Game 10 • Tulane Green Wave (3-5) at South Alabama Jaguars (4-5)
December 8, 2018 • 3 p.m. • Mitchell Center (5,520) • Mobile, Ala.

THE COACHES
South Alabama
Richie Riley (Eastern Kentucky, 2005)
Record at USA: 4-5 (1st year)
Overall Record: 39-33 (3rd year)
Record vs. Tulane: 0-1

Tulane
Mike Dunleavy Sr. (South Carolina, 1976)
Record at Tulane: 23-47 (3rd year)
Overall Record: Same

LAST GAME
South Alabama gave up a late run to New Orleans in a 71-60 road loss. Tulane shot 64.3 percent in the second half in an 87-74 home win over UT Martin.

NEXT GAME
The Jaguars take a break and return to action Dec. 19 with a home game vs. Alabama A&M. The Green Wave host Texas Southern on Dec. 17.

ON THE AIR
Radio: 99.5 FM The Jag; J.T. Crabtree (pxp)
On the web: 995thejag.com/listen (audio); ESPN+ (video); J.D. Byars (pxp), Pat Greenwood (color)

RANKINGS (through Dec. 5)
USA: #298 NET, #252 Sagarin
Tulane: #219 NET, #186 Sagarin

THE SERIES
Tulane leads 3-2.

Current winning streak: Tulane, 3 wins
USA's last win in series: 104-71 (1/26/74)
Last meeting: Tulane 77, South Alabama 73 (12/21/17)
USA's last win in the Mitchell Center: N/A
USA's last win in Mobile: 104-71 (1/26/74)
Tulane's last win in Mobile: N/A
USA's record in Mobile: 0-1
USA's home streak: Won 1
USA's longest winning / losing streak in series: 2 / 3

Notes: The two schools have met just five times, with the last two coming in 2013 and 2017… USA won the first two meetings, including a 104-71 blowout win at home in the 1973-74 season before the Green Wave won the rematch 78-72 less than a month later in New Orleans… The 2013 meeting was in the first round of the CIT, an 84-73 Tulane win… That game is the longest amount of time between two games against another opponent in school history.

OPENING TIP
Saturday will mark Tulane's first visit to Mobile since Jan. 26, 1974, a 104-71 South Alabama victory. Tulane has won each of the last three meetings since, including 77-73 last season.

South Alabama's point totals in the last three games against Tulane have been 72, 73 and 73.

The Jaguars tied their season high Wednesday with nine steals and turned those into 17 points. The 17 points off turnovers are the second most against a Division I opponent this season.

Tulane is last in the American Athletic Conference in turnover margin (-3.75), and had 19 against eight forced Wednesday vs. UT Martin.

The team leading at halftime is 8-1 in USA games this season, and the team with the shooting advantage is 9-0. The Jags led 34-28 at the break in Wednesday's loss at New Orleans.

After allowing its previous six opponents to shoot just 21.1 percent (19-90) from 3-point land, South Alabama gave up a season-high 58.3 percent (7-12) to New Orleans.

The Jaguars are the Sun Belt's leading shot-blocking team with an average of 5.3 per contest. They rejected six shots on Wednesday, led by Trhae Mitchell's three.

Mitchell is second in the league — and 25th in the nation — with 2.4 per game, and R.J. Kelly is tied for fifth in the conference at 1.2 per contest.

Mitchell became the fifth Jaguar this season to post a 20-point game on Wednesday with a career-best 20. He shot 8 for 12 from the floor and 3 for 4 from behind the arc, and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. The three 3-pointers are also a new personal best.

Five different 20-point scorers in a season has happened five times in the last 20 years. The last team to have six was 1996-97.

Since missing the Southeast Missouri game due to injury, Josh Ajayi has hit double-digit points in each of the four games since to own the team's longest active double-figure streak. He is averaging 11.8 points and 8.0 rebounds over that span.

Rodrick Sikes had his four-game double-digit streak snapped at UNO with a season-low-tying six points. He was averaging 20.8 points in his previous four outings. He is still second in the Sun Belt in 3s per game (3.0) and fourth in 3-point percentage (.321).

In last season's game at Tulane, Sikes scored a then-career-high 34 points on six treys. He scored 23 points and hit all six triples in the second half alone.

The Green Wave are last in the AAC in scoring (71.8 ppg) and next-to-last in points allowed (73.4).

Tulane's last three losses — Louisiana, Georgia State and Southeastern Louisiana — have been by a combined 12 points.

PREVIEWING SATURDAY
Head coach Richie Riley on Tulane
On opening a homestand: "Like most teams in the country, we've played better at home than on the road. It's good to be back home. We're playing a good team; their record is not great right now but they've played a tough schedule. They've been up and down but they're very talented. They're obviously well-coached; Coach (Mike) Dunleavy is a former NBA coach and their team plays like that. They have an NBA mentality where they iso you a lot and try to take advantage of some favorable matchups. It's one of those games where we have to be really good in 1-on-1 defensive settings and we have to do a good job of defending them and making things tough."

On getting a complete game from the team: "We've not played a good 40 minutes. We've had good moments in all of our games, some more than others, obviously. Some of it might be our depth; I think we wear down some as the game goes on, which is not good. We have to sustain our energy, focus and effort; we've struggled with that. And I think it's a little bit of the personality of our team. It's something we struggle with when things go poorly for us and the ball doesn't go through the basket. We dip in energy and focus. What's crucial in putting a 40-minute game together, is being able to maintain those things."

On Tulane: "They're a much better team than their record. They have some veteran guys. (Jordan) Cornish is a transfer that's a really good guard. You look at (Caleb) Daniels who has improved drastically since last year and can score too. (Shakwon) Barrett had his best game of the year last game so he's starting to gain more momentum. If you look at their frontcourt, (Samir) Sehic is a transfer from Vanderbilt that's very versatile and can hit the '3.' Kevin Zhang is really skilled and will be an excellent player for them. He has had some big games for them this year. So they have talent and depth, and they're getting better every single game. They have some young guys that are coming off the bench and it takes some time. Coach Dunleavy is an excellent coach and he'll have those guys ready to play. This is their first true road game of the season so they'll be excited to come in here and play. It's another tough challenge for us. They have a lot more depth than we do. We're going to have to play one of our best games of the year to beat them."

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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