Jags Fall To ASU 74-62
The South Alabama men’s basketball team fought back from a 16-point deficit against Arkansas State but could not overtake the Red Wolves Thursday night and fall on the road 74-62.
The Jags fall to 11-9 on the season and 8-4 overall in Sun Belt play as their season-best three-game winning streak was snapped. ASU improves to 13-8 overall for the season and 7-5 in Sun Belt play. The Jags hold onto second place in the Eastern Division and is currently tied for second place overall in the Sun Belt Conference standings. The Jags now trail Middle Tennessee by three games and lead FIU by two games in the Eastern Division. UALR leads the Western Division by one game over ASU.
Arkansas State’s Rakeem Dickerson scored 18 points, all of them in the second half and 14 of them from the foul line. Trey Finn also scored 18 and three steals for the Red Wolves.
Augustine Rubit led South Alabama with 18 points, while going 12-for-12 from the foul line. He also finished with nine rebounds, two short of a double-double, and two blocks. Javier Carter scored 11 points (10 in the first half) off the bench to tie a season high while added three blocks and two steals.
It was nearly 15 minutes into the game before the Jags got their first offensive rebound of the game.
The Jags trailed the entire second half but worked hard to battle back with runs of 6-0 and 7-0 to close within two points each time. However ASU would respond each time with runs of 7-0 and 8-0 of their own.
“It was an extremely physical game,” interim head coach Jeff Price said after the game. “It was hard-fought and intense on both ends. We put them on the line a lot. We got to the free throw line too but it’s hard to battle 43 free throws. We just couldn’t get a flow to the game because the flow stopped so much with the fouls. We were bending but we weren’t breaking. We kept fighting back but every time we had a chance to get over the hump we just couldn’t do it.”
“We just couldn’t make baskets when we needed to,” Price continued. “We were getting stops and then all of the sudden we’d foul and they’d make free throws. We missed a couple of easy shots we should have made. It’s hard to play on the road in this type of environment against a good basketball team. We just have to keep plugging away.”
Arkansas State went 30-of-43 from the free throw line with Dickerson going 14-of-16 and Finn went 8-of-10. Arkansas State opened up a 16 point advantage around midway through the first half, however a Jagaur run of 16-5 would cut the Red Wolves lead to 35-29 at halftime.
The Jags will face Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday for a 7pm tipoff before returning home for another three-game homestand. The game can be heard on 105.5 WNSP and WNSP.com on Saturday.
Jags Look To Extend Three Game Win Streak At ASU
The South Alabama Jaguars men’s basketball team will try to extend their three game winning streak when they face Arkansas State tonight in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The Jags completed a three-game sweep at home with wins over Louisiana-Monroe, Western Kentucky and Florida International.
The Jags enter the game with an 11-8 record overall and an 8-3 record in Sun Belt play. Arkansas State holds a 12-8 record overall and a 6-5 record in Sun Belt play.
Arkansas State has won two of their last three games coming off of a 63-38 rout of Florida Atlantic on Saturday. ASU holds a 9-2 record at home. The Jags have won their last three games including a 60-58 win over Florida International last Saturday. The Jags are 5-3 on the road.
Augustine Rubit leads the Jags in scoring and rebounding averaging 19.1 points per game and 10.9 rebounds per game. Mychal Ammons is next with 10.9 points per game average and 7.2 rebounds per game average. The Jags will be without Freddie Goldstein for the second consecutive game after he suffered a broken colarbone against Western Kentucky.
The Jags are 45th in the nation in blocked shots with 4.8 blocks per game with Javier Carter leading the Jags with 38 blocks this season.
Ed Townsel is leading the way for the Red Wolves with an average of 14.8 points per game. Brandon Peterson is the only other Red Wolf that averages double-digits scoring with 11.4 points per game. Peterson also added an average of 9.6 rebounds per game and 23 blocks on the season.
The Jags and the Red WOlves are set to tip off at 7:05pm in Jonesboro, Arkansas. THe game can be heard on 105.5FM WNSP and WNSP.com.
Roberson Arrested As Suspect In Burglary
Xavier Roberson photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
KLTV in Tyler, Texas reports that former South Alabama basketball player Xavier Roberson has been charged for a home burglary that took place on Christmas eve.
Roberson was suspended indefinitely in December by interim head coach Jeff Price for breaking then unidentified team and University rules.
Roberson, according to the report, was identified as one of the suspects and was arrested by the Humble, Texas police department on January 21 then transferred to Tyler, Texas on January 24.
The KLTV posts states that the Tyler Police responded to a burglary alarm on December 24 at a residence. Upon arrival, they discovered that a burglary had occurred. Dispatch received a call from a person who gave a vehicle description for a suspect. Another police officer saw the vehicle and attempted to stop them. The suspects threw stolen jewelry from the vehicle as they managed to get away. One of the suspects was identified as Roberson later.
He is being held on $300,000 bond as the police are still trying to identify two other suspects.
This is a very sad development for a gifted student-athlete.
The full report can be seen here.
Jags Hold Off FIU For 60-58 Win
The South Alabama men’s basketball team held off Florida International to sweep a three-game home stand, 60-58. The Jags needed a steal in the final seconds of the game to help preserve the win. South Alabama improves to 11-8 overall and 8-3 in Conference play.
Augustine Rubit earned his eleventh double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds while Dre Conner had a career-tying four steals in the game, including the final one to seal the game. Conner also finished with with a career best six assists as well.
The Jags would take a 31-22 lead into the locker room at halftime. At the 15:12 mark in the second half and leading 37-30, the Jags would hit a cold streak. FIU would go on a 15-2 run to take a 45-39 lead over the next three-and-a-half minutes.
A three pointer by Antoine Allen would cut the six point FIU lead in half and get the Jaguars momentum back. With just under five minutes left in the game, Dre Conner would make a layup and also sink the foul shot for a conventional three-point play to give the Jags a 52-51 lead. Barrington Stevens III would hit a three-pointer shortly after to regain the lead again for good with 3:29 left in the game.
Neither team was able to score in the final minute-and-a-half of the game and only one shot fell from the floor in the final 3:29 of the game.
Allen finished the game with 11 points and Stevens III finished with 10 points including all three of his shots from outside the arc. Mychal Ammons would add nine points and five rebounds as well.
Jerome Frink and Malik Smith scored 12 points each to lead FIU in scoring.
“That was fun,” interim head coach Jeff Price said after the game. “It was probably a lot more fun to watch than to coach. I just can’t say enough about our guys on how resilient they are, and how they fight and continue to overcome things. We got tired in the second half and I thought the first five minutes we really didn’t start well. I felt we got fatigued after that and got our heads down. But we found a way to fight back. It was just a great team effort, I’m just really happy for our guys.”
“I thought Barrington stepped up and made a couple of shots,” Price said. “We’ve got to start relying more on Barrington to have a two-guard mentality because he’s a really good shooter. He knocked down a couple of shots. It’s going to be like this for this season. We have five guards and we can move Mychal out there if we have to. We feel like Mychal is more effective inside, though.”
“South Alabama is a very good team with really good players,” FIU head coach Richard Pitino, son of Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, said after the game. “Jeff (Price) is a very good coach. They hit some good shots because they are good players. You have to give all the credit to them. They won the game. Our guys competed in the second half the way I wanted them to, but all the credit goes to South Alabama.”
FIU falls to 11-9 on the season and 6-5 in conference play. The Jags continue to hold onto second place in the Eastern Division, trailing Middle Tennessee State by two games and leading third place FIU now by two games.
The Jags will now have a two-game road swing through Arkansas with their first contest coming in Jonesboro against Arkansas State on Thursday for a 7:05pm tipoff. ASU won the first game between the two teams 63-54 back on December 29 in Mobile. Jags hope to add to their three-game winning streak.
Goldstein Out For Remainder Of Season
A Report on WNSP this morning by Lee Shirvanian said that Senior Freddie Goldstein will miss the remainder of the season after sufferring a broken collarbone against Western Kentucky last night.
Goldstein was averaging 8.1 points per game and averaging over 29 minutes per game of playing time for the Jags. He had also hit 31 three-pointers on the season.
The Jags are now down two guards on the team with the loss of Goldstein and Xavier Roberson. Roberson was suspended indefinitely for breaking team and athletic department policy.
Jags Down Conference Rival WKU 65-57
Augustine Rubit earned his 10th double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds against the Hilltoppers. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
The South Alabama men’s basketball team used a strong second half performance to defeat longtime conference rival Western Kentucky 65-57 Thursday night at the Mitchell Center. The Jags broke open the game with a 14-2 run midway through the second half to take control for good.
The Jags inprove to 10-8 overall on the season and 7-3 in Conference play and was the schools first back-to-back win since December 22. The Hilltoppers fall to 11-10 on the season and 5-5 in conference play. The Jags stay one game ahead of FIU for second place in the Eastern Division and continue to trail Middle Tennessee by two games for first place. WKU is tied with FAU for fourth place in the Eastern Division.
At halftime the Jag led 28-23 but early in the second half the Hilltoppers would catch up and take a 33-30 lead with 16:46 left in the game. But neither team would lead by more than three points until Augustine Rubit put in two free throws and Antoine Allen hit a three-pointer with 11:10 left in the game.
Hilltopper’s Aleksejs Rostov would answer with a layup but Allen would answer it with another three-pointer to begin a 9-0 run where the Jags would push out to their largest lead of the game, 51-39, with 8:36 left in the game.
“…right around that 12-, 13-minute mark we had a timeout and said, ‘Let’s just get this done guys and finish strong.’ As soon as I said that, it’s like they looked at each other and finished strong,” Price said after the game. “We just finished the game very strong.”
However the Jags struggles from the foul line allowed the Hilltoppers to work their way back into the game late. Brandon Harris would hit a three-pointer to cut the Jaguar lead to 60-54 with 53.7 seconds left. Jaguar players would only manage to hit two of their next four attempts from the foul line for an eight point lead.
Harris would be fouled while shooting a three-pointer by Javier Carter and he would pour in all three shots to cut the lead to 62-57 with 38.0 seconds left in the game, their closest margin since the 10:09 mark. Allen would sink both of his free throws and the Jaguar defense would tighten up and force two misses.
“Obviously just a really hard fought game,” interim head coach Jeff Price said after the game. “I thought our guys were tremendous. At a stretch at the 12-minute mark in the second half where we just turned it on and got that thing up to 10 points, mostly based out of the intensity of our defense. We keep stressing creating an offense out of our defense and getting stops and we’re going to have nights where we aren’t shooting the ball well and continue to defend and be intense and help each other. We were great helping each other.”
“Aug’s huge,” Price continued. “I’m so pleased with his effort. (He had) 19 (points), 11 (rebounds) with another double-double. Not that as much as just his will to win has been so good. And want the ball and finish plays and make things happen. He’s just been so good at that. His effort has just been tremendous and he’s willing this team to win right now. He’s been great. His motor has been great. He’s been playing heavy minutes. We try to give him rest as much as we can in practice. He comes to games ready to play. He’s running the floor great and he’s demanding the ball. He gets pushed off his spot a lot but comes back and gets it. He takes a beating and he keeps on ticking. He just has been tremendous.”
Augustine Rubit would earn his 10th double-double of the season with 19 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. He complimented that with four blocks, two steals and two assists.
Antoine Allen went 3-of-6 from outside the arc to chip in 19 points and seven rebounds. Mychal Ammons would add 10 points and seven rebounds.
Javier Carter added seven points and two blocks to extend his streak to 12 consecutive games with a blocked shot and is one block behind Reginald Poole for 16th place on the Sun Belt’s career list with 168 blocks.
Freddie Goldstein would score three points before leaving the game in the first half with a shoulder injury. He did not return for the remainder of the game.
The Jags will host their third and final game of this three-game homestand when they host FIU on Sunday for a 4:05pm tipoff.
Jags Host Western Kentucky After Week Off
The South Alabama’s men’s basketball team have had a week off to rest and prepare for their run towards the end of the regular season and into the Conference tournament. To begin that run they will host their longtime rival Western Kentucky Thursday night at the Mitchell Center at 7:05pm.
South Alabama are coming off of a 71-56 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Thursday of last week to improve their record to 9-8 overall on the season and 6-3 in Sun Belt play. That SBC record has the Jags in sole possession of second place in the eastern division.
“The break has been good for us,” interim head coach Jeff Price said. “It’s a little different not playing on Saturday, but it gave us a chance to regroup and work on some things in practice that we haven’t been able to do, and be able to tweak some things on both ends of the floor, so it’s been good for us there. It’s been good for us to get some rest as well.”
“We broke up our off days so we weren’t off too much in a row,” Price continued. “You always have that concern that Western played on Saturday and we have to play after not playing for a week. Hopefully once the game starts we’ll get that out of the way.”
The Jags are 2-1 this season coming off of a break of a week or more. The last one was a 63-54 loss to Arkansas State on December 29th.
Western Kentucky comes in after losing four of their last five games and twice during a three-game homestand prior to their trip to Mobile. After starting the season 8-2 they have gone 3-7 since then for an overall record of 11-9 (5-4 SBC).
The Hilltoppers will be without the team’s leading scorer in Jamal Crook who has not been able to play since December 16 due to an injury. Last season he scored 24 points against the Jags at WKU and was averaging 14.5 points per game this season.
“Their obviously a good team and losing Jamal Crook really hurt them,” Price observed. “They’ve had to get their chemistry back together and find the answer at the point (guard position) and I think they’ve found that now. They’re certainly a capable basketball team and a well-coached team that has guys that are very worthy, all-conference type players.”
“They’re not quite as quick and athletic (without him),” Price noted. “He’s tremendous with the ball, pushing the ball in transition and very athletic so it makes them a little bit different.”
T.J. Price is now the leading scorer on the team with an average of 14.1 points per game. Brandon Harris averaged 19 points per game last week with 22 points against UALR was selected the Sun Belt Player of the Week earlier this week.
“Harris is a very capable shooter. He’s a streaky shooter, but when he shoots it well he’s really good,” Price obverved. “He takes care of the ball well and T.J. Price is a go-to guy that shoots the ball well from the outside and gets to the basket well. George Fant has been tremendous for them around the paint.”
Augustine Rubit scored 23 points against ULM in the teams last outing last Thursday. That was his sixth 20+ point game in his last nine games and is ranking second in the conference in scoring with an average of 19.3 points per game while also ranking first in rebounding with an average of 10.9 rebounds per game.
The Jags and the Hilltoppers tipoff at 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.
Jags Down ULM 71-56
Dre Conner finished with 10 assists against ULM. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
The South Alabama Jaguar men’s basketball team used a strong second half showing to notch a 71-56 win over Louisiana-Monroe. This win propelled the Jags into sole possession of second place in the Sun Belt Conference Eastern Division with a 6-3 record, an overall record of 9-8 for the season and evening their home conference record at 2-2 this season. ULM falls to 3-11 overall and 2-6 in Sun Belt play.
Freddie Goldstein nailed a three pointer just before halftime to tie the game a 27 apiece as teams headed into their locker rooms. But the Jags would open the second half with a 13-2 run to take control of the game. THey would make it’s first four shots from the floor after halftime and shoot 62.5 percent from the floor in the second half.
“Obviously (it was a) much better effort in the second half,” interim head coach Jeff Price said. “I’ve just talked so much at halftime, like I do before the games, that we have shooting droughts and we have to find a way to manufacture points. It was a glaring difference in the second half with our defensive intensity. We’re capable of doing that every night if we just get our mind to it.”
Goldstein and Antoine Allen combined for 11 points and two three-pointers to start the second half with the 13-2 run. Goldstein would end the game with five three-pointers.
ULM would work to get within five points on four different occasions in the second half. The final run came at the 7:27 mark. South Alabama would respond with a 9-1 run to put the game away.
Augustine Rubit would score 15 of his game-high 23 points in the second half and fall one rebound shy of another double-double on the season. This moved Rubit into 11th on the all-time scoring list and 17th in the all-time rebounding list.
“Regardless of the double teams, we keep going at him and that’s what we need to do because he continues to get better at kicking it out and we rotate one over and get shots,” Price explained. “It happened several times in the first half with plus-ones. We just have to get those shots. He’s just a warrior. Aug battles and battles. He gets slapped and hammered and grabbed and just keeps going after it. He had a huge three-point play in the second half where he just builds his way to the basket. He’s just doing a great job and we just need to continue to play off of him.”
Goldstein would finish the game with 16 points, going 5-of-10 from outside the arc. Javier Carter would tie a career high with 10 rebounds.
Dre Conner would lead all player with a personal-best nine assists, which is the most by a Jaguar player since Daon Merritt against FIU on March 1, 2008.
“Dre’s a tough kid and he is playing well for us right now,” Price said. “I continue to preach that the more he plays the better he will get. He had nine assists tonight and I thought he controlled the game well. He’s just going to keep getting better. There’s a lot of concern about a point guard play early, but with point guards it just takes time. I think he is starting to come into his own.”
Mychal Ammons would finish with 10 points, including the final four points of the game that would cap the game off with an exclamation. A slam dunk which was followed shorty by a windmill dunk. ULM would inbounds the ball and let the clock run out after that.
South Alabama will get a week off before returning to the court to host Western Kentucky on Thursday, January 24th in a Sun Belt Conference Eastern Division clash. The game will be televised on ESPN3.com and as part of the ESPN Full Court Package.
Jaguar Men Open Three Game Homestand Against ULM Tonight
The South Alabama men’s basketball team begin a three-game home stand Thursday night when they host Louisiana-Monroe for a 7:05pm tipoff. The Jags come into this game after splitting a pair of road games beginning with a thrilling double-overtime win over Louisiana-Lafayette 91-89 then a 66-56 loss at North Texas, the Jags first road loss in Conference play.
“Louisiana-Monroe is a good team, like any conference team we’re expecting a close game,” interim head coach Jeff Price said. “This is a team that went and won at North Texas and played Middle Tennessee to nine points last week. You learn that conference games are different than non-conference games. They’re going to come ready to play and we’ll have to show up to have a chance to win the game.”
While the Jags are 4-1 on the road in Conference play, they are 1-2 at home in the Conference. The two losses have come against Middle Tennessee State and Arkansas State. Those two teams have a combined conference record of 10-5.
“I think we’ve been extremely focused on the road,” Price said. “Our focus has been really good and we have to find a way to get that same focus at home and hopefully get off to a good start, we haven’t gotten off to great starts at home, and hopefully have some folks here to watch us.”
The Jags faced the Warhawks about two weeks ago on January 3 where they scored a 77-72 win. Junior Augustine Rubit scored a career high 32 points in the win. This will be the Jags first rematch against a Conference foe this season.
“(Playing again so soon) could benefit both of us or be a disadvantage,” Price observed. “We look at a lot of tape and I’m sure they’re doing the same thing. We look at what we did well over there and what we didn’t do well and try to make some adjustments. It’s certainly different playing someone so close together and I’m sure we’ll both have our own strategies put together on how we need to win the game.”
ULM’s Amos Olatayo used the game against South Alabama to jump-start his season. Prior to the contest against the Jags he had scored only six points in the previous two games. But he broke out with 18 points off the bench to start a streak of four consecutive games in double-digits scoring. He is averaging 19 points per game over that span with a high of 24 points last week against MTSU.
The Jags and the Warhawks tipoff at the Mitchell Center at 7:05pm.
USA AD Announces Roberson Will Not Return This Season
Xavier Roberson photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
What South Alabama fans feared when it was announced was confirmed on Tuesday. Junior Xavier Roberson will not return to the team this season. Roberson was suspended indefinitely prior to the Jags game versus Arkansas State on December 29.
Joel Erdmann, South Alabama’s athletic director, announced that the 6’1″ 180-pound guard will not play for the Jags this season. Many consider Roberson to be the Jags best defender and perimeter shooter.
“Xavier Roberson will not return this season,” Erdmann was quoted by AL.com on Tuesday. “He is not currently enrolled at the university (for the current semester.) … What his future may be with the school and the basketball program is undetermined.”
Erdmann did not comment about the circumstances around his suspension from the team.
At the time of his suspension, Roberson had started in seven of the Jags 11 games and was the team’s second leading scorer with an average of 13.6 points per game. He also chipped in with 13 steals and 17 assists. He missed all but eight games last season when he suffered a foot injury.
The Jags begin a three game home stand on Thursday night when they host Louisiana-Monroe. The game is scheduled to tipoff at 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.