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.
Lady Jags Fall To FAU In Conference Opener
The South Alabama women’s basketball team dropped their first Sun Belt Conference game on Wednesday 67-56 to Florida Atlantic. The Jags held a six point advantage at halftime, but FAU used two second half surges to rally back and overtake the Lady Jags.
Mansa El led the Jags with 12 points, six assists and five rebounds while going 5-of-13 from the field. Meghan Dunn also scored in double figures with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and 2-of-3 from 3-point range. Ronneka Robertson added six points and a game-high seven rebounds for the Lady Jags.
FAU improved their record to 4-2 overall (1-0 SBC) with the win. The Owls had three players score in double digits with Kimberly Smith leading the way with 19 points.
At halftime, the Jags led 29-22, but with under 16 minutes to go in the game the Owls surged into the lead with a 15-2 run over six minutes. With under 10 minutes to go, Brianna Wright twice brought the Jags within a bucket of cutting the FAU lead down to single digits, but with 7:13 left they pulled out to a 57-41 lead.
The Lady Jags would cut the lead to 10 points at 57-47 but that would be as close as they would get the rest of the way. FAU would stretch their lead out to 67-48 with less than two minutes remaining, their largest lead of the game and would hold on for the win.
The Lady Jags (5-2, 0-1 SBC) will close out a five-game road swing on Saturday when they play FIU at 4:30pm at the U.S. Century Bank Arena.
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.
Lady Jags Split A Pair Of Games Over The Weekend
The Lady Jags suffered their first loss of the season on Friday when they played Cal State Northridge. Cold shooting lead to the Jags first loss in a 47-40 decision in the opening round of the Radisson Hotel Chatsworth Thanksgiving Basketball Classic at the Matadome.
The lady Jags shot a season-low 22.1 percent from the field in the game. “It really didn’t matter where the shots were coming from tonight, we just couldn’t score,” Jaguar head coach Rick Pietri said. “You have to give part of the credit to that to Cal State Northridge’s defense. In the second half, we were able to make some adjustments. We attacked them and got some open looks on the perimeter and some plays close to the goal. But we just couldn’t make plays. We were able to cut it to five late in the second half after being down by 12 or 13, and we just couldn’t make that one extra play offensively and (Cal State Northridge) responded. They’re a good team and were picked to win their league for a reason. They’re expected to be in the NCAA tournament. When they had to make a play, their players stepped up and finished. When we had to close the gap more, we just couldn’t finish.”
That dropped the Jaguars record to 4-1 on the season and took on Detroit on Saturday in the consolation game where they bounced back with a 59-56 win.
That win improved the the Jaguars record to 5-1 on the season before the Jaguars open up Sun Belt Conference play at Florida Atlantic on Wednesday.
Mary Nixon’s return to the lineup had an immediate impact for the Jags. She led the way with 19 points on 5-of-11 shooting and was also 6-of-8 at the foul line.
“Mary Nixon clearly is a difference maker for us,” Coach Pietri said. “She sat out the last two games for us and today was available to play and was excellent. She not only does things individually, but her presence has a positive effect on the rest of our group. Mansa El also played very well today and I think she was able to do that because of the presence of Mary on the court. When we are fully stocked, I feel really good about where we are as a team as we move forward.”
The Jags tip-off against Florida Atlantic at 6:05pm 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/.
Lady Jags Basketball To Host Southern Miss Tonight At Mitchell Center
The South Alabama Women’s basketball team will host regional rival and Conference USA foe Southern Miss Friday evening at the Mitchell Center for a 7:05pm tip-off.
The Lady Jags have began the season with a 2-0 start after they picked up a 59-43 win over Tennessee State earlier this week.
Southern Miss enters the game after falling to Hampton back on November 9 in it’s season opener 78-41.
“The thing that we have to be concerned about is this is a team that beat us last year,” Lady Jaguar head coach Rick Pietri said. “Their backcourt basically killed us last year, Tanecka Carey and Jamierra Faulkner. They put up 26 and 20 (points) on us, and they’re back. We’ve got to find a way to manage them without ignoring the other players on their team who are capable as well. They’re coming off what I’m sure to them was a disappointing loss and they’ve had a whole week to stew about it, which as their next opponent, is something I’m not very excited about.”
“Nonetheless, I know that they’ll be ready to play, and, based on their success versus us last year in a very close game, I know that they’re not going to have any fear of us, so we’re going to have to do the best we can to defend and find ways to score to give ourselves a chance to win.”
Southern Miss leads the all-time series between the two schools 15-10 while coach Rick Pietri is 7-2 against USM in his career. Last season the Jags fell in Hattisburg 67-62. When the Jags and the Golden Eagles last met in MObile, the Jags defeated them 95-61 in the 2010-2011 season.