MOBILE, Ala. – One week into the 2015-16 season, University of South Alabama men's basketball head coach Matthew Graves already likes what he's seeing from his team.

"I feel like practice has gone really well so far," he said. "The energy has been great, our attention to detail has been much improved and we're starting to sort through what combinations are working better than others, but it's still way too early for that, so that's what we're going to start working on in week two.

"Our overall length and size has stood out. When we get out on the floor, we can cover more ground. I think we're a little more athletic, our basketball IQ has improved and our overall understanding defensively of what we want to do as a team has dramatically improved since the spring and that's a huge step in the right direction for us."

The Jaguars are currently working towards their Nov. 5 exhibition against Mobile. They officially start the season Nov. 13 at home against Auburn-Montgomery.

USA returns seven letterwinners from last year's team that went 5-4 in its final nine games of the season. Six newcomers, along with junior Nick Stover (Los Angeles, Calif.), who sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules, junior Tafari Whittingham (Brooklyn, N.Y.), who received a medical redshirt last year after playing in just five games, and redshirt freshman Nikola Marijan (Backi Brestovac, Serbia), who enrolled in classes in January and practiced with the team the remainder of the season, give Graves a deeper pool of talent to pick from.

"The competition has been terrific and it's really enhanced, not only by the guys that are able to play this year, but the guys we have sitting out have really upped the ante in practice as well," Graves noted. "The competition is the best we've had in three years."

Last year's main rotation during conference play featured just seven players, the Jags were one of two teams that had two in the league's top seven in minutes played in league games, and the only one to make the Sun Belt Tournament with four playing 29.9 minutes or more per game.

"With the guys that we had returning, we felt like one of our strengths coming into the season could be our ability to go 10 deep if needed," said Graves. "It goes back to holding guys accountable for playing within our system because we know our system works – it's proven, and the biggest thing we can take going into the season is, we've got a lot of versatility and interchangeable parts.

"It's going to have a great impact because not only are we going to have guys that are fresher, we'll have the ability to play different ways. You can have a small lineup, a bigger lineup, a lineup that's more athletic and defensive oriented, you can have a lineup that can score the ball, or a lineup that can protect a lead late in the game. We'll have a lot of different options, and that's one of the challenges as well, as we sort through what works and what doesn't. That'll take some time early in the season."

After finishing ninth or worse in the conference in 2014-15 in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense, 3-point defense and rebounding defense, work on that end of the floor has been a focal point through the first week of practice.

"It's been an emphasis from our summer workouts and it carried over into our preseason September workouts," Graves said. "We have to be a much better team defensively; we were statistically last in rebounding and near the bottom in defensive efficiency, so those two areas are really critical. I think our defensive understanding is much better, but we still have a lot to work to do on our rebounding."

As a result of the added competition, a lack of attention on the defensive end of the floor could lead to a decrease in playing time for some players.

"It's been a main focus of our practice plan, and at the same time, we're holding guys more accountable how we want to do things defensively because of our depth," Graves said. "I feel like we've got 10 or 11 guys that are capable of playing at any given time, so if we're not going to defend, we're going to watch our teammates defend. Guys have started to buy into that."

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).

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