Jags Face WKU Tonight In SBC Tournament Showdown
South Alabama will face Western Kentucky in the second around of the Sun Belt Tournament Saturday night in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
South Alabama earned a bye in the first round of the tournament with a #3 seeding while #6 seed WKU defeated #11 seed ULM 79-73.
The Hilltoppers hold a 4-3 lead over the Jags in Sun Belt Tournament games. The Jags split the regular season meetings with the ‘toppers with each team winning their home game.
The game is scheduled to tip-off at 8:30pm with radio coverage on WNSP with play-by-play by Lee Shirvanian and streaming video available via the Sun Belt Digital Network.
Sun Belt Tournament Preview
The Sun Belt Conference Tournament begins today in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Middle Tennessee State earned the #1 seed with a 27-4 overall record and a 19-1 record in Sun Belt play.
MTSU has a big bulls eye on their back. Number one seeds in the Sun Belt Tournament have not fared well over the last few years. Even last season MTSU had a similarly impressive record but fell in their first game of the 2012 Sun Belt Tournament to #9 seed Arkansas State. Their record coming into the game was 27-7 (14-2 SBC).
MTSU has been tearing through some of their opponents this season without abandon. They defeated ULM by 41 points, the Jags by 35, Troy by 52 and UALR by 32 all since the beginning of the year. Their only loss was on the road against Arkansas State, who had their number in the tournament last season in Arkansas, 66-60 in overtime.
After their loss last season, they were snubbed by the NCAA Tournament and settled for the NIT. The same could happen this season if they lose their opening game of the tournament, but many think that if they don’t get embarrassed they would get an at-large berth in the tournament. They enter the SBC Tournament with a 16-game winning streak and 10 consecutive win by double digits. Their RPI is #24th in the nation.
The rest of the teams are looking to win the tournament for an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. South Alabama is one of those teams. Augustine Rubit was named the Sun Belt Player of the Year for his performance this season. The Jags will look to use him as they have thei season to advance in the tournament.
MTSU will face the winner of the #8 seed UL-Lafayette and #9 North Texas who tip off at 6:30pm this evening. While the Jags will face the winner between the #6 WKU and #11 UL-Monroe gam that tips off at 6pm.
The other game this tonight is #7 FAU and #10 Troy who tip off at 8:30pm.
Augustine Rubit Honored As Sun Belt Player of the Year By League Coaches, Media
Rubit was named SBC POTY conference coaches and media on Wednesday as he averaged 18.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 33.3 minutes per game during the regular season. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
As many South Alabama fans expected, Junior Augustine Rubit was honored by the coaches and media on Wednesday. He was named the 2012-2013 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year.
In addition to his Player of the Year honor, the first for a Jaguar player since Jeff Hodge in 1989, he was also earned his second consecutive First Team All-Sun Belt team honor. Rubit was honored by CollegeInsider.com as their Sun Belt Player of the Year on Monday as well.
Rubit averaged 18.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 33.3 minutes per game this season with 16 double-double performances. He scored 20 or more points in 13 games, including a carrer-best 34 points against Louisiana-Lafayette on Valentines day, which was one of his three 30-point games this season.
He also set a school record for free throws made in a season with 177 while being one of the nation’s top players in reaching the free throw stripe. He was third in NCAA’s Division I in free throws made and attempted per game.
In the midst of all of this, he scored his 1,000th point and currently ranks ninth in school history in scoring with 1,337 career points. He has also moved into second place all-time in career rebounds in school history with 878 which also puts him in 10th place in Sun Belt history. his 302 rebounds so far this season is fourth best in Jaguars single-season records.
Rubit led the Jaguars to a 17-11 regular season record while going 14-6 in Sun Belt play, the most conference wins since the 2007-2008 season. The Jags earned a bye in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and thus will play their first game on Saturday night.
Rubit Earns SBC POTY Honor From CollegeInsider.com
Rubit was named SBC POTY by CollegeInsider.com as he averaged 18.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 33.3 minutes per game during the regular season. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
Augustine Rubit picked up another honor on Tuesday when CollegeInsider.com named him the Sun Belt Player of the Year.
Rubit, a 6’6″, 235-pound junior from Houston, Texas was one of three players honored by the website. Along with Rubit, Brandon Peterson was named Most Valuable Player and Kermit Davis was named Coach of the Year, both from Middle Tennessee State.
Rubit was a preseason All-Sun Belt Conference pick and was named first-team All-Sun Belt last season.
It’s expected that Rubit will also be named to the 2012-2013 All-Conference team by league coaches and media on Wednesday. They will also honor Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year.
Rubit finished the regular season with an average of 18.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 33.3 minutes per game. He also added 36 blocks, 31 assists and 19 steals this season.
The Sun Belt Tournament tips-off Friday in Hot Springs, Arkansas with the Jags earning a #3 seed in the tournament and a bye in the first round of the tournament. The Jags will face the winner between #6 Western Kentucky and #11 UL-Monroe on Saturday night.
Jaguar Sports Weekend Update
Men’s Basketball
The Jags fell on the road to Western Kentucky on Thursday night after falling behind by as many as 14 points against the Hilltoppers. But the Jags surged late but just could not make up the deficit and fell 79-73 in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Rubit finished with 23 points and nine rebounds with four assists and three steals. Javier Carter got his second consecutive double-double with a season high 14 points and 10 rebounds. He also added six blocks and three steals against the Toppers.
The Jags rebounded in the season finale trip to Troy to face their in-state rival Trojans. The Jags capped off the season with a 53-49 win on Saturday night in the Jags first game in Troy’s brand new Trojan Arena.
South Alabama fell behind by as many as 16 points in the first half and trailed by nine points at halftime. But outscored the Trojans 34-21 in the second half to come away with the victory. But it took a key defensive stop late to preserve the Jaguar victory.
Javier Carter picked up his third consecutive double-double with 10 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Carter also added five blocked shots including one with :12 seconds left to preserve the Jaguars three point lead at the time.
Augustine Rubit also added to his season total of double-doubles with a 13-point, 10 rebound effort.
Antoine Allen scored nine of this 12 points in the second half for the Jags.
South Alabama finishes the regular season with a 17-11 record overall and a 14-6 record in Sun Belt play. Troy lost their fifth consecutive game of the season to fall to 11-20 overall and 6-14 in Sun Belt play.
Troy’s head coach Don Maestri continues to be suck on 499 career wins.
South Alabama, who secured the #3 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament, will face the winner of the #6 seed Western Kentucky and #11 seed UL-Monroe game at 8:30pm on Saturday night at the Convention Center Court in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
In the Jags same bracket, #7 FAU and #10 Troy will face on in the first round then the winner with face #2 seed Arkansas State at 9pm on Saturday night in the SUmmit Arena. The winner of that side of the bracket will face the winner of the Jaguars side of the braket at 9pm on Sunday in the Semifinal game.
Football
South Alabama held their second practice of the spring practice period on Saturday morning and their third on Sunday afternoon. With three new faces coaching on the defensive side of the ball, including first year defensive coordinator Kevin Sherrer.
Sherrer, instead of installing a new playbook, is focusing on getting all of the players on the same page. They are working on communication and new signals and terminology.
“The goal is for the new staff to communicate what they want out of the players, and for the players to understand what they [the coaches] want,” head coach Joey Jones explained after practice. “We want the players to come out of the spring totally understanding what our defensive staff wants them to do. The interaction seems to be extremely good. Our players appear to have a great feel for what the coaches want. They like the new coaches and understand they know what they are talking about and they have a great relationship off the field. It’s been real good for us.”
Sherrer was hired before the start of the spring semester and NCAA rules allowed several meetings in the offseason, is helping to achieve Coach Jones’ goals for this spring.
“I was in the first team meeting when they got back from the winter break, so they knew who I was,” Sherrer said. “A lot of them came by with questions, and we were allowed a couple of hours per week in the offseason to meet with them so we were able to get in there and teach them a little bit. The toughest part was getting the staff acclimated to what we are going to do because we all came from different directions. But so far it has gone well. The players have adapted to it and are eager to learn.”
Sherrer is using veterans on the team to help get his message to the rest of the team. Bryson James, Clifton Crews, Enrique Williams, Romelle Jones, Darrius Morrow and Tyrell Pearson, all who started last season for the Jags, were acknowledged by Sherrer as having a lot of experience and leadership ability on the team.
Sherrer is building a strong foundation on which the rest of the defensive scheme will be built. It may be very simple right now, but his process will build upon that and gain complexity throughout the spring and fall camp.
“We want to have a good understanding of the defense and the scheme that we want to run,” Sherrer explained. “We want to evaluate the players that are out there and see who fits the scheme and make sure we’re doing the right things. The most important part is that we want to come away with the right fundamentals, defense striking with their hands, tackling the right way and pursuing the football.”
They will return to the practice field at 6am on Tuesday with another two hour practice scheduled for the team.
Women’s Basketball
The #7 seed South Alabama Lady’s Basketball team will open the Sun Belt Tournament on Friday with a 2pm game against #10 Troy in the Convention Center. The winner of that game will advance to play the #2 seed Arkansas-Little Rock at 2:30pm on Saturday at the Summit Arena.
On the other side of the same bracket at the Jags has #6 North Texas opening at 2:30pm against #11 UL-Lafayette. The winner will then advance to play #3 seed Western Kentucky on Saturday. The winner will then face the winner of the other side of the bracket in the semi-final game on Sunday.
Softball
After dropping only their second game of the season, to #1 ranked Alabama on Thursday, the Lady Jaguar softball team turned around and swept through the Magic City Classic Tournament in Birmingham Alabama this weekend. The Jags defeated Murray State twice, the first 1-0 on Friday then again on Saturday 8-6. They then defeated UAB 8-2 in their second game on Saturday. Then they capped off the weekend by defeating Samford 4-0 on Sunday for a 4-game sweep of the weekend.
Third baseman Haley Fagan took a 1-0 pitch and drove it over the center field wall for a grand-slam to lift the Jags over Samford on Sunday.
Both Julie Moss and Brittany Campbell were named to the All-Tournament Team with Farish Beard named Co-Most Valuable Pitcher and Brittany Fowler named Most Valuable Player of the Tournament.
The Jags will host Nicholls State on Wednesday. The Lady Jags defeated Nicholls 7-1 earlier this season in Louisiana.
The Lady Jags are 17-2 overall this season. Next weekend they will travel to Long Beach California for the Long Beach State Invitational where they will face UC-Santa Barbara, Idaho State, UCLA, Utah and the host Long Beach State.
Once they return from that tournament, they will have the week off before hosting Louisiana-Lafayette over the weekend to open their Sun Belt schedule.
Baseball
The Jaguar lost their first game of the season on the road in Charleston, South Carolina on Friday night to College of Charleston by a score of 12-2.
The Jags then rebounded in the second game to win it 3-0 but then fell 2-3 on Sunday to get only their second loss of the season.
The Jags are 10-2 on the season and will return to action against Nicholls State on Tuesday in Thibodaux, Louisiana with a 6:30pm first pitch. They then return home to host Southern Miss on wednesday for another 6:30pm first pitch.
Jags Face Western Kentucky In Bowling Green Tonight
As South Alabama gears up for the conference tournament, they still have some work to do with two regular season contests left to round out the season. The Jags have already wrapped up the #3 seed for the tournament, but there is a lot left to play for and finish strong.
The first up is Western Kentucky on Thursday night at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Kentucky where the Jags are 11-16 all-time against the Hilltoppers. Though, USA holds a 33-29 edge all-time against WKU.
USA wants to keep their momentum going as they are 8-2 in their last 10 games, 16-10 overall and 13-5 in Sun Belt play. They also have a two-game winning streak going against the Hilltoppers dating back to last season.
With an injury and a dismissed player earlier this season, the Jags continue to fight and win though the roster is small and everyone is needed. Each player has their role, each player continues to play that role and the Jags continued to win.
Western Kentucky enters the game with a 15-14 record overall and 9-9 in Sun Belt play.
The key for the Jags is getting out to an early start. The Jags are a perfect 15-0 (11-0 SBC) when they are tied or leading at halftime. They are also 12-1 (10-1 SBC) when they have a higher shooting percentage than their opponent.
USA vs WKU will be broadcast on 105.5 FM WNSP, ESPN Full Court or ESPN3.com online.
Rubit Named One Of 25 Finalist For Lou Henson Award
Augustine Rubit set a new career-high with 34 points with 12 rebounds for his 14th double-double of the season against ULL. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
On Monday, CollegeInsider.com announced the finalists for the Lou Henson Award. South Alabama’s Augustine Rubit is among the 25 finalists for the award given to the top mid-major player in the country.
Rubit is the only Sun Belt Player included in the list of 25.
Rubit is leading the Sun Belt in rebounding with 10.9 per game and is second in scoring with 19.0 points per game while also second in double-doubles with 15 this season.
He had a career-high scoring game against ULM in January when he poured in 34 points and has already set a new school record for free throws in a single season. He has scored 30 or more points three times this season.
The award will be presented at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet in Atlanta, which is also the site of the men’s NCAA Basketball Championship.
The award is named for former Illinois and New Mexico State head coach Lou Henson. Henson won 779 games, 11th in NCAA history, and is one of just 12 coaches to take two schools to the final four.
South Alabama Athletics Weekend Update
Men’s Basketball
The Jaguar Men’s basketball team defeated North Texas at the Mitchell Center on Saturday night 69-57. Four Jags scored in double figures with Javier Carter earning his third career double-double on Senior night.
The Jags started their conference home schedule with a loss, but ended it against North Texas with seven consecutive wins. This improved the Jags to 16-10 overall and 13-5 in Sun Belt Conference play. UNT fell to 11-19 and 6-13 in Sun Belt play.
Senior Wendell Wright set a new career high in scoring with 10 points and a season best five rebounds and three assists. Sophomore Mychal Ammons led all scorers with 18 points. Augustine Rubit was held to nine points, but came down with 15 rebounds.
The Jags never trailed in the game.
USA continues to hold onto second place in the conference with a 13-5 record, one game ahead of Arkansas State who clinched the western division title with a 12-6 Sun Belt record.
The Jags basketball team travels to Western Kentucky for a Thurday night tip-off set for 7pm. It will be broadcast on ESPN3.
Women’s Basketball
The Lady Jaguars defeated North Texas 65-61 behind Mansa El’s 19 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals in her final game at the Mitchell Center.
The trio of seniors, Mansa El, Camille Reynolds and Mary Nixon combined for 44 points to lead the way for the victory.
The Lady Jags improve to 15-12 overall and 8-10 in Sun Belt play. They are fifth out of six schools in the Sun Belt’s Eastern division, one-half game behind FAU for a tie for fourth place and in eihth place overall in the conference.
The Lady Jags will travel to Western Kentucky and play the Lady Toppers on Wednesday night with tip-off set for 7pm.
Baseball
The Jags set a new school record Friday night at Eddie Stanky Field by defeating former conference foe University of New Orleans 29-6 after a 13 run eighth inning.
Their Saturday game was rained out, but they were able to get in a double-header on Sunday which the Jags sweeped with more modest scores of 4-1 and 5-2.
The Jaguars baseball team improved their record to 7-0 on the season. They will return to action on Tuesday and Wednesday when they travel to Jacksonville, Alabama to face Jacksonville State University for a two-game mid-week series. First pitch for Tuesday’s game is set for 6:30pm at Rudy Abbot Field.
Softball
The Lady Jags traveled to Jacksonville, Florida for the Jacksonville University Tournament. They went 4-0 before their final game was cancelled due to field conditions.
The Jags earned their seventh run-rule win of the season when they defeated Mount St. Mary’s 12-2 in 5 innings in the early Friday game. They then turned around and faced host school Jacksonville University and came away with a 7-0 win.
On Saturday, the Jags had another two game schedule. Their first was against Seton Hall which they earned their eighth run-rule win of the season with an 8-0 win in 6 innings. Their late game on Saturday was against Delaware which they won in a 1-0 decision.
The Lady Jags will be back in action on Thursday when they travel to Tuscaloosa for a make-up game against the University of Alabama. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00pm.
Track and Field
USA had two all-conference performances in the first day of the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships on Sunday. They also had a new school record set on the first day.
Nick Farrell came in first place and earned all-conference honors in the men’s pole vault when he cleared 5.00m. While his teammates William Henley and Connor Smith finished as part of a three-way tie for fifth place by vaulting 4.70m.
Briana Aiken also earned all-conference honors in the women’s long jump when she set a new school record of 6.01m. She finished in third place.
Complete results can be found here on the Jaguar Athletics website.
Day two will begin on Monday at 9am.
Jags Four Game Winning Streak Ends To MTSU
The South Alabama Men’s basketball team had their four game winning streak broken in Murfreesboro, Tennessee Thursday night by the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders 85-50. With the win, MTSU clinched the #1 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
The Blue Raiders scored the first 13 points of the game and held the Jags to a mere 28.6 percent shooting for the game. MTSU improved their overall record to 24-4 (16-1 SBC). South Alabama fell to 15-10 on the season (12-5 SBC).
The Jags only managed to shoot 26.1 percent in the first half while committing 14 turnovers before halftime. The Blue Raiders held USA to only one field goal over a 10-minute span and led by as many as 19 points in the first half.
The first 13 points of the game all went to Middle Tennessee before Trey Anderson got the Jags on the board with 14:30 left to play in the first half. MTSU also had a 12-2 run later in the first half to pull out to a 40-21 lead and would take a 41-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The second half was more of the first with MTSU putting together a 23-6 run with back-to-back three-pointers to pull out to a 36 point advantage.
Augustine Rubit earned his 15th double-double of the season with 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Mychal Ammons also scored 13 points before fouling out of the game. Anderson scored 11 points off the bench for the Jags, a season-high for him.
MTSU had five players in double-digits for the game.
“We just didn’t play well,” interim head coach Jeff Price said after the game. “You can’t come in and play a team like this, in this environment, and play poorly on both ends of the floor. You have to do one or the other and I thought we did not play well on either end. I’m more disappointed than anything in our defense.”
“We turned the ball over and our turnovers led to their easy baskets,” Price commented. “When you come in here, you have to take care of the ball. We talked so much about throwing the first punch in this game, we know how well they do early in games, and we’re sitting there down 13-0. It’s just a big hole to climb out of here.”
“I didn’t think we stayed in front of the ball well, I didn’t think we were good in our transition defense and we didn’t guard the rim like we have been,” observed Price. “That has not been a normal pattern of our team and we just have to go back to work. We have a big game on Saturday. We have to get this one past us and move on to the next one.”
The Jags will host their final home game of the season on Saturday when they face North Texas for Senior night. Trey Anderson, Wendell Wright, Freddie Goldstein, and Javier Carter will be honored Saturday night.
The Jags final three games will determine their seeding in the Sun Belt Tournament. They continue to hold onto second place in the conference by one game over Arkansas State. The Jags have North Texas, @ Western Kentucky and @ Troy to round out the season.
Tip-off is set for 7:05pm on Saturday against North Texas and the student section is planning a special surprise at halftime.
Rubit Garners Some National Attention
Augustine Rubit set a new career-high with 34 points with 12 rebounds for his 14th double-double of the season against ULL. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
Augustine Rubit was mentioned by Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports (sports.yahoo.com) in a section of his post called “Under-The-Radar Love”.
Forde points out that Rubit is the only player to rank among the top 20 nationally in scoring and rebounding. Rubit currently ranks 16th nationally in scoring with an average of 19.5 points per game and 9th in nationally in rebounding with an average of 10.6 rebounds per game.
Rubit is coming off of a career record 34-point game against Louisiana-Lafayette where he also pulled down 12 rebounds for his 14th double-double of the season. He also shot a career high 16 free throws and is averaging almost 10 foul shots per game.
Rubit may be flying under the radar nationally, but he is not so under the radar in the Sun Belt Conference.
He ranks first in the conference in rebounding with an average of 10.7 per game while also ranking second in the conference with an average of 19.6 points per game. Additionally, Rubit ranks first in offensive rebounds with 4.5 per game, third in defensive rebounds with 6.2 per game, fifth in blocked shots with 1.3 per game, sixth in free throw percentage at 77.9%, seventh in minutes played with an average of 33.8 minutes per game and eighth in field goal percentage with 49.4%.
If you want to read Forde’s post, you can find it here.