Jaguar Men Open Sun Belt Season At FAU Thursday
The South Alabama Jaguar Men’s basketball team will play for their 300th Sun Belt win when they travel to FAU on Thursday. USA has a 299-235 all-time record in the Sun Belt.
Meanwhile, Ronnie Arrow needs one win to tie Gene Bartow for the most Sun Belt wins in conference history. Arrow is 110-84 in 14 seasons in the conference at South Alabama.
The Jags enter the gamw with an RPI of 232 from RealTimeRPI and ranked 172 by Sagarin. FAU enters the game with a 270 RPI and a ranking of 250 by Sagarin.
The game will not be available on the radio, but can be heard on Jaguar All-Access for free and WNSP.com web streaming. Tip-off is scheduled for 6pm Central time.
USA Men’s Basketball Add Two More Early Signees
The South Alabama Men’s basketball program announced that they have signed two more student-athletes to National Letter of Intent’s to play for the Jaguars in the 2013-2014 season. These two signees bring the early signing class for the Jaguars up to five.
Isaiah Matson, a 6’3″ shooting guard from Birmingham, AL currently attends Wenonah High School, who is a two-time defending 5A state champion.
Matson is a 2012 5A All-State Second Team selection by the Alabama Sports Writers Association. He played a key role in the Dragons’ repeat in the state title game by scoring 19 points on five three-pointers on the way to being named the tournament’s MVP. WHS posted a 29-7 record last season.
He averaged 16 points per game last season while hitting 118 three-point shots. He was honored by the Birmingham News by being named to their All-Metro and All-West honors after his junior season.
“Isaiah is just a born shooter,” Jaguar head coach Ronnie Arrow said. “You can’t have too many shooters on the team. He comes from a very good program that plays very hard and physical. He comes from a winning program and you always want to get kids from winning programs because they know how to win.”
Ladon Carnegie, a 6’5″ swing player who currently attends Odessa (Texas) College will come to South Alabama with two seasons of eligibility remaining. His previous season was spent at Paris (Texas) Junior College and played for former Jaguar Assistant coach Chuck Taylor.
As a freshman at Paris, he averaged 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in 27 games. The Dragons posted a 23-6 overall record and a 15-4 conference record.
Carnegie played on three consecutive OK Black Conference Championship teams at Grand Rapids Union (Michigan) High School and twice earned All-State honors. As a junior in 2009-2010 he averaged 21.3 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks per game on his way to being named to the Grand Rapids Press All-Area and The Associated Press’ First Team All-State honors. During his senior year he averaged 17.2 points and 9.7 rebounds per game and was named to the Grand Rapids Press’ All-Area team for a second time while being named to the AP’s All-State Honorable Mention team.
“Ladon is a good athlete that can shoot the ball,” Arrow said. “He’s a ‘2’ or ‘3’ player that can go inside and score also. He fits our mold of getting up and down the court and shooting the ball. When you get an assortment of shooters that are tough kids and that can get up and down the court, good things can happen.”
The Jaguars will open their Sun Belt Schedule on Thursday at Florida Atlantic with Tip-off set for 6pm Central time.
Jaguar Men Fall In Third Straight Game Of Coaches Vs Cancer Classic
The South Alabama Men’s basketball team dropped their third consecutive game of the Coaches Versus Cancer Classic to fall to 2-3 on the season. Georgia State improves to 3-2 on the season after their third consecutive win.
Augustine Rubit scored 31 points to tie his career high, but the Panthers had two players score at least 25 points and made a defensive stop on the last possession to preserve the 75-73 win over the Jaguars.
The Panthers shot 50% from the floor and scored 43 points in the first half alone. They also converted 11 of 18 three-point attempts in the contest.
“We’ve got to go back to basics. We’re just not guarding,” Jaguar head coach Ronnie Arrow said. “Our teams have always been known for good man-to-man, pressure defenses and we’re not doing it. I thought they were going to score 100 points today. We’re not going to beat too many people holding them to 50 percent (from the floor). We have to get where we take more pride in our defense and stopping the ball.”
Rubit scored 20 of his 31 points in the first half on his way to his second straight double-double with 11 rebounds. He shot 13-of-18 from the floor, 5-of-6 from the free throw line while tying his career high with three assists and had two blocks and one steal.
“I thought he played very well, but I thought our guys did a good job of getting him the ball and he was finishing,” Arrow said.
GSU’s Manny Atkins scored 26 points, 19 of them in the first half, to lead the Panthers. R.J. Hunter added 25 with 16 of them coming in the second half while going 5-of-6 from outside the three-point arc.
“When someone is having a great game like Hunter, we can’t just be off of him,” Arrow said. “We got closer to him, but in situations like that, he doesn’t even get the ball. We kept just letting him catch it. He’s a good freshman, but we should have been smart enough not to let him get the ball.”
“It’s like we’re hard-headed,” Arrow continued. “They’re going to have to make a bunch before we get on them. When a team is making 3s, you don’t come off of them. You don’t come off guys that are hot.”
The Jags went into the locker room at halftime trailing by eight points but made up that deficit in the first 5:26 of the second half to tie the score at 47 when Mychal Ammons nailed a three-pointer.
However, the Jags were unable to take the lead even though they tied the game one other time. They battled back from a six point deficit midway through the second half and closed within one point twice, the second time with 4:48 left in the game on a Rubit layup.
But the Panthers answered back with an 8-1 run which was capped off by a 3-pointer by Atkins at the 2:22 mark. The Jags answered back with a run of their own as they got three-pointers from Freddie Goldstein and Xavier Roberson on three consecutive trips down the court. Roberson’s fourth and final one of the game made it a one point game with 34.6 seconds left.
Hunter would go to the line for the Panthers and made his first shot but missed the second to set up the Jaguars for one final shot with 11.3 seconds left in the game. Ammons drove the lane but was unable to get his shot to the net.
“We were trying to run a flare for Freddie,” Arrow said of the final play.
All 12 points by Roberson came from outside the three-point arc to be the only other Jaguar in double digits scoring in the game.
The Jags will have a week to correct their mistakes from this week and refocus on Sun Belt Conference play. The Jags will open Sun Belt play against Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton, FL on Thursday, November 29 against Florida Atlantic with tipoff set for 6pm Central time.
Jags Fall For Second Day In A Row In Coaches Vs Cancer Classic
The South Alabama Jaguars men’s basketball team fell for the second consecutive game in the Coaches versus Cancer Classic in Atlanta, Georgia. Monmouth’s Jesse Steele hit three free throws with 1.3 seconds left to give them the 73-71 win.
Those three free throws came seconds after Augustine Rubit hit three free throws of his own to give the Jaguars the lead 71-70 with 5.8 seconds left in the game.
The Jags fought back from a six point deficit in the final 3:16 before Steele’s final points of the game.
“I thought our guys really played hard, came back and had the game won,” Jaguars head coach Ronnie Arrow said. “The last thing I said to our guys was ‘don’t foul.’ The ball was there, Antoine (Allen) went for it and they called the foul. We have to do better in late-game situations. It’s just a shame that it ended like that. Hopefully we learn from it and the next time we get in that situation, we won’t foul.”
Rubit earned his first double-double of the season with 20 points and 16 rebounds while tying his career high of five blocks. Xavier Roberson scored 13 of this 18 points in the second half including three 3-point field goals in the final five minutes of the game.
Both teams traded double-digit runs in the second half. The Jags were trailing 45-41 early in the second half before an 11-0 run in just over two minutes put them in the lead.
But once that run ended, the Jags went silent by going without a field goal over the next seven-plus minutes while missing the next nine shots with three turnovers. Monmouth capitalized with a 12-0 run to retake the lead 57-52.
They would extend the lead over the Jags to seven points with 5:21 left in the game. Roberson would hit the first of his three late three-pointers to pull the Jags within four points.
“I thought tonight he did what we needed him to do, which is make shots for us,” Arrow said.
After a layup with 1:18 left in the game by Monmouth to push their lead to 70-66, Rubit would answer on the next possession with a three-point play. He would then grab a key rebound after a miss by Monmouth on their next possession.
“We did a good job there,” Arrow commented on the Jaguars rally late. “I thought Freddie (Goldstein) ran the plays that we called, we executed and Xavier hit a couple of big shots.”
After multiple scoring opportunities in the final seconds could not be converted by the Jags, Rubit would be fouled on a rebound attempt and sent to the free throw line. He would convert both shots to put the Jags ahead 71-70.
Then Steele would be fouled on the other end of the floor for the final three free throws that would seal the game.
South Alabama committed 25 turnovers in the game, both teams combined for 41 turnovers in the game. “They put a lot of pressure on us,” Arrow noted.
As mentioned before, Rubit would be the Jaguars leading scorer with 20 points and 16 rebounds. Roberson would end the game with 18 points, three rebounds and one assist. Mychal Ammons would chip in 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
South Alabama will complete play in the Coaches Versus Cancer Classic on Wednesday when they play against host school Georgia State with tip-off slated for 2pm Central time. The game can be heard live on the WNSP website.
Second Half Shooting Woes Down Jaguars Against Tennessee State
A shooting drought in the second half allowed Tennessee State to pull away from South Alabama on Monday in Atlanta. The Jags went over nine minutes without a field goal late in the second half as Tennessee State pulled away for a 68-57 win Monday night in the Coaches versus Cancer Classic at the Georgia State Sports Arena.
South Alabama falls to 2-1 on the young season while TSU get their first win to improve to 1-3 on the season.
“It was an absolute, total let-down in the first half,” Jags head coach Ronnie Arrow said. “I hate to say it, but we played selfishly. As good as we have been playing, we took too many bad shots. I don’t even have to look at the stats to see we took bad shots. We didn’t work the ball around.”
TSU did not waste any time getting started as they scored within three seconds of winning the opening tip. They then jumped out to a 13-2 lead on the Jags as they missed their first three shots and committed three turnovers before making their first shot of the game.
At halftime the TSU Tigers had a 36-24 lead.
But the Jags would start the second half strong by scoring the first nine points of the half to get within three points of the Tigers 36-33. Augustine Rubit accounted for eight of those nine points in less that three minutes of play.
However, three points were as close as the Jags would get. Xavier Roberson would hit a jumper with 15:07 left in the game to cut the lead back to 38-35, but TSU would score the next four points to extend their lead back to seven points. The two schools would trade scores over the next few minutes before a 7-0 run by TSU to further extend their lead to 51-39.
Then a layup from Rubit at the 10:24 mark would pull the Jags within 51-43, but the team would go stone cold. The Jags would miss their next six shots with three turnovers and would go only 4-of-9 from the free throw line during that span. The Tigers would pounce on the shooting woes to go on a 17-4 run to open up a 68-47 lead.
“We played with energy,” Arrow said of the comeback early in the second half. “We gave ourselves a chance—we made the extra pass and got layups.”
“We didn’t run our offense,” Arrow continued. “We couldn’t run our offense because we were shooting the ball. We had horrible decision making with the ball.”
“They kicked our tail on the boards. We had seven offensive rebounds. They took us to the ‘shed on the boards. We’re not rebounding like we did year. We have to do something about that. This team should be a very good rebounding team.”
Augustine Rubit would lead all players with 21 points, 19 of them in the second half. He shot 7-of-10 from the floor and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line. “We weren’t getting him the ball (in the first half) and he wasn’t moving around much to get the ball. He started out slow. In the second half he got some more movement.”
Mychal Ammons would be the only other Jaguar to score double digit points with 11 and would lead all Jaguars with seven rebounds.
South Alabama will have to rebound quickly as they face Monmouth on Tuesday at 3pm Central time. The game can be heard on 105.5-FM WSNP and http://www.wnsp.com/.
Jaguar Men’s Basketball Announce Three Signees For 2013-2014 Season
South Alabama’s head basketball coach Ronnie Arrow announced on Friday that they received three National Letter of Intent’s from players during the early signing period.
Ken Williams, Terence Johnson and Vieux Kande sent in their LOI’s as they intend to join the program for the 2013-2014 season.
Williams, a 5’11”, 170 pound point guard and son of former University of Houtson star “Juice” Williams. He was rated a three-star athlete by Scout and the #28 player ranked in the TexasHoops.com class of 2013. As as sophomore he averaged 24.6 points per game by making 57 3-point shots.
“I’ve known him and his family since he was about five years old,” Arrow said. “His father was one of the best shooters to come out of the University of Houston. He was there right before ‘Phi Slamma Jamma.’ What Ken brings to the table is the ability to shoot and handle the ball. He’s a three-star basketball player that was recruited heavily. We’re very happy to have the caliber of player that he is.”
“He’s a winner,” Arrow said. “Wherever he’s been, he’s won. There are three things you always want in your program: good citizens, good shooters and winners, and he has all three attributes.”
Johnson enters his fourth year as a starter at Deerfield Beach (FL) High School where he has led the team to a 42-10 combined record over the last two season. Last season he averaged 21.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game as they went 22-5. He earned First Team All-Broward County honors from both the Miami Herald and the Sun Sentinel.
Johnson is a 6’4″ swing player that averaged a double-double in his sophomore season with 14.1 points and 10 rebounds per game. He also average 2.1 assists per game.
“With Terence and Ken, we feel like that we have a backcourt in the making that will be as good as any that we play,” Arrow said.
“He’s strong and likes to guard,” Arrow continued. “He is more of a scorer than just a shooter.”
Kande is a 6’9″ forward that currently attends Sagemont School in Weston, FL. He is a native of Dakar, Senegal.
“What we wanted is a true post man who wants the ball and doesn’t mind getting hit,” Arrow stated. “When the ball goes up, he goes and gets it. He doesn’t care if there’s one guy around it or three guys. He feels like every ball that comes off the rim is his.”
This season he has moved into a starting role and is averaging 16.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game through two games. He has back-to-back double-doubles in their first two games with 23 points and 13 rebounds in the opening game followed by a 10 point, 10 rebound and 7 block game in his second.
Jags Basketball Play Tennessee State In Atlants For Coaches Vs Cancer Classic
The University of South Alabama Men’s Basketball team will take on Tennessee State in the next game of the Coaches vs Cancer Classic in Atlanta, Georgia. This will be the first meeting by the two schools.
The Tennessee State Tigers enter the game winless with an 0-3 record coming off of a 72-43 defeat at Minnesota on Thursday. Tennessee State head coach Travis Williams is in his first season with the Tigers, his fourth overall as a head coach.
The Jags enter the game after defeating William Carey in the Jags home opener 82-64 for their 21st consecutive home opener win.
Through November 16th the Jags are ranked #4 RPI by RealTimeRPI while being ranked #148 by the Sagarin rankings. TSU ranked #262 RPI and #177 in the Sagarin.
This is the first time the Jaguars has started the season 2-0 since the the 1996-1997 season when they finished 23-7 and won the Sun Belt title and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
In the second half against William Carey, Antoine Allen and Xavier Roberson combined to go 6-of-7 from the three-point arc. Augustine Rubit scored a game-high 20 points and missed a double-double by a single rebound. He scored 16 of his 20 in the first half and is currently in a tie for fifth place in the conference with an average of 16.0 points per game.
Javier Carter blocked seven shots against William Carey to extend his blocks streak to eight game. He leads the conference with an average of 6.5 blocks per game. Mychal Ammons recorded his third consecutive double-double with 19 points and a career high 13 rebounds. He is averaging 15.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in his last 11 games. He also leads the conference in rebounding with 12.0 per game while also ranking second in the conference in field goal percentage (66.7%).
The game will tip-off at 4pm EST, 3pm Central at the Georgia State Sports Arena. The game can be heard on 105.5 FM WNSP or on their web stream at http://www.wnsp.com/.
Jags Use Strong Second Half To Down William Carey 82-64 In Home Opener
The South Alabama Jaguars Men’s Basketball team used a strong second half to defeat William Carey 82-64 in their home opener for the season. The Jags improve to 2-0 on the season while WCU used this game as an exhibition game.
William Carey led most of the first half but the Jags took the lead back late in the first half, but the Crusaders were able to steal the ball and lay it in before the buzzer to take a 36-36 tie into halftime. However the Jags would use a 12-0 run early in the second half to pull away.
“I kept telling everybody that that team was very athletic and could shoot the ball,” Jaguar head coach Ronnie Arrow said. “Not to take anything away from them, but we didn’t guard like we wanted to at the beginning of the game. We get a little hard-headed now and then where we have to be proven that they can shoot the ball and I think they proved it that they could shoot it in the first half.”
Sophomore Mychal Ammons earned his third consecutive double-double going back to last season with 19 points and 13 rebounds. “I think last year we played (Mychal) 95 percent outside,” Arrow stated. “He never played outside before but we thought that he could become a 6-foot-6 power ‘3’ man and all that skill work he did last year has helped him this year play the ‘3’ and the ‘4.’ He can put the ball on the floor better. Now he’s taking ‘4s’ off the dribble and when he takes it outside he’s taking ‘3s’ off the dribble so he can dribble penetrate better with all the experience he got from last year.”
Augustine Rubit, a junior, fell one rebound short of a double-double with 20 points, 16 in the first half, and nine rebounds. “I thought Aug was getting back to his form,” Arrow said. “He really isn’t back yet from his dislocated toe, but he was moving a lot better tonight.”
During the 12-0 run that put the Jags up for good, four different Jaguars contributed with scores. Junior Antoine Allen nailed back-to-back 3-pointers, the first for the Jaguars in the game, to cap off the run.
Midway through the second half the Jags had a 7-0 run with Xavier Roberson hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the Jags lead to 59-44.
On the other side, William Carey opened the second half shooting 1-of-11 from the floor.
“We won’t face anybody all year that’s got a front line like they’ve got,” William Carey head coach Steve Knight said. “They finally started making some shots in the second half, and that hurt us. If you’re going to try to double the post, then they start making threes, it’s pick your poison. They did a much better job in the second half of mixing it up.”
Roberson scored 15 points, all in the second half. Senior Javier Carter tied a career high with three assists with seven blocks to tie him for fifth place in school history.
South Alabama will face Tennessee State on Monday at 3pm in the next round of the Coaches vs Cancer classic. They will play in Atlanta and hosted by Georgia State.
Jags Basketball Opens Home Opener Tonight At The Mitchell Center
The South Alabama Men’s Basketball team will open their home schedule tonight when they host the William Carey Crusaders. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05 pm at the Mitchell Center. All upper level seats will be on sale for $1 as will hot dogs from 6pm until halftime.
The game will be broadcast on 105.5 WNSP or it can be seen by subscribers to the Jaguars All-Access service.
The Jags enter the game on the heels of a huge win over top-25 ranks Florida State University. Last season the Jags lost to the Seminoles 80-39.
“I think our guys did a heck of a job of doing what they had to do to win,” Jaguar head coach Ronnie Arrow said. “Everybody that got into the game contributed. Did we do everything right? No, but we did a lot of good things.”
“At the end of the game, we showed the ability to win big games,” he continued. “We hit free throws, we got stops and if we didn’t get a stop, we held them to one shot. We showed maturity in key situations at the end of the game. For this early in the season, I thought that was good against a quality team.”
But the Jags had better treat their opponent with respect because their only loss was to Mississippi State by six points in an exhibition game.
Additionally on Tuesday South Alabama’s Antoine Allen was honored with a pair of awards for his play against Florida State. He was honored with the Lou Henson Award which is given to the top mid-major player in the country every week. He was also honored by the Sun Belt Conference as the player of the week for his performance.
Allen scored a career high 21 points to help lead the Jaguars over the Seminoles in Tallahassee.
Come out tonight and support your Jaguars!
Jags Open Season Against Florida State On Friday
South Alabama Men’s Basketball team will open the season in Tallahassee against the Seminoles. This is the second year in a row that the Jags and Florida State have faced each other on the hardwood. FSU defeated the Jags 80-39 last season to improve their record against the Jags to 10-2. They have also won the last four times they have met with all of them being since the 1988-1989 season.
The Jags and the Seminoles will open the season in the first round of the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament. The ‘noles enter the season ranked 25th in the nation by the Associated Press and tied for 24th in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll.
FSU is picked to finish fourth in the 2013 ACC standing by the media after winning the 2012 ACC Championship.
Senior Michael Snaer won the 2012 ACC Tournament MVP. He is also an All-American candidate and led the ‘noles with a career high 14.0 points per game average. He is also the returning leader in five different statistical categories including scoring, steals, assists and minutes played. They also return Junior Okaro White who is FSU’s leading returning rebounder with an average of 4.4 per game in 35 games played as a sophomore as they won 25 games last season.
The Jags and ‘Noles tip off at 6pm Central. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.