Game 31 • South Alabama Jaguars (14-16, 7-10) at Appalachian State Mountaineers (11-19, 6-11)
March 9, 2019 • 1 p.m. CST • Holmes Center (8,325) • Boone, N.C.

THE COACHES
South Alabama
Richie Riley (Eastern Kentucky, 2005)
Record at USA: 14-16 (1st year)
Overall Record: 49-44 (3rd year)
Record vs. App: 1-0

Appalachian St.
Jim Fox (SUNY Geneseo, 1995)
Record at App State: 56-97 (5th year)
Overall Record: Same

LAST GAME
South Alabama allowed 55 second-half points in a 92-70 loss at Coastal Carolina. Appalachian State defeated Troy 72-64.

NEXT GAME
Both teams will be participating in the Sun Belt Tournament.

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

RANKINGS (through March 7)
USA: #245 NET, #223 Sagarin
App: #204 NET, #212 Sagarin

THE SERIES
USA leads 7-1.

Current winning streak: South Alabama, 6 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 Holmes Center: 77-66 (2/15/18)
App State's last win at the Holmes Center: 64-53 (1/22/15)
USA's record at the Holmes Center: 2-1
USA's road streak: Won 2
USA's longest winning / losing streak in series: 6 / 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 six-game win streak.

OPENING TIP
South Alabama's six-game win streak vs. Appalachian State is the school's longest active run against a Sun Belt school.

A victory would be USA's 15th of the season, its most since 2012-13.

After Thursday's loss, which included a season-high 55 points allowed in the second half, the Jags are 0-7 this season when allowing 80 points or more.  Appalachian State is third in the league with an 80.2 point-per-game average, including 81.0 in its last two outings.

The Jaguars set a new season high with an .864 free-throw percentage (19-22) Thursday. After starting the season shooting .621 from the stripe in the first 18 games of the year, the team is shooting .755 since.

One game after converting 10 times in 17 attempts from 3-point land against Texas State, South Alabama set a new season low with just three 3s at Coastal Carolina, and the .231 percentage was the team's lowest since Jan. 19 vs. Georgia Southern.

Trhae Mitchell led the Jaguars Thursday with 22 points, hit eighth 20-point performance of the year, tying him with Josh Ajayi for the most on the team. Mitchell shot 8 for 16 from the floor and had four assists and three steals.

Mitchell's four assists gives him a team-best 111 on the season. His total is the most by a Jaguar since Daon Merritt had 182 in 2007-08.

Ajayi was the other Jaguar in double-digit points Thursday with 13. He shot 6 for 13 from the floor for the second time in three games but still leads the Sun Belt in field-goal percentage at .560.

Ajayi grabbed four rebounds to move into eighth at South Alabama with 599 in his career, surpassing Georgi Boyanov, who had 598. Ajayi has recorded four rebounds three times in his last four games.

Ajayi is averaging 20.3 points in four career games vs. Appalachian State and has three consecutive double-doubles. In his last visit to Boone, he had 26 points and 14 rebounds, and in the last meeting with the Mountaineers, had 15 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high eight assists.

App State's Ronshad Shabazz is sixth in the Sun Belt in scoring at 18.6 ppg. Since averaging 11.5 points in losses to Georgia State and Georgia Southern, he is averaging 26.7 points in the three games since, including 47 on 10 3-pointers vs. ULM on Feb. 28.

South Alabama held Shabazz to 9.2 points in his first five games against the Jaguars, but poured in 21 points — 17 in the second half — earlier this season in Mobile.

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
 
—USA—