Game 30 • South Alabama Jaguars (14-15, 7-9) at Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (14-14, 8-8)
March 7, 2019 • 6 p.m. CST • The HTC Center (3,212) • Conway, S.C.

THE COACHES
South Alabama
Richie Riley (Eastern Kentucky, 2005)
Record at USA: 14-15 (1st year)
Overall Record: 49-43 (3rd year)
Record vs. CCU: 1-0

Coastal Carolina
Cliff Ellis (Florida State, 1968)
Record at CCU: 227-161 (12th year)
Overall Record: 761-498 (41st year)

LAST GAME
South Alabama shot 62.3 percent from the floor in a 77-63 win over Texas State. Coastal Carolina won at ULM 97-91.

NEXT GAME
The Jaguars close out the regular season Saturday at Appalachian State. The Chanticleers host Troy.

ON THE AIR
Radio: 99.5 FM The Jag; J.T. Crabtree (pxp)
Web: 995thejag.com/listen (audio); ESPN+ (video); Jeff McCarragher (pxp), Nate Ross (color)

RANKINGS (through March 5)
USA: #237 NET, #215 Sagarin
CCU: #152 NET, #152 Sagarin

THE SERIES
CCU leads 4-3.

Current winning streak: South Alabama, 1 win
CCU's last win in series: 72-70 (2/17/18) in Conway
Last meeting: South Alabama 84, Coastal Carolina 77 OT (1/5/19)
USA's last win at the HTC Center: N/A
USA's last win in Conway: N/A
Coastal Carolina's last win at the HTC Center: 72-70 (2/17/18)
USA's record at the HTC Center: 0-1
USA's record on the road: 0-2
USA's road streak: Lost 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.

A victory would give USA its most wins in a season since 2012-13.

South Alabama will be making just its third-ever visit to Conway (2018, 1990) and second to the HTC Center.

Against Texas State — the Sun Belt's best defense coming into Saturday — USA shot 70.0 percent in the first half and 62.8 percent overall, both highs by the program since Feb. 14, 2009.

The Jaguars also shot 10 for 17 (58.8%) from 3-point land, giving them 243 treys on the season, fourth-most in school history. They are nine 3s away from last year's total of 252 in third.

Josh Ajayi shared game-high honors Saturday with 20 points and missed just one attempt on the night, shooting 8 for 9 from the floor and 4 for 4 from the free-throw line. He made his first seven shots and leads the Sun Belt and ranks 39th in the nation in field-goal percentage (.564).

Ajayi has scored at least 18 points in each of his last three games and is averaging 18.7 points in that span.

Ajayi needs five rebounds to become the eighth player in school history to have 600 in a career. He is currently in ninth place with 595 and needs three boards to tie Georgi Boyanov (2013-17) in eighth.

Trhae Mitchell scored 8 points and had 9 rebounds vs. Texas State, and led the team with 3 assists and blocks each. He has 59 blocks this season which is eighth at South Alabama and one away from seventh. His blocks per game average (2.0) is second in the conference and 37th in Division I.

Mitchell is the second player in school history (Junie Lewis, 1988-89) to have 200 rebounds and 100 assists in a season. He has 218 boards and 107 assists.

Kory Holden tallied 15 points Saturday, his most since pouring in 16 vs. Coastal Carolina on Jan. 5. He made his first six shots from the floor and went 3 for 4 from 3-point land.

Rodrick Sikes scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half and made five 3-pointers vs. Texas State. He moved into sixth at South Alabama in career 3-pointers (157) and is four shy of fifth.

Sikes is averaging 16.0 points in three career games vs. CCU. He had 21 in Conway last season.

Herb McGee's 15 points Saturday matched his total from the previous two games combined. He averaged 19.5 points over a four-game stretch before scoring 8 and 7 points vs. Troy and UT Arlington, respectively.

Zac Cuthbertson, Coastal Carolina's leading scorer at 18.1 ppg, was held to 12 on 4-of-13 shooting in the first meeting in Mobile. He is averaging 11.7 points — 9 for 28 (32.1%) from the floor — in three games vs. USA.

QUOTES
Head coach Richie Riley on Coastal Carolina
On Thursday's game: "We have some positive momentum. Anytime you can beat the league leader and play as well as we did, it gives you confidence. We've been better on the road recently; we won our last road game at Troy and on the Georgia swing, we battled and were tough. I think we've had some improvement. There's not a more important weekend than this one. Obviously getting into the tournament is important, your seeding is important and two wins this weekend would solidify us going straight to New Orleans, which would be huge. Our guys feel that urgency, but it's not going to be easy. Both of those teams are playing at a high level right now, with Coastal Carolina winning at ULM and Appalachian State winning their last game against Louisiana."

On the importance of getting the win Saturday: "I think a lot of it had to do with how we played Thursday night. We didn't play well at all; that was one of our worst games of the year, all the way around. Our group responded and came out and played arguably our best game of the year on Saturday. That win, not only beating the top team in our league, but how we were able to bounce back, is good because you want to be playing your best basketball in the last week of the regular season heading into the tournament. I feel like we're doing that. We have guys that are playing their best basketball right here at the end and hopefully that carries over into the conference tournament."

On Coastal Carolina: "They've had moments where they've played really well and they've had moments where they obviously would have liked to have played better. They have a young team. DeVante Jones is really coming along as a freshman. He's had a great few weeks here and they have one of the better players in the league in Zac Cuthbertson. They're very well coached. I worked with Coach (Cliff) Ellis for two years and I think he's as good of a coach as there is in the country. They're a dangerous team, just like any team in our league right now. Any team, on any given night if you play your best basketball, has a chance to win any game. They've been good at home. Georgia State is in first place and (CCU) beat them pretty good at home a couple of week ago. It's not going to be easy. They're going to play multiple defenses and they've proven they shoot the ball a lot better at home. It's going to be a challenge but we're looking forward to it."

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