Game Notes

Game 2 • Mobile Rams (2-2) at South Alabama Jaguars (0-1)
November 13, 2017 • 7:05 p.m. • Mitchell Center (10,000) • Mobile, Ala.

THE COACHES
South Alabama
Matthew Graves (Butler, 1998)
Record at USA: 51-79 (5th year)
Overall Record: Same
Record vs. Mobile: 0-0

Mobile
Joe Niland (Buffalo, 1981)
Record at Mobile: 327-246 (19th year)
Overall Record: 454-306 (24th year)

LAST GAME
South Alabama lost its season opener at Texas Tech 75-50. Mobile lost in overtime to No. 15 Dillard 73-66.

NEXT GAME
The Jaguars start a three-game road trip Thursday at La Salle. The Rams go to Southern-New Orleans on Wednesday.

ON THE AIR
Radio: 99.5 FM The Jag; J.D. Byars (pxp)
On the web: 995thejag.com/listen (audio); JagNationTV.com (video)

RANKINGS (Through end of 2016-17 season)
USA: #229 RPI, #243 Sagarin
UM: N/A

THE SERIES
South Alabama leads 3-0.

Current streak: USA, 3 wins
Last meeting: South Alabama 74, Mobile 63 (11/16/11)
USA's last win at Mitchell Center: 74-63 (11/16/11)
UM's last win at Mitchell Center: None
USA's record at Mitchell Center: 3-0
USA's record at home: 3-0
USA's home streak: Won 3
USA's longest winning / losing streak in series: 3 / 0

Notes: The first meeting in the series came in 2009… The two schools met three consecutive seasons starting in 2009… The 2011-12 matchup, a 74-63 USA victory, is the closest in the series… South Alabama won an exhibition prior to the 2015-16 season 98-43, and last year's 77-46.

OPENING TIP
South Alabama is 41-8 in home openers in its history and has won 25 in a row.

South Alabama will be meeting Mobile in the regular season for the first time since Nov. 16, 2011.

For the first time under head coach Matthew Graves, the Jaguars are 0-1 to start a season.

The Jags had 24 turnovers Friday, their most since committing 26 in the 2013-14 season.

USA lost the turnover battle against Texas Tech, but still forced 18 miscues and had nine steals. Last year, the team led the Sun Belt with 7.5 steals and 16.3 turnovers forced per game.

Rodrick Sikes had three steals off the bench, and Nick Davis added two.

South Alabama had issues at the free-throw line Friday, going 15 for 30 as a team. Jordan Andrews made all seven of his attempts, but the rest of the team combined to go 8 for 23 (34.8%).

Andrews, in his first game back in uniform since the 2015-16 campaign, led all scorers Friday with 15 points. He went 2 for 7 from distance and dished out a pair of assists.

Herb McGee set a new career high in scoring against Texas Tech with 11 points. He hit all three of his 3-point attempts and went 2 for 2 at the charity stripe.

Trhae Mitchell shared game-high honors Friday with six rebounds, tying his most against a Division I opponent. All six came on the defensive end.

Mitchell went just 1 for 5 from the floor, his worst shooting performance since going 0 for 3 against Youngstown State in his fourth career game. Mitchell shot 50 percent or better 12 times in his last 14 games of the 2016-17 campaign.

Dederick Lee made the most of his limited playing time against the Red Raiders, hitting both of his 3-point attempts for six points in just eight minutes of action.

Mobile has two wins on the year, with one of those coming against a ranked opponent: No. 15 Dillard. Dillard won the rematch on Friday in New Orleans.

The Rams are forcing 20 turnovers per game with 9.5 steals per contest. D.J. Hill already had 15 thefts on the season, and JaBarie Escoffery has eight.

PREVIEWING MONDAY
Head coach Matthew Graves on Mobile
On opening the home schedule: "We're excited to be back in the Mitchell Center for our home opener. It's an opportunity to get one in the win column before we head back out on the road for three games this week. I know the players are excited to play in front of our fans."

On what he learned about the team on Friday: "I learned that we've got a lot of work ahead of us, but at the same time, we have a group of guys that really care about getting better. They're very passionate about wanting to do the right thing. We have a lot of potential with this group."

On Mobile: "Coach (Joe) Niland does a terrific job with his team. He's recruited some older guys – from junior college – so he has an older team that's more physically mature. They'll certainly provide some problems with their ability to play undersized and move on the perimeter. That's really going to challenge our bigger guys, so we'll have to be ready for that. They're going to come in here with a chip on their shoulder, getting an opportunity to play a Division I school, so we're going to have to play good basketball for the entire 40 minutes, unlike what we did when we played North Alabama over a week ago."

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).

Join the Jaguar Athletic Fund (JAF) Priority Fund, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics. Contributions to the Priority Fund directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give

—USA—