Game 20 • Georgia Southern Eagles (12-7, 6-2) vs. South Alabama Jaguars (11-7, 4-4)
January 18, 2020 • 3 p.m. • Mitchell Center (5,520) • Mobile, Ala.

THE COACHES
South Alabama    
Richie Riley (Eastern Kentucky, 2005)
Record at USA: 28-25 (2nd year)
Overall Record: 63-53 (4th year)
Record vs. Georgia Southern: 0-2

Georgia Southern    
Mark Byington (UNC Wilmington, 1998)
Record at GS: 123-41 (7th year)
Overall Record: 130-45 (7th year)
* Was interim head coach at College of Charleston for 11 gms.

LAST GAME
South Alabama had it's 3-game win streak snapped as Georgia State hit 15 3-pointers and defeated the Jags 72-63 in Mobile Thursday night. Georgia Southern won its third straight game as the Eagles picked up a 82-66 road win over Troy.

NEXT GAME
The Jaguars will head back out on the road for a single game at Arkansas State on Thursday. Georgia Southern will return home to hosts Georgia State in Statesboro.

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 Jan. 16)
USA: #185 NET, #152 Sagarin
GS: #147 NET, #138 Sagarin

THE SERIES
USA leads 11-7

Current streak: Georgia Southern, 3 wins
South Alabama's last win in the series: 69-67 (1/31/17)
Last meeting: Georgia Southern 75, South Alabama 65 (2/13/19)
USA's last win at the Mitchell Center: 69-67 (1/31/17)
Georgia Southern's last win the Mitchell Center: 88-86 [ot] (1/19/19)
USA's longest winning / losing streak in series: 4 / 3

Notes: South Alabama has taken 11 of the 18 meetings in the series, but Georgia Southern has taken the last three … Since joining the league, the Eagles have won six of the 10 regular-season meetings … The home team has won six of the last seven regular-season meetings in the series dating back to the 2015-16 season … 10 of the last 12 series meetings have been decided by eight points or less … The series dates back to the 1977-78 season.

OPENING TIP
South Alabama comes into Saturday afternoon's contest versus Georgia Southern holding an 11-7 advantage in the all-time series. However, the Eagles have won the last three meetings between the two clubs.

Since joining the league during the 2014-15 season, GS has won six of the 10 regular-season meetings.

On Thursday, the Jaguars had their three-game win streak snapped as they Jaguars fell 72-63 to Georgia State in Mobile. The Panthers knocked down 15 three-pointers in the game.

The 15 3-pointers recorded by GSU are tied for third-most by a USA opponent since 1990 and tied for second most by opponent in at the Mitchell Center.

The game marked the first time this season that South has dropped a game when outshooting its opponent. USA had been 10-0 in those games.

Josh Ajayi recorded his 26th career double-double and the seventh of the season with a 19-point, 10-rebound effort against Georgia State where he went 8 for 14.

With one more double-double, Ajayi will move into a tie for third all-time with Virgil Stanescu (27).

Ajayi now leads the Sun Belt in field-goal percentage (.575) and is second in rebounding (8.1).

The loss was also the first time the Jags have lost a game in which Ajayi has recorded a double-double this season.

Ajayi has four double-doubles in his last six outings and his seven on the year rank 29th nationally and are tied for second most in the league.

South continued its stretch of dominating the paint outscoring GSU 38-14. Since the Mobile (Dec. 28), the Jaguars have outscored their opponents in seven straight games for a combined total of 226-110. Over that stretch South is averaging 32.3 ppg and holding opponents to 15.7 ppg in the paint.  USA has won five of those games over that stretch.

John Pettway scored a season-high 15 points in his last outing with four rebounds as he knocked down five of his 10 shot attempts. He also had two more steals and has recorded 15 in his last four games.

Prior to this recent stretch, Pettway had posted just three steals in his first 10 games. Since moving into the starting lineup against Mobile, Pettway has averaged 7.7 ppg and is shooting 51.2 percent from the field.

With his 13-point effort against GSU, Chad Lott has now recorded double-digits in his last five contests and in seven of his last eight games played. It was his 14th double-figure game of the season.

Lott is just behind Ajayi in field-goal percentage as he is second the conference in the category (.573).

Georgia Southern comes into Saturday's game in a three-way tie for first in the SBC. Four players are averaging double figures while a fifth sits just outside at 9.9 ppg. The Eagles are second in the league in blocks (4.3), steals (8.5) and 3-pointers per game (8.8), while their +5.00 turnover margin is tops in the Sun Belt.

The game against the Eagles marks the third-straight for the Jags where they have faced a team currently leading or tied for the SBC lead.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with USAJaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at Twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. 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—