USA Men’s Basketball Take On ULM Tonight
The University of South Alabama men’s basketball team travels to Louisiana-Monroe to take on the Warhawks tonight. This is the Jaguars first game of 2013 and the first road game under the direction of interim head coach Jeff Price.
The Jags come into this game after dropping their first Sun Belt Conference game of the season 63-54 to Arkansas State. The Warhawks are coming off of a last second victory over Florida Atlantic 65-64.
Despite the shooting woes of the last game, the Jags have proven that they are capable of scoring and they have shown that they can play defense. But can their defensive play be strong on a regular basis?
Lousiana-Monroe had a dismal 2011-2012 season. They are at a point in the season where either they improve on the season or they continue in the same direction as last. The win over FAU ended their three game losing streak. The Warhawks were outshot 54.8% to 43% however the Warhawks forced 20 turnovers and had 21 more shots that the Owls to stay alive in the game.
Augustine Rubit looks to continue adding to his career totals. Recently he broke the 1,000th point threshold to become the 14th Jaguar to do so. Then against ASU, he moved into 13th place on the school’s career scoring list. He is 12 points behind Henry Williams for 12th place on that same list. Rubit has already passed Williams on the career rebounding list to move into 4th place.
ULM ranks next to dead last, 344th out of 345, in free throw percentage by shooting 54.6%, 338th in scoring offense with an average of 56 points per game and 326th in turnovers with 17.1 per game average. Warhawks player Trent Mackey is the bright spot on the team. He averages 12.6 points per game, ranks 18th in the nation in 3-pt percentage (45.8%) and 19th in 3-pointers per game (3.0). Mackey had 11 points last season by converting three 3-pointers against the Jags.
South Alabama leads the overall series against ULM, but has lost two of the last three meetings with the last victory being an 88-86 win in Monroe last season. Freddie Goldstein tied his own school record of nine 3-pointers in a game as the Jags as a team hit 14 3-pointers.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30pm in Monroe, Louisiana with coverage being broadcast by 105.5FM WNSP with Lee Shirvanian calling the play by play.
Jacksonville State Expected To Have Several USA Ties On Staff
Former South Alabama defensive Coordinator Bill Clark was named head coach at Jacksonville State on Tuesday, December 18 | jsugamecocksports.com
According to AL.com, former South Alabama defensive coordinator Bill Clark who accepted the head coaching position at Jacksonville State University in December is expected to announce members of his new staff on Wednesday.
There has been long speculation that South Alabama defensive backs coach Duwan Walker, who served as Clark’s defensive coordinator at Prattville High School, will accept the same position under Clark at Jacksonville State.
But the South Alabama ties reportedly does not end there.
According to the AL.com report, defensive graduate assistant Blake Sharder will join Clark’s staff in some capacity. Additionally Trey Clark, the only Jaguar to start all 40 games thus far in South Alabama’s history, is expected to accept a graduate assistant position with Clark’s staff. Clark played for Bill at Prattville, then joined him as a Jaguar. Additionally the two men are cousins.
This news is not unexpected. Clark has deep ties with those on his defensive staff and trusts them. Plus any new defensive coordinator may want to bring some of his own staff.
Also a former South Alabama assistant coach Chuck Dunn should join Clark’s staff. Dunn was on the Jaguars staff for their first two seasons before the staff numbers had to be trimmed down to nine assistant coaches. He had been serving as defensive coordinator in the high school ranks.
As for possible replacements at defensive coordinator, reports are that Southeastern Louisiana head coach Ron Roberts, who interviewed for the position last week, was offered the position over the weekend. It is unknown if these reports are true and if he has accepted the position.
As a head coach Roberts guided Delta State University to four Gulf South Conference championships and four appearances in the NCAA Division II playoffs. During that time he had a record of 47-16 with four 10-win seasons and two NCAA Super Region II titles and an appearance in the 2010 NCAA Division II national championship game. He is a native of Visalia, California.
We should know more about it this week.