Game 6 • William Carey (3-3) at South Alabama (3-1)
December 8, 2020 • 6 p.m. • Mitchell Center (10,000) • Mobile, Ala

THE COACHES
South Alabama
Richie Riley (Eastern Kentucky, 2005)
Record at USA: 40-30 (3rd year)
Overall Record: 75-58 (5th year)
Record vs. William Carey: 0-0

William Carey
Steve Knight (William Carey, 1980)
Record at William Carey: 727-495 (39th year)
Overall Record: same

LAST GAME
South Alabama fell to Auburn, 90-81, in Auburn, Ala., at Auburn Arena last Friday night. William Carey fell to Southern Miss 80-53 last Wednesday in Hattiesburg, Miss., at Reed Green Coliseum.

NEXT GAME
USA will travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., to play Southern Miss on Saturday at 2 p.m. WCU will resume its official out of conference schedule with Southeastern Baptist College for a home game on Thursday.

ON THE AIR
Radio: Sports Talk 99.5: J.T. Crabtree (pxp), Joe McNulty (color)
Web: http://sportstalk995.iheart.com/listen (audio)
ESPN+ (Internet Streaming); J.D. Byars (pxp), Pat Greenwood (color)

RANKINGS
USA: #169 NET*, #171 Sagarin
William Carey: NAIA
*NET reflects the end of last season

THE SERIES
This will be the third meeting between the teams with USA winning both games. Both games were played in the Mitchell Center with South winning by an average of 20.5 points per game. The two meetings were held in back-to-back years in November (11/14/12 and 11/18/13).

NOTES
After falling to Auburn 90-81, the University of South Alabama men's basketball team returns home to face William Carey. Michael Flowers poured in a game-high 29 points against the Tigers with Tyreke Locure and David Walker scoring 19 and 18 respectively, but it was not enough as the Tigers dropped in 22 threes. USA trailed by 22 points in the game, but chipped it down to single digits by the end. Tuesday's contest with William Carey will be available on ESPN+.

The Crusaders of William Carey come to Mobile officially on a two-game win streak, but lost their most recent contest to Southern Miss 80-53 in an exhibition on Dec. 2. Prior to the game with the Golden Eagles, WCU defeated Thomas University 73-69 and Florida Memorial College 80-65 in back-to-back days. The pair of wins was part of three games in three days at Montgomery, Alabama as part of the "Battle at the Beach" tournament.

Auburn torched the nets with 13 first-half made threes on 17-of-30 shooting (.567) against the Jaguars on Friday. Jumping out to a 16-2 lead, the Tigers made four threes in that run to put South behind early. South never caught up completely, but chipped the lead down to single digits despite Auburn shooting 53.7 percent from behind the arc.

Offensively, Flowers led the way for South with a season-high 29 points. After making adjustments at halftime, Locure and Walker both scored 16 points in the second half which led to USA scoring 49 second-half points, two short of the season high, and outscoring the Tigers by six in the period.

South has never lost in the series with William Carey, but this is only the third meeting between the teams. The previous meetings were during 2012 and 2013 with the contests both taking place in the Mitchell Center.

William Carey had a rough start with a season-opening loss to Xavier (La.) 76-63 on Nov. 2, and COVID no contest cancelling the following three games. More recently, WCU won three out of four with a 96-49 win over Carver College at home and taking victories in the final two games played at the Battle at the Beach tournament in Montgomery, Ala., over Thomas and Florida Memorial. The Crusaders lost their most recent exhibition with Southern Miss, 80-53, before making the trip to Mobile.

WCU has four scorers averaging in double figures with Maxwell Starwood, Jonathan Floyd and Emile Kazeneza starting each contest to hit their marks. Dajon Whitworth is averaging 15.2 points per game in five games, but only three starts.

Sam Iorio returned from injury against Auburn, but was used sparingly, playing eight minutes in the game, all in the first half. The Allentown, Pa., native did not get on the scoreboard but did record an assist.

Walker has scored in double digits off the bench the last two games. Over that span, the junior has averaged 16 points a game in 28.5 minutes while shooting 46 percent.

Locure continues to be a presence all over the court with his fourth game in double figures (19). The New Orleans, La., native was efficient against Auburn shooting 6-of-7 from the field, 2-of-2 from three and 5-of-5 from the free throw line, with a game-high four steals.