Game 14 • Appalachian State Mountaineers (5-8, 0-0) at South Alabama Jaguars (7-6, 0-0)
January 3, 2019 • 7 p.m. • Mitchell Center (5,520) • Mobile, Ala.

THE COACHES
South Alabama
Richie Riley (Eastern Kentucky, 2005)
Record at USA: 7-6 (1st year)
Overall Record: 42-34 (3rd year)
Record vs. App State: 0-0

Appalachian State
Jim Fox (SUNY Geneseo, 1995)
Record at App State: 50-86 (5th year)
Overall Record: Same

LAST GAME
South Alabama fell to Richmond 91-82 on Saturday. Appalachian State suffered its worst loss of the season, 83-55 at Saint Louis.

NEXT GAME
The Jaguars close out their six-game homestand Saturday against Coastal Carolina. The Mountaineers go to Troy.

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

RANKINGS (through Jan. 1)
USA: #298 NET, #244 Sagarin
App: #234 NET, #223 Sagarin

THE SERIES
USA leads 6-1.

Current winning streak: South Alabama, 5 wins
App State's last win in series: 64-53 (1/22/15) in Boone
Last meeting: South Alabama 77, Appalachian State 66 (2/15/18)
USA's last win at the Mitchell Center: 83-77 (1/20/18)
App State's last win at the Mitchell Center: N/A
USA's record at the Mitchell Center: 4-0
USA's home streak: Won 4
USA's longest winning / losing streak in series: 5 / 1

Notes: The two schools split a pair of games in 2014-15, the first two in the series, with each team winning at home, before the Jaguars swept the 2015-16 season series to start its current five-game win streak.

OPENING TIP
South Alabama is 21-20 all-time in Sun Belt Conference openers. The school is 8-15 in the last 23 lid-lifters but has won the last two. The Jaguars are opening SBC play at home for the sixth straight season.

USA is 7-6 after non-conference play for the third consecutive season.

South Alabama outshot Richmond 55.0 percent to 52.6 percent, marking the first time this season the Jags had a better shooting percentage than their opponent and lost, dropping them to 7-1. Since the start of the 2007-08 season, USA is 131-31 (.809) when outshooting the opposition.

The Jags are shooting 54.4 percent from the floor in their last four games, the program's best over a four-game span since January 2015. The team has shot 50 percent or better in its last seven halves of basketball. The four-game streak with a 50 percent or better shooting percentage is its longest since December 2008.

USA also has a four-game run of posting a positive assist/turnover ratio, which is its longest since January 2009. The team ranks third in the Sun Belt in that category (1.1) after putting up a 1.4 ratio since the start of the homestand on Dec. 8.

Thanks in part to Josh Ajayi's 25 points, South Alabama outscored Richmond 48-34 in the paint. The game prior, against Mobile, the Jags held a 50-28 advantage to set a new season high for points in the paint.

Ajayi's 25 points were a new season high and it came on an 11-for-16 shooting performance. In his last three games, Ajayi is shooting 79.4 percent from the floor and averaging 20.3 points per contest. He ranks second in the conference and 82nd in the nation in field-goal percentage (.541).

Ajayi also eclipsed the 20-point plateau for the second time in three games, and third time this season.

Trhae Mitchell followed up his career-high 28-point outing against Mobile with 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting against Richmond. In six games since the start of December, Mitchell is shooting 64.2 percent (34-53) from the floor and 70.0 percent (7-10) from 3-point land. In his last five outings, Mitchell is putting up 16.2 points and 8.2 rebounds.

Mitchell did not record a block on Saturday, ending his six-game run with at least two rejections. He is second in the league and 25th in Division I with 2.4 blocks per contest. The last time he went without a block (Nov. 23 at Texas A&M), he responded with a season-high-tying four at Southern Miss.

Kory Holden scored 13 of his 19 points vs. Richmond after halftime, and led the team with six assists. In his last three games, Holden is averaging 16.3 points and hitting 47.2 percent of his shots overall and 44.0 percent from 3-point distance.

Appalachian State has yet to win a game away from home this season (0-5 road, 0-3 neutral), but that schedule has included Alabama, Purdue, Wichita State, South Florida and Georgetown.

Ronshad Shabazz, the Sun Belt's sixth-leading scorer at 19.6 ppg, is averaging just 9.2 points in five career games against South Alabama, including 5.5 in two outings last season. He is shooting 27.0 percent from the floor and 22.2 percent from distance against the Jaguars.

PREVIEWING THURSDAY
Head coach Richie Riley on Appalachian State
On opening Sun Belt play: "With the conference schedule starting, it's a new season. When you're in a one-bid league especially, it starts its own part of the season. We've got an 18-game slate and we're excited about it. We finished 7-6 in non-conference games, but we want to be better than that. We had a chance against Richmond to get to eight, which would have been the most since 2011-12 but we weren't able to get the job done, so we're excited to start this 18-game slate. Our league is very good; every game is going to be a battle. We have to embrace that as a team. "

On what defensive adjustments need to be made: "We have to guard the ball better. Richmond is a really good offensive team and they scored on some cuts, which they will — we score on some cutting actions too — but at the end of the day, it comes down to guarding the ball and having enough pride to keep the ball out of the paint. Our defensive rotations have to get better. We have App State coming in here as a very experienced team and they're going to test us; they average 83 points per game. They can really score and have a lot of weapons. We've got to have more urgency guarding. Obviously it hurt us that R.J. (Kelly) wasn't out there; he's one of our better defenders and an energy guy. He makes a lot of things happen defensively and we weren't able to pick up the slack. We've got to have more pride defensively; you're not going to beat anyone the way we guarded against Richmond."

On Appalachian State: "They have a lot of guys back and won 15 games last year, which is the best year that they've had in a while. They've had a tough schedule so far. Ronshad Shabazz is one of the best players in the league; he's averaging 19.6 points per game and can really score. He's a big point guard – 6-5 and almost 220 pounds – that can score. Then they have an elite shooter running around in Justin Forrest, who can really make shots. They spread you out and do a lot of motion concepts. There are a lot of similarities with Davidson, where Coach (Jim) Fox was at for a long time. They're big and different than what we've played. They're most similar size-wise to Tulane. They start three guys that are 6-8 and bigger. It's different for us since we like to play smaller at times. With that kind of size, you have to do a good job of boxing out. We have to limit their two guards; between those two guys (Shabazz and Forrest), that's 35 points a night. We have to do a good job in limiting them below their averages."

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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