Game 12 • Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (7-5, 0-1) at South Alabama Jaguars (6-5, 0-1)
December 21, 2019 • 3 p.m. • Mitchell Center (5,520) • Mobile, Ala.

THE COACHES
South Alabama
Richie Riley (Eastern Kentucky, 2005)
Record at USA: 23-22 (2nd year)
Overall Record: 58-50 (4th year)
Record vs. Coastal Carolina: 1-1

Coastal Carolina
Cliff Ellis (Florida State, 1968)
Record at CCU: 237-169 (13th year)
Overall Record: 771-506 (42nd year)

LAST GAME
South Alabama lost a halftime  lead in an 81-71 loss to Appalachian State. Coastal Carolina shot just 35.8% in a 77-59 defeat at Troy.

NEXT GAME
The Jaguars host city rival Mobile in their final non-conference game of the season on Dec. 28. The Chanticleers resume their Sun Belt schedule Jan. 2 vs. Georgia Southern.

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 (ratings through Dec. 19)
USA: #188 NET, #176 Sagarin
CCU: #201 NET, #174 Sagarin

THE SERIES
CCU leads 5-3.

Current winning streak: Coastal Carolina, 1 win
USA's last win in series: 84-77 2OT (1/5/19) in Mobile
Last meeting: Coastal Carolina 92, South Alabama 70 (3/7/19)
USA's last win at the Mitchell Center: 84-77 2OT (1/5/19)
Coastal Carolina's last win at the Mitchell Center: 81-77 OT (2/20/17)
USA's record at the Mitchell Center: 2-1
USA's record at home: 3-1
USA's home streak: Won 2
USA's longest winning / losing streak in series: 1 / 3

Notes: The two schools split the first two meetings, with South Alabama winning in 1988-89, and Coastal Carolina winning in 1989-90, but the Chanticleers won the first Sun Belt meeting in 2016-17 in overtime, then won in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament… The 1988-89 meeting in Mobile took place in Jag Gym.

OPENING TIP
Coastal Carolina head coach Cliff Ellis posted a 171-84 career record in nine seasons at South Alabama from 1975-1984, and had South Alabama head coach Richie Riley on his staff as an assistant from 2009-11 at CCU.

Appalachian State shot 57.1% from the floor in the second half and 54.4% for the game Thursday night. The Jags are 0-3 when allowing an opponent to shot 50% or better and 1-5 when being outshot by their opponent.

The Jaguars are 0-1 in Sun Belt play for the first time since 2015-16. The team had won their previous three league openers.

USA recorded double-digit 3-pointers Thursday for just the second time this season, totaling 12 on 28 attempts after posting 11 total treys in the previous two games combined. Both the 3s made and attempts are the second most this season (13-30 vs. Spring Hill). At this point last season, South Alabama had hit double digits five times.

Appalachian State totaled 52 points in the paint, the most by a Jaguar opponent this season. On Tuesday, Alabama A&M set a then-season high by an opponent with 42.

Andre Fox rebounded from his first single-digit scoring output by scoring a team-high 24 points against App State, tying his career high with six 3-pointers in 12 attempts. He tallied 18 of those points in the first half alone, tying the most by a Jaguar this season, set Tuesday by Josh Ajayi.

Fox hit double-digit points in the first half for the first time since the Auburn game on Nov. 12. He was averaging 5.2 points in the first half and 10.3 in the second prior to Thursday.

USA is 0-4 this year when Fox scores 20 points or more.

Ajayi poured in 11 of his 16 points Thursday in the second half and finished with a team-best seven rebounds and three assists. In his last two games, he is averaging 20.0 points on 64.0% shooting, and has made all seven free-throw attempts.

Ajayi broke a tie with Henry Williams in fifth place at USA in career rebounds and currently has 702, 18 shy of Ed Rains in fourth.

Ajayi has scored 13 points in each of the last three games vs. Coastal Carolina, and in the last four meetings is averaging 14.3 points and 7.8 rebounds.

Ajayi and Chad Lott rank first and second, respectively, in the Sun Belt in field-goal percentage at .611 and .600. That ranks 29th and 35th, respectively, in the nation.

Trhae Mitchell scored all 12 of his points Thursday after halftime. Ajayi and Mitchell combined for 23 of the team's 32 points and nine of the team's 13 rebounds in the second half.

In two games last season vs. Coastal Carolina, Mitchell averaged 22.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists. He had 22 points in each contest, and recorded a double-double in Mobile with 22 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and five blocks in the double-overtime victory.

Coastal Carolina leads the Sun Belt in scoring (82.1 ppg) and is second in 3-point percentage (.401) and third in field-goal percentage (.473). The Chanticleers are the only Sun Belt school to have three players in the top 15 in scoring average. Keishawn Brewton leads the group with a 16.1 ppg average, seventh in the league.

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).

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics. Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give
 
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