Date: 10/23
Position: Shooting Guard

Returning Letterwinners (Key stats): Rodrick Sikes, Sr. (18.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 0.8 apg, 42.3 FG%, 37.0 3FG%, 77.7 FT%); Jordan Andrews, Jr. (6.2 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 0.9 apg, 26.7 FG%, 26.0 3FG%, 88.5 FT%)

Letterwinners lost (Key stats): A.J. Caldwell, Fr. (1.0 ppg, 0.8 rpg, 0.3 apg, 12.5 FG%, 0.0 3FG%, 66.7 FT%); Ethan Haslam, So. (0.1 ppg, 0.4 rpg, 0.0 apg, 0.0 FG%, 0.0 3FG%, 50.0 FT%)

Newcomers (Yr., Hometown/Previous school): Don Coleman (Sr., North Augusta, S.C./California); Andre Fox (Sr., Greenbelt, Md./High Point)

Miscellaneous Notes
- Sikes was a Second Team all-Sun Belt honoree after averaging 18.7 points per game
- Sikes set a school record with five 30-point games, and his career-high 38 points at ULM was the second-highest scoring output by a player in the Sun Belt last season
- Sikes' 597 points are sixth in school history overall and tied for third at USA by a junior
- Sikes' scoring average is the best by a Jaguar since 2012-13
- Andrews made his first 28 free throws in the 2017-18 season and finished with a team-high 88.5 percent
- Andrews averaged 14.8 points in the first five games of the season but only 4.5 points in the final 25
- Coleman and Fox will sit out the season due to NCAA transfer rules

Richie Riley
- On expectations for Sikes: "He should have a special year. My challenge for him every day is to become a great player, not just a great scorer. He can go out and catch 30 any given night. We want him to bring other things to the table when his shot's not falling. We want him to be a great defender, get some rebounds out of his area, we want him to take pride in creating for other guys and we want to keep developing that toughness and edge in his game. He's done that. Certain guys are just wired to score and he can do that. He has tremendous speed when it comes to using screens and he can make tough shots; he's just a tough-shot maker. He's got more freedom than some of our other guys in tough shots because he makes those. The way we play, we like to get the possessions up so there will be a lot of opportunities for him to score, especially in the transition game. He's really fast in transition and he has a knack for hitting those back-breaking 3s. I tell everybody, transition 3s are back-breakers, especially when you press."
- On where Andrews has improved since the spring: "By far, his consistency and toughness. When we first got here, those were areas that he struggled in, and that's why you saw a really great games early in the season then as the season went on, he wasn't as good. He's developed a great consistency when it comes to shooting the basketball. He's shooting the ball at a much higher clip. He making more of what I call 4-foot putts. When we swing to 'one-mores' and he's got a wide-open '3,' that's what I call a 4-foot putt; he has to make those. He's been making a lot more of those than he misses. He's a shooter technically, but he can do so much more and we're taking him to that level. He's becoming a much better defender, he plays with a great flow and pace in our offense. He's got a good idea of what we're doing and he's got good size; he's a legit 6-foot-5. We encourage him to be more than a catch-and-shoot guy. That's his main job, but we want him to be a complete player and he's embraced that."
- On benefits of having Coleman and Fox in the program this season: "It's huge because from a talent standpoint, they're as good as any guards we'll see in the Sun Belt. It helps to have those guys to go against. My challenge for them is to treat every day as if they're playing this year. That's tough on guys sometimes because when you sit out, you develop a mentality of, I'm not playing this year so is today really that important? They've been good about that, especially in the last three weeks, of challenging our guys. Everything we do is competitive. Andre and Don are usually on the same team and I challenge them to go beat the other guys. I believe in having guys sit out because it provides a high level of competition and it gives you two guys on the scout team that don't have to worry about our stuff as much. They can just focus on not only making themselves better but also helping our team get better."

Rodrick Sikes
- On what he expects from himself this season: "To provide the same thing as last year but do more for the team than just scoring and affect the game on the defensive end. The coaches are working with me on opening my vision to see the floor better and working with me on attention to detail on defense."
- On how he fits into the new style of play: "I think it benefits me well. It plays to all of my strengths and it's going to work well because we have a lot people that can attack the paint and find the open guy. I feel great about getting shots on the perimeter. The way our offense is, there's a lot of movement so it'll be hard for the defense to focus in on one person."
- On what he wanted to improve during the offseason: "The top two areas are defensively, because last year there were times where I was taken out late in the game for defensive purposes, and getting my teammates more involved. I've been working a lot on my on-ball defense. I'm pretty solid on my help defense but as far as guarding the ball, the coaches think I can do a better job. Every day in practice we're doing something defense oriented. We'll start practice with a 1-on-1 drill or some type of move defensive drill where it makes you guard the ball. If you don't guard, then you won't play."

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