Eagles take four game winning streak into Tulsa

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss men's basketball team ends a two-game road trip when it puts its four-game winning streak on the line at Tulsa on Wednesday, Feb. 10. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT.

Southern Miss and Tulsa will meet for the fifth straight year and the eighth time overall. Tulsa leads the series, 4-3, including a 3-1 record in Tulsa. Southern Miss won the only other meeting in 2007. Last year, the Golden Hurricane defeated Southern Miss, 78-63, in Tulsa.

Southern Miss enters Wednesday night's game with a 14-8 record and 4-4 in Conference USA. The Golden Eagles have won four straight games after defeating Houston last Wednesday, 57-55, at Hofheinz Pavilion.

Junior forward Gary Flowers led the Black and Gold with 15 points and six rebounds. Junior guard Sai'Quon Stone had 12 points, all in the second half, and junior guard R.L. Horton added 11. Junior forward Torye Pelham scored just six points, including a tip-in at the buzzer to win the game, but grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds.

Flowers is in 10th-place in Conference USA with 14.5 points. He is also tenth in field goal percentage, connecting on 48.2-percent of his shots, seventh in rebounding with 7.9 boards per game and fourth in blocks (2.0).

Sophomore guard Maurice Bolden is second on the team with 10.0 points per game and 6.1 rebounds. He is also fifth in the league in free throw percentage, hitting 81.1-percent from the line. Sophomore guard Angelo Johnson is scoring 9.5 points, while Horton is also contributing 8.5 points.

As a team, Southern Miss is scoring 66.2 points per game, while allowing 60.0, tops in the conference. The Golden Eagles are third in the conference in rebounding, pulling down 38.4 boards per game while giving up just 31.0 to the opposition, which is second in the conference. The Black and Gold are connecting on 43.2-percent of their shots, while their opponents are hitting just 39.4-percent. Southern Miss is also second in the league in three-point percentage defense, as opponents are hitting just 29.2-percent from beyond the arc.

Tulsa enters Wednesday night's contest with an 18-5 record. They are 7-2 in conference after falling at UTEP, 73-59, Saturday night.

Senior center Jerome Jordan was the only player to reach double-figures, scoring 20 points and grabbing five rebounds. Senior guard Ben Uzoh added seven points and a team-high seven rebounds and eight assists.

Uzoh is seventh in Conference USA with 15.4 points and sixth with 4.2 assists. Jordan is eighth in the league with 15.0 points, second in field goal percentage (.553), fifth with 8.2 rebounds and second with 2.7 blocks. Justin Hurtt is also averaging 14.0 points and is third in the league in three-point field goal percentage (.417).

As a team, the Tulsa is scoring 73.5 points per game while allowing 63.0. The Golden Hurricane is grabbing a league-best 39.1 rebounds per game, while giving up 31.6. Tulsa is connecting on 46.6-percent of its shots while allowing the opposition to score just 38.7-percent of the time, which is second in the league. Tulsa is also second in three-point shooting (37.3%) and blocks (6.0).