Game Notes

Game 3 • South Alabama Jaguars (1-1) at La Salle Explorers (2-0)
November 16, 2017 • 6 p.m. CST • Tom Gola Arena (3,400) • Philadelphia, Pa.

THE COACHES
South Alabama
Matthew Graves (Butler, 1998)
Record at USA: 52-79 (5th year)
Overall Record: Same
Record vs. La Salle: 0-0

La Salle
Dr. John Giannini (North Central, 1984)
Record at La Salle: 201-207 (14th year)
Overall Record: 494-356 (29th year)

LAST GAME
South Alabama exploded in the second half to defeat Mobile 71-49. La Salle survived in double overtime at Penn, 75-71.

NEXT GAME
The Jaguars continue play in the Naismith Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament Saturday in Uncasville, Conn. against Maine. The Explorers will take on Northwestern in Uncasville.

ON THE AIR
Radio: 99.5 FM The Jag; Brit Bowen (pxp)
On the web: 995thejag.com/listen (audio); A10Network (video)

RANKINGS (Through end of 2016-17 season)
USA: #229 RPI, #243 Sagarin
La Salle: #143 RPI, #131 Sagarin

THE SERIES
First Meeting.

OPENING TIP
Outside of former Sun Belt member Virginia Commonwealth, South Alabama doesn't have much history with the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Jags have never faced 10 A-10 members, including La Salle, and is 2-3 against Saint Louis, Richmond and Fordham combined. VCU, which was in the Sun Belt from 1979-91, leads the series with USA 18-11.

South Alabama has 46 turnovers in its first two games after committing 22 Monday. The team's current turnover margin is minus-7.0; the Jaguars led the league last season at plus-3.16.

USA has turned the ball over 20 times or more in back-to-back games for the first time since December 2015.

South Alabama blocked 11 shots against Mobile, its most since rejecting 12 against Louisiana on Jan. 16, 2014, and had four players pick up multiple blocks. Nick Davis set a new career high with four, and Rodrick Sikes also set a new personal best with two. Josh Ajayi and Trhae Mitchell had two apiece.

Mitchell enjoyed the best passing night of his career, dishing out a personal best six assists — against one turnover — to lead all players. He also grabbed a career-high-tying seven rebounds.

Ajayi recorded his fourth career double-double and first of the season Monday with 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. He has five double-digit rebound performances in his career.

Jordan Andrews is averaging 16.5 points and is 14 for 14 from the free-throw line in his first two games. He had 18 points — one shy of his career high — on Monday against Mobile, going 3 for 6 from 3-point land. He also added two steals.

Andrews' 33 points are the most by a Jaguar in their first two career games since John Brown had 36 to start the 2014-15 season.

Davis tied his career scoring high Monday with 13 points, recording 11 of those points after halftime. He went 5 for 9 from the field and made all three free throws.

Kevin Morris has yet to score this season, but did his work on the boards Monday by pulling down a career-high six rebounds in just 10 minutes of work.

PREVIEWING THURSDAY
Head coach Matthew Graves on La Salle
On getting a win before the road trip: "I'm obviously pleased to be at 1-1 and win a game in our home building. We talked a lot in the offseason about protecting our home court. In the first half, we did not play the way we needed to play, but we came back, did some good things in the second half and came away with the victory. I'm really looking forward to this upcoming trip. I think it'll give us an opportunity to come closer as a team. You've got three games over a four-game period so it's much like a conference tournament – short turnaround time and short prep. It'll give us a glimpse of what that's like and help get us better prepared for that run in March."

On how to correct the turnover issue: "With a young team, we're struggling a little bit with the turnovers. It comes back to fundamental basketball – making the right pass as the right time, catching the ball, having good footwork, and setting legal, solid screens. We have a few areas to clean up but they are correctable mistakes. That's what's encouraging about that."

On La Salle: "La Salle is a very good team that is well coached. They historically compete in the upper half of the Atlantic 10, which is one of the best basketball conferences in the country. We're going to have to go up there and play really good basketball. If we can cut down on our turnovers and rebound the ball defensively, we'll give ourselves an opportunity at the end of the game."

On B.J. Johnson and Pookie Powell: "Those two guys will be two of the better players we face all season. They have the ability to beat you in a lot of different ways. They're very talented basketball players – they're just not scorers or passers, they're just really good overall basketball players. They will be a focal point of our defense and they will challenge us in a lot of ways."

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—