Box Score

MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama junior Rodrick Sikes led all players with 31 points and sophomore Josh Ajayi added his third double-double of the year to pace the Jaguars to an 86-64 victory against Georgia State Friday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars (7-6, 1-0 Sun Belt) used a 12-0 run early in the second half to break open a three-point contest, then went on a 15-2 burst to go up 59-35 with 11:29 to play in the game.

Georgia State (9-5, 0-1 SBC) scored eight unanswered to trim the lead to 16, but South Alabama poured in 10 unanswered to take its biggest lead of the contest.

Ajayi tallied 16 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. Sophomore Jordan Andrews recorded 19 points off the bench, and sophomore Herb McGee dished out a career-best eight assists.

GAME FACTS
- South Alabama made just two of its first 13 shots of the game in falling behind 11-6, but scored the next nine points to go up 14-11
- Neither team led by more than four after that, but a 7-1 run to end the half gave the Jags a 32-25 advantage heading into the break
- After GSU scored the first five points of the second half, Sikes started a run of 12 unanswered points with a trifecta, and the Jaguar defense forced three straight misses for a 44-29 lead less than four minutes in
- Andrews (6 points), Sikes (5) and Ajayi (4) combined for all 15 of USA's points in a 15-2 run over a 3:33 stretch to take a commanding 59-35 lead
- GSU's Devin Mitchell stopped the run with a trey, and D'Marcus Simonds scored the next five for an 8-0 Panther run, but Andrews hit another triple and Sikes scored the next seven for a 26-point advantage – the biggest USA lead over any team this season – with 7:03 on the clock
- The Jaguars shot a season-best 66.7 percent, including 69.2 percent from 3-point land, in the second half for 54 points
- Sikes went 6 for 10 from distance, and Andrews went 5 for 8
- Simonds paced the Panthers with 27 points on 11-for-25 shooting

NOTES
- The win is the largest in the series for USA since 1982, and the most points vs. GSU since 1979
- Tonight ties the biggest win of the season, and it's the biggest conference victory since defeating Louisiana 88-64 on Feb. 14, 2013
- Sikes is the first Jaguar to score 30 points in back-to-back games since Terry Catledge in 1984
- USA is 7-2 this season when leading at halftime
- Andrews' 19 points are his second most of the season, and his highest total since setting a career best of 20 at La Salle on Nov. 16
- Sikes has three 30-point games this season, the most by a USA player since Augustine Rubit had four in 2012-13
- Senior Dederick Lee set a new season high with six assists and had just one turnover
- South Alabama tied its season high with 12 3-pointers, and has 10 or more in each of its last three outings
- The Jaguars' 21 assists on 29 field goals is their second best assist/field goal ratio of the year; the team also set new season bests in effective field-goal percentage (.636) and true field-goal percentage (.669)
- Senior Nick Davis had three blocks; that is his fifth game with three or more rejections
- The Jaguars set new season highs with 86 points, 12 3-pointers (tie) and 21 assists
- South Alabama is 2-3 in Sun Belt openers under head coach Matthew Graves, and has won two in a row
- USA is 3-1 in 2017-18 when committing 20-plus turnovers

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Matthew Graves
Opening statement: "Obviously, we're excited to get our first win here in Sun Belt Conference play and get off to a 1-0 start, especially at home, because anytime you go on the road it's hard to win in conference play. We need to make sure we get off to a good start here at home. I was really pleased with our effort. Our execution was really good. Georgia State does a great job in their zone. They're very active. They force a lot of turnovers, and I think it's hard to simulate that in practice. It took us six, seven, eight minutes into the game to really adjust to that. You have to credit our defense for keeping us in the game until we were able to get comfortable playing against their zone. We had a lot of great individual performances throughout the game."

On Sikes' performance: "I thought his first two shots were very bad, quick shots. He was a little bit confused by their zone and their movement. I think once he got comfortable, he kind of got lost in their zone. We did a better job of cutting through the middle of the paint. We were able to find him. He stepped up and made some really big shots for us. That's the thing I like about Rodrick: he's such a competitor. He works really hard. He gets extra shots up. He's seeing the fruits of that labor by being a gym rat."

On what this win can do for the team: "I think it gives you confidence knowing that if you prepare the right way, and Coach [Russ] Willemsen did a great job with this scout, we had three really good, solid days of preparation. They weren't the prettiest practices, but we went through the stuff we needed to. We did the film study that we needed to. Our guys were able to execute a couple of set plays that we added to the repertoire this week and got us baskets. When you can do those sort of things, it really gives you confidence. Defensively, that's where our identity has to be. I thought, for the most part, we did a great job defensively. D'Marcus Simonds is a future pro. He is one heck of a player. He's going to be a handful for any team to defend night in and night out. I thought Nick Davis and Trhae Mitchell both did a good job on him. Even though he got 27 points, it did take him 25 shots to do that. I thought we did the best we could on him. You have to take your hat off to a really good player like that."

On the difference in approach in the second half: "It was interesting at halftime, when I walked in, I think it was Trhae Mitchell who said 'hey we've been here before, we're veterans of this.' We've had some halves throughout this year that we've struggled. Our guys recognize that, and we've learned from it. Some of those games we won, some of them we didn't. Our guys are starting to recognize that we've got to put two halves together. We've got to stay poised and play with confidence. I think we really showed a big step in our maturing process with this win and the way we put back-to-back halves together."

UP NEXT
USA hosts Georgia Southern on Sunday at 3:05 p.m.

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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—USA—