Game 31 • South Alabama Jaguars (19-11) (9-7) vs. Southeastern Louisiana Lions (19-14) (10-4)
March 16, 2022 • 7 p.m. (CST) • Mitchell Center • Mobile, Ala.
THE COACHES
South Alabama
Richie Riley (Eastern Kentucky, 2005)
Record at USA: 73-50 (4th year)
Overall Record: 108-78 (6th year)
Record vs. Southeastern Louisiana: 0-0
Southeastern Louisiana
David Kiefer (Kansas State, 2007)
Record at SE Louisiana: 35-55 (3rd year)
Overall Record: 35-55
Record vs. South Alabama: 0-0
LAST GAME
South Alabama lost to Little Rock 75-71 in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Southeastern Louisiana fell to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 73-65 in the finals of the Southland Conference Tournament.
NEXT GAME
The winner will advance to the next round of The Basketball Classic. The opponent, date and time is TBA.
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: #148 Sagarin, NET #146
Southeastern Louisiana: #285 Sagarin, NET #257
THE SERIES
Overall: USA leads the series 1-0
Longest USA streak: 1
Longest SE Louisiana streak: 0
Current Streak: USA, 1
Only Meeting: 11/28/01, W 79-58
NOTES
- USA has won the only meeting against Southeastern Louisiana, a 79-58 victory at home on Nov. 28, 2001.
- South Alabama's contest against Southeastern Louisiana has been designated as the Travis Grant Game. The Travis Grant Game is one of five games to participate in the first round of The Basketball Classic presented by Eracism, with the winner receiving a trophy and advancing to the second round of the tournament.
- This is South's first postseason appearance since the 2012-13 team played in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
- South Alabama's last postseason victory came during the 1988-89 season. South Alabama came back from down 19 points to knock off Alabama 86-84 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
- South Alabama finished the regular season ranked in the top 3 of the Sun Belt in scoring offense (71.4), scoring margin (8.2), field-goal percentage (45.8), field-goal percentage defense (40.2), blocked shots per game, three-point field goal defense (31.3) and turnover margin (2.1).
- Southeastern Louisiana enters the game with the Southland's number two scoring offense, averaging 79.1 points per game and leads the league in three-point shooting, averaging 8.9 makes a game.
- Southeastern Louisiana's David Kiefer won the Southland Coach of the Year this season. Richie Riley was the Southland Coach of the Year when he coached at Nicholls during the 2017-18 season before arriving at South Alabama.
- The Jags are 12-1 this season when leading at the half.
- USA finished the regular season 13-2 at home at the Mitchell Center. The 13 wins are tied for the second-most in Mitchell Center history, only trailing the 2007-08 team's 17 wins.
- South's 19 wins are the second-most since the 2008-09 season, Riley's 2019-20 team finished with 20 victories.
- In four seasons as head coach, Riley has won at least 17 games each season and with a win on Wednesday, can achieve 20 wins for the second time at USA.
- South is 12-2 this season when shooting at least 50 percent in the first half.
- The Jaguars are 14-2 this season when scoring at least 70 points.
- South is ranked 30th in the NCAA in scoring defense, giving up 63.2 points per game.
- The Jags lead the Sun Belt with 4.9 blocked shots per game and rank 28th nationally in blocks per game.
- Charles Manning Jr. and Jay Jay Chandler were named to the NABC all-district team. Manning Jr. was a first-team selection and Chandler received second-team honors.
- Manning Jr. and Chandler were both named to the all-Sun Belt second team. Javon Franklin was voted to the third team. This is the first time three South Alabama players were named all-Sun Belt since 2008-09's Brandon Davis, Domonic Tilford and DeAndre Coleman received the honors.
- Manning Jr. is fourth in the Sun Belt in scoring, averaging 16.1 points per game. The 6-foot-4 guard tied a career-high with 26 points in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The Riverhead, N.Y. native has scored over 20 points 11 times this season.
- Tyrell [Turbo] Jones scored a career-best 15 points on just 3-of-5 shooting, going 8-for-9 from the charity stripe in the opening round of the conference tournament. Jones also dished out four assists and grabbed three rebounds.
- Diante Smith topped his previous career-best with five three-pointers at Coastal Carolina. Smith is shooting 23-for-47 (48.9 percent) from beyond the arc over the past nine games. He also grabbed a career-high nine rebounds and tied a career-best with four steals in the 62-52 win over UTA.
- Lance Thomas has shot 7-for-12 (58.3 percent) from beyond the arc over his last three games.
- Kayo Goncalves finished the regular season ranked fifth in the Sun Belt with 64 three-pointers this season. He eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his NCAA career earlier this season. Over 75 percent of his scoring has come from beyond the arc.
