Game Notes

MOBILE, Ala. – Fresh off an undefeated start to the Sun Belt Conference season, the University of South Alabama men’s basketball program returns home to face former conference rival New Mexico State Tuesday night.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. The game can be heard on 105.5 WNSP FM and subscribers to Jaguars All-Access can watch online at USAJaguars.com. Fans can also follow the action via live stats and Twitter: @SouthAlaMBK.

The Jaguars snapped their three-game losing streak with a pair of 11-point road victories to improve to 4-3 overall and 2-0 in the conference for the first time since 2009-10. Tuesday will mark just the second home game this season and the first since Nov. 14.

“That’s what it’s all about – winning conference games,” said head coach Ronnie Arrow, who became the all-time leader in Sun Belt victories Saturday. “Non-conference games are a lead-up to the conference. Not only are we 2-0, but we’re 2-0 on the road, so that’s even better. I was proud of our guys with the way we won. There’s room for improvement, especially in late-game situations, but I thought our guards came ready to play. That’s the best overall they’ve played since Florida State.

“Now it comes time to see how we handle this. We went and opened up with Florida State and didn’t show up for some games. Our defense was really good (last week) and hopefully now our guys will keep buying in because our defense leads to slam-dunk offense.”

USA used the 3-pointer to its advantage last week, knocking down 20 over two games, including eight from junior Xavier Roberson (Houston, Texas). He hit a career-high five at FAU—all in the first half—and added three more in the FIU win.

“The game has become 3-point shooting,” Arrow said. “If you’re hitting 3-point shots, you don’t have to draw up plays; it’s penetrate-and-pitch and get up and down the court. Along the way you have to execute in key situations and I think we’re getting better at that. But it’s always nice to be able to pitch to the shooters and have them hit 3-pointers.”

The Jaguars’ shooters will face a formidable challenge from the Aggies, who lead the Western Athletic Conference in 3-point defense (.272) and are second in scoring defense (60.5 ppg).

“They pressure the ball a lot,” Arrow said of the NMSU defense. “Whenever you have that kind of size inside, you don’t have to worry about the hole; you don’t have to come off shooters. When they drive, you have the gigantic guys back there guarding the hole so you don’t have to hedge and can stay on the shooters. That’s why they’re so good at not giving up 3s.”

New Mexico State enters the contest with a 4-4 record but has won three of its last four outings and is coming off a 68-60 win over Southern Miss Saturday, which knocked the Golden Eagles from the ranks of the unbeaten. The one loss in that span was a 55-54 setback at UTEP.

“They’re outrebounding teams by about 11 rebounds (per game),” Arrow noted. “We’re going to have to box them out and we can’t give up second shots. When they’re playing at their best, their bigs are getting buckets right around the hole and we can’t let that happen.”

The Aggies have one of the tallest teams the Jags will face all season, with five players listed at 6-foot-8 or taller, including 6-foot-10 center Tshilidzi Nephawe, the fourth-leading scorer on the team, and 7-foot-5 Sim Bhullar, who averages 6.1 points and has 11 blocks in 14.6 minutes per contest.

“Their guys are just big and you can’t let them just catch the ball on the blocks,” Arrow said. “You have to make them get off the block somehow. You have to make them uncomfortable. Bhullar, if he catches it under the rim, I don’t think he has to jump to dunk it. We cannot give them second shots from offensive rebounds. We have to make them work for their shots.”

Countering NMSU’s size will be junior Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) and senior Javier Carter (Dallas, Texas), who combined to average 23.5 points and 16.5 rebounds last week. They were a rebound short of both recording a double-double at Florida Atlantic—but combined to block six shots—and Rubit had 19 points and nine boards vs. Florida International.

“We don’t need to pound it in there and expect to shoot it over these guys,” said Arrow. “We have to take them off the dribble and just make outside shots. We have to do what we do to get and get everybody shots, not just our inside guys.”

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

—USA—