Game 20,21 • Coastal Carolina (12-4) (6-3) at South Alabama Jaguars (9-8) (3-5)
February 5-6, 2021 • 6, 4 p.m.  • Mitchell Center (10,000) • Mobile, Ala.

THE COACHES
South Alabama    
Richie Riley (Eastern Kentucky, 2005)
Record at USA: 46-36 (3rd year)
Overall Record: 81-64 (5th year)
Record vs. Coastal Carolina: 2-4

Coastal Carolina    
Cliff Ellis (Florida State, 1968)
Record at Coastal Carolina: 258-185 (14th year)
Overall Record:  792-522 (43rd year)

LAST GAME
South Alabama resumes play coming off a Saturday win over Georgia Southern after both teams split the four regular season contests, visitors taking wins on Friday in both venues and the home teams coming out on top in both Saturday games. Games scheduled with Georgia State last weekend were postponed. CCU split its match up with Georgia Southern, winning Friday (79-62) while dropping Saturday with a final score of 61-58.

NEXT GAME
Both teams play in the rivalry pair of meetings. USA is at home on Thursday before traveling to Troy Saturday. CCU is at home in Conway, S.C., Thursday before going to Boone against Appalachian State.

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: #199 Sagarin, NET #214
Coastal Carolina: #143 Sagarin, NET #138

THE SERIES
Coastal Carolina has been the only Sun Belt team to sweep the Jaguars in a Friday-Saturday series this season. It was the 11th and 12th meeting between the squads in the series, which leans eight wins to the Chanticleers, four wins to the Jaguars. USA most recently defeated Coastal in the final meeting during the 2019-20 season as a part of South's eight-win streak to close the season.

NOTES
South Alabama welcomes Coastal Carolina to Mobile, Ala., with a Friday-Saturday set of games at the Mitchell Center. The Chanticleers are the only team in the Sun Belt to sweep the Jags this season. After a hot start from South in the HTC Center in the Friday game between the squads on Jan. 8, CCU's offense erupted and carried the home team to a 13-point win, 78-65. The Jaguars struggled in the Saturday meeting, falling behind early and were unable to close the gap with the offensive-heavy Chants. The sweep was completed with an 83-69 victory for Coastal.

USA will enter the Friday game coming off a 13-day break, its longest during the season, after the Jaguars had their first COVID-related schedule change of the season. As was announced by Georgia State and South Alabama with coordination through the Sun Belt Conference, the two games between the respective teams were postponed due to GSU pausing all team activities following multiple COVID-19 positive tests results impacting Tier 1 individuals. At this time, the contests have not been rescheduled.

USA completed its non-conference slate without any changes. The nine games without changes is the most in the nation, but in a four-way tie with Louisiana Tech, Toledo and UNC Wilmington. No other Sun Belt team has more than six, and one opponent, Auburn, also made the list with eight games.

With the completion of the regular season series against Georgia Southern, USA has played the same opponent four times in the same season for the first time in program history. While that will potentially be commonplace at the conclusion of the schedule, the first time was set over the course of 23 days.

Following a 32-point contest in Friday's game against Georgia Southern, and a double-double in Saturday's win, Michael Flowers kept ahold of the number two ranking in the NCAA for points scored (376) until the past weekend's games. With the two missed games scheduled against Georgia State, Flowers fell to the third spot in the rankings with Iowa's Luke Garza retaining the top spot and Jalen Moore of Oakland bumping up to the second.

During the Friday game, the Southfield, Mich., native etched his name on a couple South Alabama single-game records. The effort Friday tied the record of three-point attempts with 17, equaling a record held by Michael Gerren set against USF on Feb. 10, 1983. Flowers also put up 29 field goal attempts which tied the second-place position, which was set by Eugene Oliver against Southern Miss on Feb. 14, 1974, however, the record of 30 attempts in a game was set in the previously mentioned USF game in 1983 by Gerren.

In addition to the NCAA rankings and despite the shortened non-conference schedule, Flowers could potentially shake up the single-season record book at USA with a pace to make the top 10 in points, points-per-game and made three-point baskets. While the percentages have a chance to drop, Flowers could also etch his name in the field-goal percentage and three-point field-goal percentage categories.

Joining Flowers in various three-point offensive categories is Kayo Goncalves. Standing at six feet eight inches, Goncalves has sank 46 threes on the year, with an accuracy in the top 50 of division one NCAA men's basketball. The made 46 threes is second in the Sun Belt to Flowers' 58. The pair are top ten in the Sun Belt for accuracy with Flowers connecting with 43.3 percent of his attempts and Goncalves trailing with 41.8 of his attempts going in.

Tyreke Locure has been a scoring threat all season, and led the game in scoring with 19 points in USA's win over Georgia Southern Saturday. Both defenses were keen on taking away the first shooting option, which meant more focus on Flowers to allow the rest of the offense to benefit. The sophomore eclipsed 200 points on the year following the results, and is 14th in points scored in the Sun Belt, and 10th in points-per-game.

Adding another accolade likened to Josh Ajayi, Jamal West pulled down 13 rebounds in the Jan. 15 contest against the Mountaineers with a total of 23 after both games concluded. The 13 boards equaled the single-game high last year set by Ajayi against Pikeville and equaled in conference play against UT-Arlington. West started the first four games this season, becoming the first freshman to start the first four games since the aforementioned Ajayi.

KK Curry has fallen short of a double-double four times this season. The sophomore has fell one rebound shy of a double-double with three of the four efforts coming in Sun Belt Conference play and two of the three resulting in Jaguar wins. Stepping up his production in against SBC competition, Curry is averaging 10.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in his first six appearances in conference play. While a presence on the post, the sophomore sank 19 free throws after earning 25 trips to the charity stripe over the same span.

John Pettway is fifth in the Sun Belt in field goal percentage. With 73 makes on 130 attempts (.562), Pettway is the most accurate shooter from the field on the Jaguar squad. The redshirt senior is consistent in the midrange jumper and is capable of using his six-foot-three frame to effectively drive toward the basket. The 56.2 percent would rank 49th in the NCAA, but falls short of the requirements for rankings.

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