Game 16 • South Alabama Jaguars (9-6, 2-0) at Arkansas State Red Wolves (7-8, 1-1)
January 10, 2019 • 7 p.m. • Convocation Center (10,038) • Jonesboro, Ark.

THE COACHES
South Alabama
Richie Riley (Eastern Kentucky, 2005)
Record at USA: 9-6 (1st year)
Overall Record: 44-34 (3rd year)
Record vs. Arkansas State: 0-0

Arkansas State
Mike Balado (St. Thomas, 1998)
Record at A-State: 18-29 (2nd year)
Overall Record: Same

LAST GAME
South Alabama outlasted Coastal Carolina in two overtimes Saturday, winning 84-77. Arkansas State lost 85-75 at ULM.

NEXT GAME
The Jaguars stay in Arkansas to take on Little Rock Saturday. The Red Wolves host Troy.

ON THE AIR
Radio: 99.5 FM The Jag; J.T. Crabtree (pxp)
Web: 995thejag.com/listen (audio); ESPN+ (video), Roger Twibell (pxp), Rich Zvosec (color)

RANKINGS (through Jan. 8)
USA: #286 NET, #227 Sagarin
A-St: #187 NET, #228 Sagarin

THE SERIES
Arkansas State leads 25-20.

Current streak: South Alabama, 2 wins
A-State's last win in the series: 74-62 (1/23/17)
Last meeting: South Alabama 87, Arkansas State 67 (2/10/18)
USA's last win at the Convocation Center: 81-76 (3/5/15)
ASU's last win the Convocation Center: 74-62 (1/23/17)
USA's record at the Convocation Center: 5-16
USA's record in Jonesboro: 5-17
USA's road streak: Lost 2
USA's longest winning / losing streak in series: 5 / 5

Notes: South Alabama had a five-game win streak over ASU snapped in 2009-10 in Mobile, then ended a five-game Arkansas State streak in 2014-15 in Jonesboro… The Red Wolves had won the previous four meetings prior to USA's five-game streak and have won 10 of the last 14 against the Jaguars… Ken Williams hit a shot with 0.8 seconds left to win 73-70 in 2017-18… Arkansas State is 5-0 in games decided in overtime… The series dates back to the 1970-71 season… The Jags have scored more than 90 points just once in 44 games (91-78, 12/28/06).

OPENING TIP
South Alabama is 2-0 in Sun Belt Conference play for the second straight season, a first for the program since 1985.

The Jaguars are searching for their first road win of the season (0-4).

South Alabama forced a season-high 20 turnovers against Coastal Carolina and recorded nine steals, one off its season best. The team's 28 points off turnovers was also a season high.

USA rallied from a halftime deficit Saturday to improve to 1-5 this year when trailing at the half. Just once prior did the Jags even come back to take the lead after falling behind at the break (Southern Miss). The Jaguars are 8-1 when leading at halftime, with the lone loss coming at New Orleans.

The Jags are 9-1 when posting a higher shooting percentage than their opponent and 8-0 when a player has a double-double.

USA's shooting percentage Saturday was 43.1 percent, its first under 50 percent in six games. The five-game run over 50 percent was the program's longest since the 1990-91 season.

Two streaks that kept going were the six-game runs with a positive assist/turnover ratio and scoring 79 points. Both last occurred in 1990-91. The Jags had 15 assists against 13 turnovers vs. CCU.

The 15 helpers were just under the team's season average of 15.7 per game, which ranks second in the league.

Trhae Mitchell had 22 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists and a career-high 5 blocks on Saturday for his second straight double-double and fourth of the season. It marked the second time this season he led the team in scoring, rebounding and blocks in a game. Mitchell, who did not record a double-double in either of his first two seasons at South Alabama, is second on the team in 2018-19.

Mitchell has rejected three or more shots eight times this season and now has 104 in his career, sixth-most in USA history. He is second in the league and 16th in the nation this season with 2.5 per contest.

Josh Ajayi enters Thursday's game with 491 career rebounds. He needs 13 rebounds to move into the school's top 20 in that category.

Ajayi has hit double-digit points in his last 10 games, which is the longest active streak on the team. He scored 13 on Saturday on 3-for-7 shooting, his first game with a shooting percentage under .500 since Dec. 1. He was shooting 68.8 percent from the field in his previous six games. He is currently third in the Sun Belt at .532 on the year.

Ajayi has four double-figure rebounding games in his last eight outings and is averaging 9.0 rpg in that span. His seasonal average of 8.2 rpg is third-best in the Sun Belt.

Ajayi is averaging 13.3 points in three career games vs. Arkansas State, but in his two starts, he averages 19.0 ppg while shooting 66.7 percent from the floor and from 3-point land.

Rodrick Sikes, who is third in the Sun Belt in 3s per game (2.8), scored 32 points against Arkansas State last year.

Arkansas State's Ty Cockfield is third in the Sun Belt in scoring (20.5 ppg) and tied for seventh in assists (3.5 apg). He was held to eight points in the teams' only meeting last year Mobile.

PREVIEWING THURSDAY
Head coach Richie Riley on Arkansas State
On going back out on the road: "I feel like since the last time we played on the road, our team has grown in a lot of ways. We're going to find out Thursday night how much growth that we've had because we haven't played well on the road. Through gaining momentum winning at home and having practice time, I think we've grown as a team, so I'm excited to have a tough road test at Arkansas State."

On what can be taken from the overtime win: "You don't win a lot of those games when something bad happened, like when you lose a lead like that and it goes into overtime. We showed some resiliency and we grew up a little bit. That was huge for our team. It was miserable going through it, when we lost a five-point lead with eight seconds left, but in the end I'm glad we won like that because it helped us realize that all of the things we're doing leads to winning tough games like that. I hope some of that carries over on the road because winning on the road is the toughest thing to do in college basketball."

On Arkansas State: "They play really hard. (Head coach) Mike (Balado) has them playing really hard with a lot of energy. They are very capable of exploding and really scoring the ball. They scored 94 points when they won at Louisiana-Lafayette. Cockfield can really score; he's averaging 20 points per game and is capable of going for 30. (Marquis) Eaton has taken another step in conference play. He's played really well in their first two league games. They can really shoot the '3' when they get going, and you always shoot the ball better at home than you do on the road. We have to do a good job of guarding them and limiting their open shots. If you give them open shots at home, they're going to make a lot of them. Their team plays with so much energy, you don't want to allow them to get going early."

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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