MOBILE, Ala. – Junior
Abdul Dial scored a career-high 23 points as the University of South Alabama men's basketball team exploded for its most points in over 15 years in a 106-76 victory against Huntingdon Sunday afternoon at the Mitchell Center.
Dial shot 8 for 11 from the floor, made two 3-pointers and pulled down a personal-best six rebounds. He led a group of six in double-digits, with junior
Trhae Mitchell recording his first career double-double with 15 points and 10 assists.
South Alabama (1-1) led by two with 14:44 to play in the first half but scored the next 15 points over a five-minute stretch to blow the game open. Six different players contributed during the run, with sophomore
R.J. Kelly, junior
Herb McGee and Dial hitting three straight 3-pointers.
The Hawks trimmed the lead down to 10 late in the first half but never got within single digits. The Jags gradually extended their lead to as much as 33 in the late stages of the contest.
GAME FACTS
- South Alabama never trailed as Dial got the scoring started on the first possession and tallied six of the team's first 11 points
- After a Huntingdon jumper made it a 13-11 contest with 14:44 left in the half, a bucket from Mitchell started a run of 15 unanswered points for a 28-11 lead
- The Jags went 5 for 6 from the floor and 3 for 4 from 3-point land during the run
- On the other end of the floor, the Hawks were forced into three turnovers and missed all six shots from the field
- An 8-1 Huntingdon run trimmed the deficit to 43-33 with 1:39 left but junior Jordan Andrews accounted for the last four points of the half, the final three coming on an old-fashioned three-point play
- The closest the Hawks would get in the second half would be 13 early; a triple from McGee gave the Jags a 20-point lead with 14:07 remaining, and a layup from sophomore
John Pettway with 1:57 put USA up 30
- Kelly and junior
Josh Ajayi scored 14 and 12 points, respectively, and added a game-high nine rebounds each
NOTES
- Tonight was the first regular-season meeting between the two schools
- South Alabama is 43-8 all time in home openers and has won its last 27; the last nine have all been by double digits
- The last time USA scored 100 points in a game was Jan. 8, 2015 against Appalachian State, and the 106 points are the most by the program since putting up 123 on William Carey on Feb. 25, 2003
- That App State game was also the last time the Jags put as many as six players in double-digit scoring
- South Alabama won the rebounding battle 44-28
- Mitchell's 10 assists are the most by a Jaguar since
Daon Merritt had 13 against Troy on Feb. 10, 2008; the team's 24 assists are the most since recording 26 vs. Florida Atlantic on Feb. 14, 2009
- Mitchell, who tied his career high with four blocks, has seven blocks through the first two games of the season
- Kelly set a new career high with four blocks
- South Alabama shot 61.3 percent from the floor in the second half and 57.9 percent for the contest
THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
Opening statement: "I'm really proud of our guys and how they responded. We had a long week of practice after the Auburn game. That's not the standard of our program. I've said that over and over; it's unacceptable the way we finished that game. We got after it this week in practice. It was physical, it was long. Everything was competitive. It was knock-down, drag-out, and earn your spot. That's why you saw a different starting lineup from us tonight. We started Kevin Morris and Abdul Dial because they earned it. Those other three guys—Herb, Rodrick, and Trhae earned it as well. You earn your spot every week at our place. There's nothing given. It doesn't matter what you averaged last year and it doesn't matter what you're averaging this year. If you don't show up on a weekly basis every single day, you're not going to be out there. I was so happy to see Abdul play the way that he did. He's a guy that brings energy to our program every single day. He's a selfless kid who's had to start at the very bottom of the totem pole and work his way up. He missed the summer and came in here as a walk-on and has had to attack and earn it. He earned an opportunity to start today and he took advantage of it; 23-and-6 in his first start is incredible. I love the fact that we had 25 assists. The 18 turnovers were a little high for us. We want to be 13 or under. 25 assists on the night is a really good number. Trhae Mitchell had 10 with three turnovers, which is really good. I liked his aggressiveness tonight. I liked how we played for the most part. Defensively, they spread us out. When you play a team like this, they're smaller. They did a good job of spreading us out and they were aggressive. We did not do as good of a job guarding the ball as I'd like to, but overall I'm pretty pleased with our effort."
On improved 3-point and free throw shooting: "We're a good shooting team. We shoot a lot, probably more than anybody else in the country. We have three to four shooting workouts per week and we get a lot of shots in. We deserve to make them. I say that all the time about hard work: when you put in the time with extra shots, you deserve to make them. Today we did. That's why I was so disappointed last time. It's not a lack of shooters; it's a lack of focus. We lacked focus the last time we were in this building and we didn't shoot it well. Today we did. Jordan went 4 of 5, which was really good. Herb went 3 of 5, Abdul went 2 of 3. Our best shooter was 1 of 6. Think if he would have gotten it rocking like he does sometimes. We want to hit double-figure 3s every game. It's huge for us because of how we play. We're probably going to take 23 to 26 3s a game, so we need to be able to make double-figures. We did a nice job getting to the free-throw line and converting. Ajayi was 6 for 6; he's a guy that we want to live on the line. R.J. was 7 of 9, Abdul was 5 of 6, and Trhae was 4 of 5. That's a pretty good job with 28 points from the free-throw line. We have to continue to do that in this home stretch coming up. We've got to continue to find our way to the line and shoot with confidence."
On improved defensive play: "They're getting better defensively. Again, Huntingdon presented some challenges to us that we normally don't see with guys in our league or guys that we play night in and night out. They had one post guy on their whole team. They spread you out. They've got some confidence too; (Jacob Champion) started throwing those things in from everywhere. We knew they would come out and play loose. That's how they play. They run and jump you, so it was weird for us offensively a lot because they would just run and trap you for no reason. We're a team that likes to run our stuff, so it really forced us into making some plays. Defensively, we're getting better. A lot of it is toughness. We've got the personnel to defend. They can move their feet and guard, it's just being mean enough to get out there and guard somebody and not cave. The thing I do like is that we finished the game the right way. The last time we were in this position at the exhibition here at home, we didn't finish the game the right way. I challenged them with about five minutes left to extend the lead and they did that, so I was proud of our guys for that."
UP NEXT
South Alabama starts the Goldie and Herman Ungar Classic on Friday night at 7 p.m. against Chattanooga.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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—USA—
