Southern Miss Men’s Basketball David Cohen, SOUTHERN MISS GOLDEN EAGLES (9-18, 5-9 C-USA) Director of Communications Head Coach: Jay Ladner (Southern Miss, 1988) • 601-266-6240 (o) Record at Southern Miss: 9-18 (first season), Career Record: 85-106 (sixth season) • 817-739-6585 (c) • [email protected] • @DavidECohen_ MIDDLE TENNESSEE BLUE RAIDERS (6-21, 2-12 C-USA) Southern Miss Athletics Head Coach: Nick McDevitt (UNC Asheville, 2001) • 118 College Drive #5017 Record at MT: 17-42 (second season), Career Record: 115-108 (seventh season) • Hattiesburg, Miss. 39406-0001 Game Information Golden Eagle Notes Date / Time: – Southern Miss reeled off a 19-0 run early on FIU, and after leading 31-24 at the half, held off a furious Panther rally. The Golden Saturday, Feb. 22 12 p.m. CT Eagles were up 70-59 with a minute left, but FIU scored eight-straight points before Southern Miss survived on a missed three-pointer and turnover in the waning seconds. Tyler Stevenson, Thursday’s hero with the winning foul shots in the final 4.4 seconds, notched his fifth double-double of league play (22 points, 11 rebounds), while Gabe Watson produced 14 points and Site / Venue: Hattiesburg, Miss. 11 assists. Reed Green Coliseum (8,095) – Stevenson, a walk-on last year, ranks fourth and eighth in C-USA play for rebounding (8.2 rpg) and field-goal percentage (57.2), TV: N/A respectively. He has scored in double-figures in all 13 home games, including 20-plus against North Florida, Rice and FIU. His Talent: N/A 55.2 field-goal percentage for the year is tops in the league and No. 45 nationally. – The last meeting between the two teams left a sour taste with the Golden Eagles. LaDavius Draine picked up an offensive Radio: USM Learfield IMG College rebound and hit a step-back, corner three to tie the game with 11 seconds left, but a foul was called on Middle Tennessee’s Talent: John Cox game-winning layup attempt, and those two free-throws were the difference. Boban Jacdonmi earned his second-career double-double with 16 points and a personal-best 12 rebounds. Each team shot 20 percent from deep, but the Blue Raiders Live Stats: SouthernMiss.com won the turnover battle, 15-9. @SouthernMissMBB – This noon start is the earliest for the men’s team at the Coliseum since the 2011-12 opener, a win over Spring Hill. Of the Video: ESPN+ Golden Eagles’ nine wins, six have been in the daytime and five were on Saturdays. Southern Miss is 7-3 in February over the last two years. Talent: Lee Roberts, Larry Boyd – Since Southern Miss went to a seven-man rotation on Jan. 23, four Golden Eagles are averaging 32.2 minutes or better per Series History (MT leads 9-3) game. Watson leads with an incredulous 40.1, while Draine sits at 39.6 (with a team-high 18.1 ppg), and four of his nine-career, Home 2-4 20-point games have been in that time. Stevenson is averaging 15.4 points with 8.0 rebounds on 61.2 percent shooting. Walk- Away 0-5 on senior Bill Muse Jr. had played 16 minutes all year, then had 13 at WKU. Jacdonmi has been a big help the last three games Neutral 1-0 off the bench, averaging 5.3 points (6-for-7 from field) and 3.3 rebounds over just 14.3 mpg. Ladner vs. MT 0-1 – Southern Miss held FIU to just 24 points in the first half, its best at the break this season, and to a modest 23 field goals for the game. The Panthers entered the day averaging 77.0 ppg. The Golden Eagles also won the rebounding battle 41-26, upping its three-game total to plus-32. It marked the team’s best margin against a Division I team this year. The squad has also found its Schedule/Results way to the fourth-best field-goal defense in C-USA (42.4 percent), adjusting from facing the 12th-toughest non-conference Date Opponent Time (CT)/Result schedule according to KenPom. Oct. 29 Miss. College (EXH) W, 73-68 – Southern Miss, in league play, is third with a 77.6 free-throw percentage (163-for-210). It was at 68.6 percent in non-conference Nov. 5 Delta State W, 90-71 action. The 73.6-percent clip would tie the 2011-12 NCAA tourney squad for the best in program history. The Golden Eagles Nov. 9 at South Alabama L, 69-75 went an uncharacteristic 24-for-38 (63.2 percent), but found their stroke at just the right times and allowed only 24 attempts Nov. 14 at North Florida L, 63-66 total to come away with two wins. Nov. 19 at Iowa State^ L, 45-73 Nov. 24 William Carey W, 83-64 – Draine has 171 three-pointers in his career, which ranks third in school history. Saturday at WKU marked the fourth time this Nov. 27 vs. (7) Gonzaga^ L, 69-94 year and sixth of his career in which he’s made five treys, and it allowed him to pass Neil Watson (2011-14). Next up is Casey Nov. 28 vs. (13) Seton Hall^ L, 56-81 Fisher (1984-88) with 194. Draine had also made 23-straight foul shots, all in league play, before missing his second attempt Nov. 29 vs. Alabama L, 68-83 on Saturday (first miss since his last against Tougaloo) to take sole possession of fifth in school history for such a streak. He has Dec. 4 Tulane L, 56-61 continued to diversify his game with more steals (29-20) and assists (49-26) than the previous two years combined. Dec. 7 Southern Illinois W, 72-69 Dec. 14 North Florida L, 69-72 Probable Starters Dec. 16 at Texas Tech L, 65-71 Dec. 21 Tougaloo W, 96-77 Dec. 30 Louisiana Tech • L, 49-80 Jan. 4 at Louisiana Tech • L, 50-78 Jan. 9 at UTEP • L, 64-76 Jan. 11 at UTSA • L, 70-80 Jan. 16 North Texas • L, 52-72 Jan. 18 Rice • W, 81-68 Jan. 23 at UAB • W, 84-77 Jan. 25 at Middle Tennessee • L, 63-65 Jan. 30 Old Dominion • L, 58-68 0 5 11 14 32 Feb. 1 Charlotte • W, 74-68 (OT) Feb. 6 at Marshall • L, 58-72 Gabe Watson Artur Konontsuk LaDavius Draine Tyler Stevenson Leonard Harper-Baker Feb. 8 at WKU • L, 72-75 13.2 ppg | 3.6 rpg 7.0 ppg | 3.3 rpg 12.6 ppg | 4.5 rpg 12.9 ppg | 6.7 rpg 8.5 ppg | 7.7 rpg Feb. 13 Florida Atlantic • W, 68-66 Feb. 15 FIU • W, 75-67 6-2 | 192 | So. 6-7 | 215 | Fr. 6-4 | 212 | Jr. 6-8 | 207 | So. 6-5 | 208 | RSr. Feb. 22 TBD (Bonus Play) Jackson, Miss. Parnu, Estonia Calhoun City, Miss. Columbus, Miss. Detroit, Mich. Feb. 27 TBD (Bonus Play) March 1 TBD (Bonus Play) Southern Miss Name Usage March 4 TBD (Bonus Play) The University of Southern Mississippi has adopted “Southern Miss” as its official nickname. A majority of alumni, fans, and supporters March 7 TBD (Bonus Play) prefer the “Southern Miss” nickname. M. 11-14 C-USA Championships Though not preferred, names such as “USM” and the university’s full name will continue to be approved by the • – Denotes Conference USA Game ^ – Battle 4 Atlantis (Bahamas) licensing department for use on imprinted merchandise. Nicknames including “S. Mississippi,” “SO. Mississippi,” “S. Miss,” and “Southern” are not acceptable. Additionally, when using the univer- sity’s full name, “The” must be included in the title, i.e., The University of Southern Mississippi. 2019-20 SOUTHERN MISS BASKETBALL www.southernmiss.com 2019-20 Southern Miss Basketball Roster NCAA Basketball Polls No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown / Previous School AP Top 25 0 Gabe Watson G 6-2 192 SO Ridgeland, Miss. / St. Joseph Catholic Week 16 1 Denijay Harris F 6-7 203 RS FR Columbus, Miss. / SW Mississippi CC 2 Jeffery Armstrong G 6-0 175 FR Rainsville, Ala. / Massanutten Military Academy Rk Team Record Pts 3 Angel Smith G 6-5 185 FR Fort Lauderdale, Fla. / Northeast HS 1 Baylor (48) 23-1 1559 4 David McCoy II G 6-1 171 JR Meridian, Miss. / Jones County JC 2 Gonzaga (14) 26-1 1518 5 Artur Konontsuk F 6-7 215 FR Parnu, Estonia / Get Better Academy (Prague) 3 Kansas (1) 22-3 1434 4 San Diego State 26-0 1404 10 Jay Malone G 6-0 175 RS SO Meridian, Miss. / SW Mississippi CC 5 Dayton 23-2 1294 11 LaDavius Draine G 6-4 212 JR Calhoun City, Miss. / Calhoun City HS 6 Duke 22-3 1285 13 Boban Jacdonmi F 6-9 256 RS SR London, England / Chattanooga State CC 7 Maryland 21-4 1194 14 Tyler Stevenson G/F 6-8 207 SO Columbus, Miss. / New Hope HS 8 Florida State 21-4 1088 15 Clay Weatherspoon G 6-2 212 RS JR Ridgeland, Miss. / Ridgeland HS 9 Penn State 20-5 1024 21 Auston Leslie G 6-4 166 FR Huntsville, Ala. / Westminster Christian 10 Kentucky 20-5 1011 22 Bill Muse Jr. G 6-2 190 RS SR Muskogee, Okla. / Coastal Carolina 11 Louisville 21-5 837 25 Jerrod Rigby G 5-11 168 RS SR Bay St. Louis, Miss. / Pearl River CC 12 Villanova 19-6 824 32 Leonard Harper-Baker F 6-5 208 RS SR Detroit, Mich.