South Alabama Sports Weekend Roundup
Football
As National Signing Day approaches on Wednesday, head coach Joey Jones announced that Travis Pearson will be promoted to the defensive coordinator position that was vacated by Kevin Sherrer after he left to take a position at the University of Georgia under defensive coordinator and longtime friend Jeremy Pruitt.
“Travis is a great football coach and a great person,” Jones said. “He was here with us last season and part of a defense I like running, so I think the carryover with his knowledge of our system will be very helpful in maintaining what we’ve done through the next few years. I’m real excited about having him in this role.”
“He’s in the same boat that Kevin Sherrer was in,” Jones continued. “Kevin hadn’t been a defensive coordinator at the collegiate level, he hadn’t “coached” in college, but I knew he was a great football coach. And I know Travis Pearson is a great football coach. The players love him, they have a high level of respect for Coach Pearson and so do I.”
In his first season as part of the USA defensive staff, Pearson helped the Jaguar defense finish second in the Sun Belt Conference in passing yards (224.6 ypg), total defense (384.3 ypg) and scoring defense (25.2 ppg). While coaching the linebackers, he helped Enrique Williams earn second-team all-conference honors after the senior led the team with 105 total tackles, with 7.5 of them being tackles for loss. He also helped Maleki Harris post a career-high 63 tackles and 8.5 tackles for loss and seven passes broken up.
The Jags look to improve on their 6-6 overall record and 4-3 record in Sun Belt play last season. They lost five games by seven points or less, four of them came by a total of five points.
Coach Jones has three positions to fill on his staff: a defensive assistant to potentially coach the secondary if Pearson continues his work with the linebackers, a quarterbacks coach to fill Bryant Vincent’s position as he left for the offensive coordinator position at UAB, and a wide receivers coach to fill Jerry Mack’s position who left the staff for a head coaching position at North Carolina Central University.
Men’s Basketball
South Alabama rallied from a deficit of as much as 12 points to take the lead late in the game against Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday. But it was not enough to get the win as the Jags fell 62-58.
Early in the second half, the Jags were down 32-22 before a three-pointer by Ken Williams which was followed by a three-pointer by Augustine Rubit after a Trojan turnover would cut the lead to four points with 16:44 left in the game.
A short time later Antoine Allen and Ken Williams would combine for back-to-back three-pointers cutting the lead to 38-36. A layup by Josh Hagins would seperate the two 3-pointers from another by Antoine Allen that would further cut the Trojan lead to one point at 40-39 with 13:24 left.
USA would take their first lead of the game a short time later when Allen would sink both free throws with 12:51 left in the game.
The Jags would take a 54-51 with 3:18 left in the game on an Antoine Allen layup, but Hagins sparked a 6-0 rally to retake the lead over the Jaguars.
USA was forced to foul late in the game and would get within one-point on a Mychal Ammons dunk with 15.7 left in the game. UALR would make one of two at the free throw line to set up the Jaguars final possession of the game.
A floater by Allen in the lane would only hit the front of the rim, just short of it’s mark. Hagins would add on the final two points of the game with 0.9 seconds left for the final score 62-58.
Antoine Allen and Augustine Rubit both scored 14 points to lead the Jaguars in scoring. Rubit would finish just short of a double-double with nine rebounds. Ken Williams was the only other Jaguar in double figures scoring with 10.
With the loss, the Jags fall to 7-14 overall and 1-7 in conference play. UALR speeps the season series as they improved to 12-10 overall and 7-3 in conference play.
The Jags travel to Atlanta to play Georgia State in a game that was rescheduled from Thursday due to weather.
Currently the Jags are in the basement of the Sun Belt Conference standings at 10th place. The Sun Belt Conference Tournament will feature the top 8 teams, which is still within the Jaguars grasp. Texas State, currently the 8th place team, is 6-15 overall and 2-6 in Conference play. Troy is in 9th place with an overall record of 7-14 and a conference record of 2-7.
Women’s Basketball
The lady Jaguars held on the defeat UALR 61-56 on Saturday. Meghan Dunn scored eight of the final 12 points for the Jaguars to hold on for the win.
Dunn finished with 17 points and her eighth double-figure game of the season. She was a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe and 5-of-12 from the floor while also adding four assists.
Breanna Hall led the Jags with 19 points as she finished just two points shy of tying her career high. She has hit double-figures in her last four games and hit 10-of-11 free throws.
The entire team went 22-of-26 from the free throw line.
The Lady Jaguars improved to 7-12 overall and 5-4 in Sun Belt play. UALR fell to 10-10 overall and 5-5 in conference play.
USA will travel to in-state rival Troy on Thursday for a 5:15pm tipoff.
Lady Jags Fall To Panthers On The Road
Thursday afternoon the Lady Jaguars were finally able to hit the floor against Georgia State after their 24-hour bus trip to Atlanta on Tuesday into Wednesday.
Unfortunately their second half rally fell short as they lost 62-55 to the Lady Panthers.
USA jumped out to an early 8-2 lead, but the offense went stone cold as they missed 14 of their next 15 shots before Meghan Dunn snapped the 11-conscutive missed shot streak with 9:43 left in the first half. An 18-2 run would put GSU up 20-10 with about six minutes left until halftime.
At the half, the Jags were only 6-of-31 from the field (19.4%) and had only made one three-pointer. GSU shot 45.2% with 22 of its 31 points coming in the paint.
In the second half the Jags finally found their shot as Dunn connected from long range to open the second half. But GSU went on a 13-1 run over the next three-and-a-half minutes to take a 24 point lead on the Jaguars.
A Breanna Hall pass to Ronneka Robertson for an easy shot would spur a 13-2 run by the Jags over the next four-plus minutes. The Jags would cut the lead to 46-33 with less than 12 minutes to play.
Two baskets by the Panthers put them back up by 17 points, but the Jags continued to fight. Sharon Sanders would nail a 3-pointer with 4:01 left to cut the Panther lead to single digits at 54-46.
Later Dunn would bank in a three from the left wing and would follow that up with a baseline jumper with 1:46 left in the game to put the Jags within five points, 58-53.
But Kayla Nolan would hit a bucket and make her and-one to all but seal the game.
In the second half the Jags were 14-of-25 (56%) from the floor and 6-of-13 from 3-point range.
South Alabama fell to 6-12 overall and 4-4 in Conference play on the season with the loss. Meghan Dunn led the Jags with 17 points as she went 7-of-14 from the field and led the team with three 3-pointers and three steals. Jennifer Johnson added 11 points off the bench on 5-of-12 shooting. Breanna Hall came up just short of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
Georgia State improved to 10-10 overall and 6-2 in conference play with its fifth consecutive win. Alisha Andrews led all scorers with 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting with five assists and three steals. Brittany Logan earned her third-consecutive double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
THe Lady Jaguars will face Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday. An “Old-timers” game is set for former players at 11am with the Lady Jags facing the Trojans at 2:05pm with the men facing the Trojans at 4:05pm.
USA Women’s Basketball Team Has Trip To Remember In Atlanta
The South Alabama women’s basketball team had a trip to remember and will have a story to tell for the rest of their lives.
The Lady Jaguars left out Tuesday morning en route to Atlanta ahead of their game against Georgia State on Wednesday. However the routine trip ended up taking them 24 hours.
They left campus at 9:30am on Tuesday just as the winter storm was starting to hit the southeast. But they did not arrive at their Atlanta hotel until 9:30am on Wednesday after spending the night on the bus and walking the final mile or so on foot.
The team started to encounter snow when they reached Greenville, Alabama and it continued as they made their way to Montgomery. They had planned to stop in Montgomery for lunch, but as they looked for restaurants they found that most of the places were closed. However they found a Chick-fil-A that was just about to close and they agreed to allow the team to eat inside.
As they passed the Georgia line they started to see flurries then when thy got to Peachtree, which is about 40 miles from Atlanta, they started to see snow on the roads. At this time traffic was still moving.
It wasn’t until they got downtown did the traffic start to congest. When they were looking for Georgia 400 exit is when the traffic halted.
Head coach Terry Fowler told AL.com, “There are signs everywhere (warning of icy conditions) and because it’s an overpass, (Georgia 400) is iced up pretty bad. We see all these trucks and such, but none are going over Georgia 400. No trucks, no buses are trying, only cars and that’s sporadically. So we’re not going to get on Georgia 400, we’re going to take the next exit down and circle back to the hotel. But by now it’s just total gridlock. It is just stopped.
South Alabama Sports Weekend Roundup
Men’s Basketball
After falling behind by eight points at halftime, the Jaguars rallied to take the lead in the second half. But a late 12-3 run by the Mavericks was too much to overcome as the Jaguars fell 73-65.
USA shot only 28.1% in the first half but only trailed by as many as 10 points. They used a 15-5 run early in the second half to take the lead. Back-to-back three-pointers by Ken Williams and Barrington Stevens III would give the Jags a 46-45 lead.
UT-Arlington would reel off seven consecutive points, but USA responded right back with seven straight points of their own. Augustine Rubit would score the final four of the run to put the Jaguars up 53-52 with 7:34 left in the game.
But UTA would put together another 7-0 run to put themselves ahead for good. Freshman Isaiah Maston would hit a 3-pointer to try to get the Jags back on course, but Maverick Lonnie McClanahan would score the next five points to give his team an eight point advantage with just over three minutes to go.
In the final 33.4 seconds, the Mavericks went 7-of-8 from the free throw line to maintain their lead as the Jaguars tried to rally, but too little too late.
Antoine Allen led the Jags with 18 points before fouling out. Rubit added 14 points and eight rebounds. Stevens III also added 14 points while Ken Williams was the only other Jaguar to score in double-digits with 10 points. Mychal Ammons led the team in rebounds with 11 to go along with his six points.
Reger Dowell scored 21 points he hit four consecutive three-pointers when he entered the game for the Mavericks.
The Jags fall to 7-13 overall and 1-6 in conference play. UT-Arlington wins their third straight game to improve to 9-10 overall and 4-3 in conference play.
“In the second half, when we were down, I thought we showed great resolve for one of the few times this year in being able to come back from a deficit,” Jaguar head coach Matthew Graves said. “We took the lead and kept fighting but with about six or seven minutes to go, I thought they turned it up a notch and we went about six straight possessions without a stop, and that’s the end result.”
The Jags will travel to Georgia State on Thursday to face the conference leading Panthers. Tipoff is scheduled for 6pm CST.
Women’s Basketball
The Lady Jaguars took UT-Arlington to overtime and finally decided the game when Meghan Dunn sank a pair of free throws with 8.7 seconds left. The Maverick last-second shot was waved off after a review to give the Jaguars a 73-72 win.
The Mavericks had thought they had won their first conference victory but after review, Malaika Green’s last second shot after an offensive rebound came just after the final buzzer sounded.
Both Dunn and Breanna Hall led the team with 21 points each. Dunn tied a career high in points as she was 6-of-14 from the field and sank all six of her free throw attempts. Hall set a new career high on 6-of-13 shooting while going 4-of-9 from three-point range. Hall also set a career mark with five steals.
Brittany Webb added 11 points and a career best seven assists. Ronneka Robertson just missed a second-consecutive double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. Rachel Cumbo added nine points, all from 3-point range.
The lady Jaguars improved to 6-11 overall and 4-3 in conference play. The Lady Mavericks fell to 1-17 overall and 0-7 in conference play.
After A Break, USA Basketball Returns To Action Tomorrow Night
Normally the South Alabama men’s basketball team would have played a game last night, but the break comes and a good time for the Jaguars. The Women would have also played Wednesday night, but they too got some time off this week.
It comes after a disappointing loss to Louisiana-Monroe which was two days after the Jaguars broke their six-game losing streak with an 81-73 win over Louisiana-Lafayette.
It’s a time for Coach Matthew Graves and his team, who are 7-12 overall and 1-5 in the conference, to improve in order to try to make a run for the SBC Tournament. Currenty, they are in danger of missing the postseason tournament as only the top eight teams will participate.
Coach Graves told AL.com that the chance to get extra work in this week has been good. He said that the team was sharp early in the week but that Wednesday’s practice was probably one of the worst they have had all season. But he said that after showing the team the video from the practice that they turned around and had one of their best practices of the year.
Coach Graves keeps telling them that they just need to consistently do what the coaches are asking them and once that becomes habit, then the wins will come.
“It came at a very good time for us,” Graves told AL.com about the time off. “There’s no question that we’ve struggled. Even in the win against Louisiana(-Lafayette), we didn’t take care of the ball very well. In my opinion, we have not reached anywhere near our potential of what we can be. At the same time we can’t keep repeating the things that we do to not be successful because before long we’ll be talking that the season is over and we have underachieved. And that’s something that we certainly don’t want to do.”
The Jags will fly to Arlington, Texas this morning and will have a practice session later today. They will have a shoot-around on Saturday morning before their 7:30pm tipoff against UT-Arlington.
The Jaguar Men will go for their second conference win and to start their march towards the Conference Tournament. The Lady Jaguars will look to win back-to-back SBC games for the first time since they opened Conference play. The Ladies tip off at 5pm against UT-Arlington in Texas.
South Alabama Sports Weekend Roundup
Men’s Basketball
The Men’s basketball team saw their 34-27 halftime lead over Louisiana-Monroe be overtaken in route to the Warhawks 64-58 win on Saturday night at the Mitchell Center.
The Warhark defense held the Jags to 22.2% shooting from the floor in the second half and a mere 9.1% from 3-point range. The Jags only shot 32.2% for the game.
ULM shot 48% in the second half as Tylor Ongwae and Nick Collola combined for 24 points in the second half. Ongwae ended the game with a career high 19 points, 14 of them in the second half.
ULM began the second half by scoring the first seven points to tie the Jaguars at 34-all. They then used an 11-3 run midway through the second half to take their largest lead of the game at 47-43.
The Jags countered with a 6-0 run, with the last four coming from the foul line, as the Jags cut the Warhawk lead to one point, 52-51. But ULM answered with an 8-2 run to take a 60-53 lead with 2:18 left in the game.
Antoine Allen gave the Jags some life by hitting a 3-pointer with less than a minute remaining, but USA then missed their last three shots of the game.
Augustine Rubit had team highs of 18 points and 12 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season and 50th of his career which is second in school history behind Terry Catledge’s 52 and leads all active Division I players. Aakim Saintil added 11 points, his third consecutive game in double-digits. Mychal Ammons added eight points and 12 rebounds.
Dionte Ferguson scored all seven of his points from the foul line and tied his season high with six rebounds.
“Unfortunately, offensively, we didn’t do a good job of attacking,” head coach Matthew Graves said. “We settled for a lot of 3-point shots when we had an advantage on getting the ball inside to Augustine (Rubit) and Mychal (Ammons). Our guards continued to shoot shots and you try to sub guys in and out and they keep doing the same thing. It’s very frustrating that we’re not learning from some of the mistakes that we’ve made in previous games.”
South Alabama drops to 7-12 overall and 1-5 in Sun Belt play. ULM improves to 6-7 overall and 3-2 in conference play. The Jags will travel to UT-Arlington on Saturday, January 25th for a 7:30pm tipoff.
Women’s Basketball
The Lady Jaguars picked up their third conference win of the season as Rachel Cumbo connected on all four of her foul shots in the final 18.3 seconds to seal the win over ULM 72-70 on Saturday afternoon at the Mitchell Center.
Cumbo led all scorers with 19 points and made all eight of her free-throw attempts, went 4-of-6 from the field and 3-of-4 from outside the 3-point arc.
Ronneka Robertson earned her first double-double of the seaons with 12 points and 11 rebounds while also going a perfect 6-of-6 from the foul line.
Meghan Dunn finished with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Breanna Hall added another double-digit performance off of the bench with 10 points.
The Lady Jaguars improve to 5-11 overall and 3-3 in Conference play. They will travel to UT-Arlington on Saturday, January 25th for a 5pm tipoff.
Football
As the Jaguar staff are on the road recruiting, they will be getting ready for a big push this weekend as they will have a big group of players visiting over the weekend just in time for the Senior Bowl.
But there were some media reports about head coach Joey Jones being a potential ‘dark horse’ candidate for UAB’s head coaching position. The position became vacant when Garrick McGee left the program after two seasons to return to being an offensive coordinator under Bobby Petrino at his new head coaching position at Louisville.
Though many close to the program never though that Jones was ever considering the position. He was contacted, probably for the school to find out about former South Alabama defensive coordinator Bill Clark, who interviewed for the position. Clark left Mobile after the 2012 season to take the head coaching position at Jacksonville State.
Reports are swirling that Clark may be named the head coach at UAB but other names being linked to the position are former Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe and former Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden.
In an interview with AL.com, coach Jones said, “I’m staying at South Alabama. I’m not going anywhere.” Jones coached high school and college football in Birmingham and played for the University of Alabama and the Birmingham Stallions during his football career, but has been at South Alabama for the last five seasons as he was hired to start the program at South Alabama.
As South Alabama continues to improve and make waves in the Sun Belt and the college football landscape, these reports will increase. So, Jaguar fans, don’t be caught by surprise when his name is linked to more open coaching positions in the future. The best advice comes from a British saying, “Keep Calm and Carry On.”
USA Defeats ULL 81-73, Ending Six Game Skid
Augustine Rubit moved into 4th place all-time with 112 blocks in his 100th start as a Jaguar. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
The University of South Alabama men’s basketball team earned their first Sun Belt Conference win of the season on Thursday night 81-73. The Jags held off a late surge by Louisiana-Lafayette that saw a 15-point lead dwindle to only two points with 2:23 left in the game.
The win improved their record to 7-11 overall and 1-4 in conference play while snapping a six game losing streak.
Senior Augustine Rubit led all scorers with 21 points while shooting 7-of-10 from the floor and making all seven attempts from the foul line. He also tied a career high with five blocks which was part of a 12 block night for the Jaguar team, which tied for third in school history and a new record at the Mitchell Center.
The Jags opened a 13-point lead by scoring the final six points of the first half and continuing the trend in the second half by scoring five of the first six points of the second half. But the Rajun’ Cajuns would use a 13-5 run midway through the second half to reduce a 15-point Jaguar lead down to seven points. Another run of 11-3 would further reduce the lead to 69-67 with 2:23 left in the game.
But the Jaguars recomposed themselves and scored eight unanswered points over a 43 second span to jump out to a 77-67 lead. From there the Jags were able hold on to secure the victory.
Only one Jaguar starter failed to reach double-digits. Freshman Ken Williams scored 18 points on 3-pointers, Aakim Saintil set a new career high with 15 points. Senior Antoine Allen added 12 points.
Mychal Ammons had eight rebounds and set a new career high with five assists.
Elfrid Payton led ULL with 18 points and a game-high six assists. Shawn Long earned his eighth double-double of the year with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Kevin Brown added 14 points off the bench on 4-of-5 shooting from outside the 3-point arc.
Rubit moved into fourth place in career shot blocks with 112 as he started his 100th game in a Jaguar uniform.
The victory celebration will be short lived as the Jaguars will be preparing for Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday at 7:30pm. The game is to be televised on the Sun Belt Network (CSS/Cox Sports). Check your local listings or come out and support your Jaguars!
USA And ULL Square Off Tonight At The Mitchell Center
The South Alabama men’s basketball team look to break their six game skid and claim their first Sun Belt Conference victory tonight against Louisiana-Lafayette.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.
Also on Saturday the Men and Women will have a double-header against Louisiana-Monroe with the women scheduled to start at 5pm and the men scheduled for 7:30pm. They will also air on the Sun Belt Network.
Come out and support your Jaguars!
Lady Jaguars Fall To Lousiana-Lafayette 65-60
Relentless defensive pressure by Louisiana-Lafayette forced a season-high 30 turnovers by South Alabama on Wednesday as the Jags fell 65-60, for their third consecutive game and for the first time in conference play at home. This loss also broke a 10-game winning streak for the Jags against ULL.
The Ragin’ Cajuns enter the game leading the conference in both turnover margin and steals of which they had nine. Those 30 turnovers led to 27 points for the Cajuns.
After a 10-0 run over a three minute span, the Jags led ULL 46-41 with 9:23 left in the game but ULL put together another run to answer the Jaguars. In less than two minutes the Cajuns put together an 11-0 run to take a 52-46 lead with 7:31 left in the game.
The Jags would fight to the end and made it a one-possession game with 28.6 seconds left, but they could not take advantage of some late opportunities.
The Jags (4-11, 2-3 SBC) had three players in double figures led by Ronneka Robertson and Breanna Hall’s 15 points each. Robertson was 7-of-10 from the field and led the team with nine rebounds. Hall was 4-of-10 from the field with three 3-pointers and made all of her attempts from the charity stripe to set a new career-high for the junior.
Rachel Cumbo was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line as she added 14 points for the Jaguars.
The rest of the Jaguar team shot just 2-of-10 from the foul line but shot 60% from the field.
ULL’s Brooklyn Arceneaux led all scorers with a career high 19 points as she was 6-of-11 from the field and 7-of-11 from the foul line. Kia Wilridge earned her first double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The Cajuns went to the foul line 11 more times than USA and made 18 of their 31 attempts.
South Alabama will look to break their streak on Saturday when they host Louisiana-Monroe for a 5pm tip on the Sun Belt Network.
USA Basketball Both Host UL-Lafayette Wednesday, Thursday
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams return home looking to break losing streaks.
Tonight the women will host UL-Lafayette at the Mitchell Center then Thursday night the men will try to break their six game skid against UL-Lafayette as well.
The Jaguar men have earned all six of their wins at the Mitchell Center this season. However a deeper look at the numbers shows that they have played some lower caliber teams at home. Their road schedule early in the season was full of tough challenges. But they will have to win both at home and away in order to make it into the conference tournament.
And there’s no time better than now to break one streak and start another.
The women tip off at 7:05pm Wednesday night while the men tip off at 7:05 on Thursday night.