Game 22 • Little Rock Trojans (14-7, 8-2) vs. South Alabama Jaguars (12-9, 5-5)
January 25, 2020 • 7 p.m. • Mitchell Center (5,520) • Mobile, Ala.

THE COACHES
South Alabama    
Richie Riley (Eastern Kentucky, 2005)
Record at USA: 29-26 (2nd year)
Overall Record: 64-54 (4th year)
Record vs. LR: 1-2

Little Rock    
Darrell Walker (Arkansas, 2012)
Record at LR: 13-23 (2nd year)
Overall Record: 58-41 (4th year)

LAST GAME
South Alabama fell 75-71 at Arkansas State Thursday night on the road. Little Rock used a balanced scoring attack and wore down Troy Wednesday evening in Little Rock to pick up an 81-63 win over Troy.

NEXT GAME
The Jaguars will begin a stretch of three-straight road games on Thursday at Georgia State. Little Rock will open up a three-game hone stand versus Coastal Carolina.

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. 23)
USA: #175 NET, #149 Sagarin
LR: #146 NET, #130 Sagarin

THE SERIES
South Alabama leads 30-22.

Current streak: South Alabama, 1 win
LR's last win in the series: 73-68 (2/9/19)
Last meeting: South Alabama 52, Little Rock 43 (1/11/20)
USA's last win at the Mitchell Center: 73-56 (2/8/18)
LR's last win at the Mitchell Center: 73-68 (2/9/19)
USA's record at the Mitchell Center: 9-5
USA's longest winning / losing streak in series: 6 / 4

Notes: Prior to South's win in the first meeting this season, Little Rock had won six of the last seven meetings in the series … The 95 combined points in the last meeting were the fewest combined points by the two clubs since 2/6/99 when South earned a 44-43 win … The winning team has scored 70 or more points in five of the last seven meetings … The series dates back to the 1991-92 season … Dating back to the 2011-12 season, the two clubs have eclipsed the 80-point mark just once in those 16 contests.

OPENING TIP
South Alabama comes into Saturday night's contest vs. Little Rock following a 75-71 loss at Arkansas State on Thursday. The Jags trailed by as much as 12 points, but made it a one-possession game late before the Red Wolves held on to pick up the victory.

Of the previous 52 series meetings, South holds a 30-22 advantage and have won 15 of the 23 meetings in Mobile and nine of 14 at the Mitchell Center.

Saturday's game against the Trojans will mark the fourth in the last five for South in which it has faced a team either leading or tied for the conference lead in the standings. LR sits alone in first with an 8-2 record in Sun Belt play.

Despite the loss, the Jaguars have won four of their last six SBC games, including a ?? win on the Trojans' home floor two weeks ago.

Josh Ajayi recorded his eighth-game of 20 or more points and nearly recorded a double-double as he finished the game against ASU with a game-high 23 points and nine rebounds.

The 20-point effort by Ajayi marked the first time this season that Ajayi has posted back-to-back 20-point games.

Ajayi was named the Sun Belt Player of the Week on Monday after nearly averaging a double-double with 21.5 ppg and 9.0 rpg last week.

Ajayi sits one double-double shy of moving into a tie for third (Virgil Stanescu, 27) as he has 26 for his career and seven this season.

The seven double-doubles rank second in the league and top 50 nationally. Four of his seven double-doubles have come against league competition.

Ajayi is averaging 15.7 ppg, 9.1 rpg, and shooting 53.1% and 82.8% from the foul line in conference action.

The 6-foot-6 forward leads the Sun Belt in field-goal percentage (.581), is fourth in scoring (15.8) and ranks second in rebounding (8.1).

With nine more rebounds, Ajayi (791) will become just the third Jaguar to ever eclipse the 800-rebound mark, joining Augustine Rubit (1,183) and Terry Catledge (932).

For the ninth-straight game, South Alabama outscored its opponent in the paint holding a 30-24 advantage over the Red Wolves. Since the Mobile (Dec. 28), the Jaguars have a combined total of 290-150. Over that stretch South is averaging 32.2 ppg and holding opponents to 16.7 ppg in the paint.  

Herb McGee scored a season-high 15 points for the second-straight game against A-State.

John Pettway didn't record a steal in his last outing, but he has recorded 17 in his last six 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 8.1 ppg and is shooting 50.0 (27-54) percent from the field.

Little Rock comes into the game ranked first in rebounding defense (32.0), and second in scoring defense (65.7), field-goal percentage (.464) and field-goal percentage defense (.404).

Marques Nowell ranks third in the SBC in scoring with 17.1 ppg, and Rout Monyyong leads the league on the glass with 10.3 boards per game. Monyyong also has 11 double-doubles, tied for sixth-most nationally.

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—