vs. Florida International at 7:05 p.m. On Saturday, the action tips off at 11:30 a.m. with Florida International vs. Jacksonville with South Alabama vs. Youngstown State starting at 2:05 p.m. The final day opens with Youngstown State vs. Florida International at 12:30 p.m. and South Alabama vs. Jacksonville will close things out at 3:05 p.m.

Live stats for all games will be available at USAJaguars.com, but only South Alabama games will be streamed on JagNationTV.com.

"I think it's a great time to be playing three home games over the next three days," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "We're healthy, in a good frame of mind and playing with a lot of confidence, but I do think we understand that if we don't continue to execute and pay attention to details, we could get beat any of these three games."

The Jaguars are 2-0 for the second time in the last 20 seasons after a dominating 88-35 victory over Blue Mountain Monday night, which saw the defense hold the Toppers to just 11 points in the first half and the fifth-fewest points by an opponent in school history.

USA's first two opponents are averaging just 51.5 points and shooting 29.0 percent from the floor overall and 13.9 percent from 3-point land.

"I love how active we are," Graves said. "I think we're doing a great job on our initial on-ball coverage, and then out of our rotations, we've done a tremendous job of having active hands and flying to the ball. We still aren't great at making contact on rebounds, but we've held our own thus far."

On the other end of the floor, the Jags pace the Sun Belt Conference in both turnover margin (+8.5) and assist/turnover ratio (1.8), and the plus-15 assist/turnover margin is the program's best over two games since 2008-09.

"I think you could argue that in our opener at UNLV, the turnover margin was the difference in the game," Graves noted. "We attempted 16 more shots than UNLV and that allowed us to get our defense set, by not turning the ball over. With the free-throw disparity, I think the turnover margin was the difference."

Friday will see the Jaguars renew their rivalry with former Sun Belt rival Florida International. The two schools last met in 2012-13, and USA has won 11 of the last 15 games.

The Panthers come into the weekend with a 1-1 record after defeating Florida Memorial in their opener but falling 82-67 to future South Alabama opponent Stetson on Monday. FIU is shooting 52.9 percent from the floor for the season, eclipsing the 50-percent mark in both games.

"The thing about FIU that's impressive is they're very explosive offensively," commented Graves. "(Donte) McGill and (Michael) Kessens can really score in bunches and (Eric) Nottage is a guy you have to be aware of on the perimeter; he's shooting the ball well. We have to do a good job of not allowing them to score in the open court in transition."

Youngstown State, which has also split its first two games, is averaging 94.0 points per contest, but is giving up 92.5 per game. The Penguins are led by Cameron Morse, who paces the Horizon League with a 33.5 point-per-game average, after putting up 40 in YSU's 103-98 overtime loss at Toledo on Tuesday.

"They're extremely talented offensively," Graves said. "They can score in bunches. Coach (Jerry) Slocum is one of the better offensive coaches around. He's always had teams that can really score the ball and they run really good actions."

Jacksonville is also a former Sun Belt rival, but the two schools have met just once since 1998. The Dolphins are the Jaguars' second-most faced opponent with 58 games between the two schools. USA leads the series 32-26.

JU won its opener at Denver, but lost by 20 at Air Force two days later. J.R. Holder averages 23.5 points per contest and has gotten to the free-throw line 20 times in two games.

"With Jacksonville, they're extremely well coached and play really hard defensively," Graves stated. "They have eight seniors that play minutes, so they have a lot of experience."

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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