Southern Miss MBB building on momentum in Conference USA
Southern Miss men’s basketball is starting to build on recent momentum in Conference USA competition after snapping its early five-game losing streak.
After dropping games to Louisiana Tech (2x), UTEP, UTSA and North Texas, Southern Miss (6-15, 2-6 C-USA) strung together two-straight conference wins before losing Saturday in a nail-biter to Middle Tennessee. The first win came against Rice at Reed Green Coliseum in a game where redshirt sophomore Jay Malone shot 6-for-10 behind the arc and posted a career-high 27 points. Sophomore forward Tyler Stevenson added 24 points and eight rebounds while shooting 64 percent from the floor.
“We were picked 14th in the league,” USM head coach Jay Ladner said. “You can point to all of those type of things. But I’m proud of our team. I’m proud of the way our guys have hung in there in some adverse circumstances. Is our record good? No. Is it what anybody wants it to be? Absolutely not. But I can tell you this: there’s nobody working harder to get it fixed than our staff and our players. Let’s just see how we finish first.
” One Jay [Malone] stepped up for another against Rice as Ladner had to miss the evening out with the flu – what he recalls as the first time he’s been absent from the sidelines in his 29-year career. Associate head coach Kyle Roane led the unit in a contest that Southern Miss tallied more assists than any other C-USA team had in league games this year. However, Ladner did return on the following road trip with an impressive win over the UAB Blazers.
“That’s probably the most physically sick I’ve been in many years,” Ladner said. “The good thing about it is having somebody like Kyle Roane who we’ve worked together for a long time. Our best chance to win that night was for Kyle to take over. It’s not about egos. We need to win.
”Southern Miss ended the first half versus UAB on a 15-3 run to take a six-point lead into the break. USM proceeded to shoot 68 percent in the second half and went 16-for-18 at the free throw line on its way to victory. Junior guard LaDavius Draine and backcourt partner Gabe Watson each scored 25-plus points for the first time two Golden Eagles had done so in over a decade. Less than fifteen schools in the nation have seen six different players contribute 20-point games throughout this season, Southern Miss being one of the few.
Saturday night did put USM back in the loss column again, but it was a controversial night nonetheless. Middle Tennessee (5-16, 1-7 C-USA) led by three points with less than 30 seconds to play when a Southern Miss runner was blocked. Draine grabbed the rebound and stepped into the corner to tie the game with a three and 11.5 seconds remaining. The Blue Raiders missed the ensuing layup attempt with less than one second left, but a whistle gave them two shots at the line to seal a 65-63 win.
“Our team has struggled to find wins at times,” Ladner added. “But we still expect great crowds in there. The people here [in Hattiesburg] are hungry for something. That gives me hope right there. These are great moments to build on. You can feel the crowd and the energy they bring when we’re at home, and I know that makes a difference to our team.”
Southern Miss returns to RGC for a two-game home stand including Old Dominion on Jan. 30 and Charlotte on Feb. 1 available on ESPN+. Both opponents are .500 or above in Conference USA with the Golden Eagles cur