PENSACOLA, Fla. – South Alabama men's basketball will open up play in the Sun Belt Conference Championship semifinals on Sunday, March 9 at 5 p.m. CT in the Pensacola Bay Center. 

Game Information

South Alabama (21-10, 13-5) vs. Arkansas State (23-9, 13-5) 

Tip-off: Sunday, March 9 | 5 p.m. CT

Site: Pensacola, Fla. | Pensacola Bay Center

ESPN+  Live Stats

Last Time Out

For the first time since 2008, the South Alabama men's basketball team clinched a share of the Sun Belt Regular season championship Friday night after a 65-42 win over Louisiana in the Mitchell Center. 

South Alabama surged to a 21-4 lead in the first 10 minutes, then responded after the Ragin' Cajuns (11-20, 8-10) cut the lead to six late in the first half. The Jaguars were up 31-20 at halftime and came out strong in the second half, scoring the first 11 points to secure the win. 

Elijah Ormiston poured in a monstrous double-double with a D1 career-high of 28 points, shooting 14-for-14 from the free throw line with 10 rebounds, and Barry Dunning scored 15 points with six rebounds, five steals, and three assists. 

Notes

• Richie Riley was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year on March 3. After the season ranked the No.11 seed in the SBC Preseason Coaches Poll, Riley led the Jags to their first Sun Belt conference regular season championship in 17 years and received Joe Gottfried Coach of the Year honors. This is the first time a Jaguar head coach has received the Coach of the Year accolade since Ronnie Arrow did in the 2008 season.  Additionally, Riley has been named a finalist for the Hugh Durham Award and the Ben Jobe Award bestowed upon the top mid-major coaches in the entire country. 
• Barry Dunning Jr. and Myles Corey received All-Sun Belt honors for their regular-season play. Dunning was named first-team All-Sun Belt after averaging 14.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per contest, while Corey received third-team All-Sun Belt honors following a season where he contributed 13.8 points and 4.4 assists per game. 
• Barry Dunning Jr. has been on fire in the last nine contests, scoring 196 points (21.7 ppg) with 80 rebounds (8.9 rpg) in that stretch of games. He made history at Texas State, scoring the second most points ever in a Sun Belt game with 46 points and eight three-pointers. 
• Elijah Ormiston has been on fire in the last nine games, averaging 15.7 points with 4.2 rebounds per game.  Ormiston scored a new D1 career-high with 28 points on 14-for-14 shooting from the free throw line and 10 rebounds in the regular season finale against Louisiana at home. Before that, he put up 26 points. 
• South Alabama's 21 regular-season wins are the most under Coach Riley and the highest for the program since the 2008 NCAA tournament team, which finished 25-5 heading into the Sun Belt tournament. The 2020 Jaguars also had a strong regular season, finishing 20-11 and earning the No. 2 seed for the conference tournament, which was ultimately canceled due to the onset of the COVID pandemic.
• South Alabama ranks second in the Sun Belt and 16th in the country in steals per game with 9.4. Four Jaguars rank in the top 15 in the SBC in steals per game (John Broom 1.6, JJ Wheat 1.6, Myles Corey 1.5, and Dylan Fasoyiro 1.3). The Jags have totaled 291 steals this season and will surpass the single-season program record for steals if they achieve 296 steals. 

Series History

• Arkansas State leads the series 29-28. The Jags won both contests this season and are 2-1 in Sun Belt Championship Tournament games.  

Last Time Against Arkansas State

The South Alabama men's basketball team used a dominant defensive effort to push past Arkansas State 60-56 on Wednesday, February 19th in First National Bank Arena. With the win, the Jags grabbed control of first place in the Sun Belt and improved to 19-9 this season and 11-4 in conference play. The Red Wolves fell to 19-9 this year and 10-5 in Sun Belt play. 

The Jags put the clamps on the conference's top offensive team the entire night, holding Arkansas State to a season-low in points (56) and three-pointers (6-for-19) (19%), while forcing 19 Red Wolves turnovers to secure the win and the season sweep over Ark State.

Barry Dunning Jr. led the Jags in scoring, finishing with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field with a team-high eight rebounds and two assists. Judah Brown came up clutch in several clutch moments, finishing with 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the floor and a perfect 3-of-3 from the free throw line with four rebounds. 

Two Jags finished with eight points a piece. Jayden Cooper had an impressive first half, shooting 2-of-4 from three-point range and swiping a season-high four steals while dishing out two assists. Myles Corey had a big second half, hitting 4-of-5 free throws and recording four assists with two steals. Cantia Rahming played huge inside the paint the entire night, finishing with seven points, five rebounds, two huge blocks, and two steals. 

South Alabama came out with the victory tonight despite being outrebounded 46-32 and missing 11 of its 22 attempted free throws. However, the Jags got substantial production from its entire squad as they totaled 31 bench points and held Arkansas State's bench scoreless.

About Arkansas State

• Arkansas State defeated Marshall 77-74 in the Quarterfinal round on March 8. 
• Five players finished with double figures in last night's contest. Taryn Todd led the way with 19 points, four steals, and three rebounds. Kobe Julien scored 13 points and finished with 10 rebounds and Izaiyah Nelson tallied 12 points and 14 boards. 
• The Red Wolves average the most points in the Sun Belt, averaging 79.4 points per contest. 
• After falling to the Jags on Feb.19, Arkansas State closed the season with three straight wins over ULM and Louisiana. 

FOLLOW THE JAGS

For complete coverage of South Alabama men's basketball, follow the Jags on social media @SouthAlabamaMBB (Twitter), /SouthAlabamaJaguars (Facebook), @southalabamambb (Instagram), or visit the official home of South Alabama athletics at usajaguars.com