USA Women’s Basketball To Open Home Schedule Tonight
South Alabama Women’s Basketball team will host Nicholls State for their home opener on Wednesday night. They look to get their first win of the season as they have started the season 0-2 after they fell to Southern Miss 93-69 last week.
Meghan Dunn is the Jaguars leading scorer averaging 12.5 points per game and shooting 5-of-9 from 3-point range. Ronneka Robertson is next with 11.0 points per game while shooting 7-of-14 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the free throw line. Robertson also averages 8.5 rebounds per game. Breanna Hall and Rachel Cumbo both average 5.5 rebounds per game.
As a team they are averaging 24 turnovers per game.
The colonels come to Mobile with a 1-1 record after winning their season opener against SUNO 91-58 but fell last Thursday to then nineth ranked Baylor 111-58.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.
USA Defeates William Carey 76-53
South Alabama Men’s Basketball team used a strong defensive effort to defeat William Carey 76-53 Monday night at the Mitchell Center. Four Jaguars, including two freshmen, scored in double-figures while holding William Carey to 35.1% shooting for the game.
William Carey ended the first half with a 7-2 run to narrow the Jaguar lead to 38-28 heading into halftime but the Jaguars defense opened the second half by only allowing one field goal in the first 5:43 of the second half and only went 8-of-29 (27.6%) overall in the second half.
William Carey came into the game ranked #10 in the NAIA preseason poll and averaging 92 points in the first two games of the season.
Senior Augustine Rubit earned his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds but struggling from the free throw line by going 2-of-12. The team as a whole only shot 14-of-30 from the charity stripe.
Freshmen T.J. Johnson and Ken Williams set career highs with 12 and 11 points respectively. Johnson came off the bend to shoot 5-of-7 from the floor and a perfect 2-of-2 from outside the 3-point arc. Williams went 4-of-6 from the floor and 3-of-4 from outside the arc. Williams came into the game shooting 1-of-14 from outside the arc.
Sophomore Barrington Stevens III scored all 10 points in the second half by going 4-of-4 in field goal attempts while adding three assists.
USA saw their lead fall into single digits only once in the second half as the Crusaders continued to fight to stay in the game. However a 12-3 run put the Jags up by 18 points. Junior Dionte Ferguson began the run with a dunk then freshman Austin Karazsia added four straight as part of an eight-point unanswered run by the Jags.
A 13-5 run near the finale of the game put the Jags up by 25 points with a minute left.
“I thought we did a good job of playing with a lot of intensity early on,” South Alabama head coach Matthew Graves said after the game. “We came out and really defended well early. One of our goals was to really improve in our transition defense and for the most part we did that tonight. So that was certainly a step in the right direction from the game with Texas to now.”
“We just need to continue to put together more of a full 40 minutes of action,” he continued. “We still have lulls in our game and part of that is having a young team and part of that is learning a new system. At the same time, the focus is each and every possession, you have to play it like it’s your last possession and we’re getting better at that but we still have a long ways to go.”
When asked about the teams free throw shooting Graves dismissed it, saying he was not concerned about it. He pointed out that against Texas they shot 80% as a team. Graves explained, “It’s one of those things that happens, you don’t want it to happen.”
Rubit’s march up the history books continues. He moved into fifth place in Sun Belt Conference history with 923 rebounds and stands 10 shy of fourth and 11 shy of third. He also only became the eighth player in school history to make 500 field goals. With his two blocked shots, he passes Ronald Douglas for fifth in school history.
The Jaguars will host the CBE Classic this weekend. The Jags will start against Southern Miss at 7:05pm in the Mitchell Center.
Texas Rallies Past USA In Second Half To Win 84-77
South Alabama men’s basketball team led by as many as 17 over the Texas Longhorns, but they outscored the Jags 53-32 in the second half including a 20-5 run at the end of the game to defeat the Jags 84-77 Tuesday night.
Jaguar senior Augustine Rubit scored a team-high 22 points, including the first nine of the game and his first two 3-pointers of his career. He also came down with a team-high of eight rebounds.
Fellow senior Antoine Allen nailed four first-half 3-pointers to tie his personal best. Mychal Ammons also had four three-pointers to add 16 points of his own.
The game was a tale of two halves. The first half was all Jaguars after they allowed Texas to score the first two points of the game, they would score the next six, including one of Rubit’s two triples. They would rush out to a 15-6 lead.
With 5:30 left till halftime, UT would cut the deficit to four points, but the Jags would respond with a 13-1 run to give the Jags a healthy 42-26 lead.
The second half was all Texas. The Longhorns trailed 72-64 with 7:30 left to play as Holmes started a 9-0 run to take their first lead since the opening shot of the game.
After a three to regain the lead, Texas tied it back up at 75-all. Ammons would give USA their final lead of the game with a layup, but the final points of the game would all go to Texas. They would make two free-throws then force a stop and convert it into a fast-break layup.
“First and foremost, I thought our team was well prepared,” USA head coach Matthew Graves said. “Our coaching staff did an excellent job of having our guys ready. We came out and attacked well versus their zone early. We did shoot a lot of 3s, but at the same time, when we went back and talked about it at halftime, they were good shots. We’ve got an undersized ballclub, but we have five starters that are all capable of making 3s.”
“In the second half, when Texas switched to their man-to-man defense, I was really disappointed with our ability to attack them. I thought once we had them spread out a little bit, we ended up driving the ball too much and we didn’t make the extra pass like we did in the first half. We had 10 assists in the first half and two in the second half. Against a man-versus-zone, it really shouldn’t be like that.”
“You have to credit Texas,” Graves said. “We had them down early and it’s a credit to them and their coaching staff that their players didn’t hang their heads and they came back and fought. Unfortunately we were on the wrong end tonight.”
Rubit moved into sixth place in school history with 1,421 points as he passed Demetric Bennett. He is also tied for sixth place in career blocks with 95 and is one shy of third place in career free throws made with 423.
South Alabama returns home to face Southern Miss on Monday, November 18 at the Mitchell Center as part of the CBE Classic. Tip off of that game is scheduled for 7:05pm.
Jaguar Men’s Basketball Defeat Detroit 74-58
The South Alabama Men’s basketball team opened their 2013-2014 season with a win 74-58 win over Detroit to give head basketball coach Matthew Graves the first victory in his head coaching career.
Junior Mychal Ammons earned his sixth career double-double with a career best 14 rebounds to go with 13 points and two blocks while making his only three-point attempt of the game. This is the 22nd consecutive season that the Jags have won their home opener.
Senior Antoine Allen scored 11 of his team high 17 points in the first half and went 4-of-5 from 3-point range in the game. Freshman Aakim Saintil came off the bench to add 12 points and 2 assists.
The Jaguar defense held Detroit to just 28.9% shooting for the game and 25.6% in the second half. Also, the Jags held Detroit to 1-for-14 shooting from outside the three-point line.
Detroit briefly had a lead after a Juwan Howard Jr. three-pointer put them up 3-2, but the Jags regained the lead on the next possession and never surrendered it.
Midway through the first half, Saintil led a 14-3 run that gave the Jags their largest lead of the game. He added nine of the 14 points in a four-minute stretch.
The lead grew to 22 points in the second half after a 13-2 run with scores from six different Jaguars.
USA committed only 15 turnovers in the game after committing 24 against Mobile in an exhibition game on Tuesday.
Augustine Rubit just missed another double-double as he finished with nine points and 12 rebounds. However he did record his 52nd career double-digit rebounding performance to break a tie with Terry Catlidge for first place in school history. He also moves into seventh place in career rebounds in Sun Belt Conference history with 903, he is only nine shy of sixth place. He is also seven points away from sixth place in USA history.
“First and foremost, I was really proud of our team’s effort,” Graves said in the postgame press conference. “I thought they came out right from the start and played aggressive. They shared the basketball and I was so happy to see us go from taking a good shot to taking a great shot. We did a great job sharing the ball. In the first half, I think we had eight assists on 13 field goals, which is outstanding. Defensively, we did a great job rebounding the basketball, especially from our guards’ standpoint. Our guards had over half of our defensive rebounds so in our two areas of emphasis in the first half we did a great job with both.”
“I would be remiss not to mention our defensive effort,” Graves said. “This is the second game in a row that we held a team under 30 percent field goal percentage. And if we continue to do that night in and night out it’s not going to matter what we shoot. We’re going to put ourselves in a great situation.”
“I thought they responded really well and part of that was the film session that we had on Wednesday,” Graves said. “Mobile did an outstanding job of preparing us for what we were going to see tonight. Our freshmen really listened and learned and we have to continue getting our post guys to handle the ball a little bit better. It’s new for them. We want them to play out on the perimeter and when they play out on the perimeter, it allows our guards better angles to drive and kick and make those extra passes. So I think our bigs will continue to get more comfortable handling the ball. I think ultimately our guards at the end there need to understand time and score and shot selection a little more. I think that will come with those young guys.”
The Jaguars will be hit the road to take on Texas. The game will be aired on the Longhorn Network with tip-off scheduled for 7pm on Tuesday, November 12.
USA Men’s Basketball Open Season Tonight At The Mitchell Center
The South Alabama Men’s Basketball team will officially open the 2013-2014 season Friday night against Detroit at the Mitchell Center.
The Jags defeated Mobile 65-55 in an exhibition game on Tuesday. Even though the Jags started slow, they came to life in the second half to power their way to a win with a strong defensive effort as they held the Rams to only 174% shooting in the first half and 29.1% for the game.
“We’re really excited about our opportunity on Friday night to start the season of at home against a very good opponent in Detroit,” head coach Matthew Graves said. “The nice thing from the exhibition game is we have a lot of stuff we need to get better at, but at the same time, I thought from a defensive standpoint, we played pretty well.”
“We learned that offensively we have a long ways to go,” Graves noted. “We need to take care of the ball better and we need to play with a little more pace offensively, but at the same time, we’ve got guys that can turn it up. For example, Augustine (Rubit) really turned it up in the second half and I thought Mychal Ammons played well in the second half, so we have some guys that can turn it up and play at a higher level but we need to show that consistency throughout the entire game.”
“We held Mobile to a 29 percent field goal percentage and when you turn the ball over as much as we did, usually teams are getting layups and easy transition baskets, but despite our turnovers we were still able to get back and set our defense most of the night,” Graves explained. “We made it difficult for them to get open looks, so I was really pleased with that.”
“We forced things that really weren’t there,” Graves said. “We need to understand that when we come down the floor, we don’t need to attack off the first ballscreen or off the first pass. We need to let the offense work for itself a little bit, and the other thing we worked on yesterday in practice was, when we get a defensive stop and go in transition, we need to be opportunistic, but at the same time, it’s just not a free-for-all. We had several clips where we really defended for 20-25 seconds and made them take a tough shot and then ran down the floor and either turned it over or took a bad shot ourselves. All that hard work you put into the defensive end of the floor, you wasted on an (offensive) possession. We want to take away a few wasted possessions as possible.”
“They’re going to come in and they’re going to play very hard,” Graves said about their opening oppenent Detroit. “They do a great job defensively of getting out in the passing lanes. They forced 25 turnovers in their two exhibition games so that will be a great challenge for us. They do a great job of going to the offensive glass. Again, two things we emphasize: taking care of the basketball and blocking out are going to be tested right away in game one. Coach McCallum will have those guys ready and we’re excited to play them.”
“You’re looking at a program; they’ve been good for years and years,” Graves said. “They’ve got NCAA Tournament appearances and they play in a very good league. They have guys that understand the culture and have a toughness about how they play. Basketball is a little bit different in the Midwest. It’s what guys do. So we’re going to play a team, even though they’ve lost a lot of guys, those guys are going to understand how to play, be very tough and very physical. It’s going to be a great challenge for our young team on the first night.”
The opening tip against Detroit is set for 7:05pm tonight at the Mitchell Center. Come out and support your Jags!
USA Men’s Basketball Defeat Mobile In Exhibition Game
Head basketball coach Matt Graves coached his first game on the sidelines as USA’s head coach against Mobile in an exhibition game. | Photo by butler.edu.
The South Alabama Men’s Basketball team defeated the University of Mobile 65-55 in their exhibition game Tuesday night. The Jags held the Rams to 29.1% shooting for the game while Augustine Rubit recorded 18 points and 12 rebounds.
South Alabama’s defense held the Rams to 18.2% from outside the three-point line and forced 20 turnovers.
However the Jaguars first half was wasn’t much better for the Jags as they only scored 23 points while committing 24 turnovers with only six assists. Rubit scored 16 of his 18 points after halftime after an 0-for-4 effort from the floor in the first half. Rubit blocked four shots and went 6-of-7 from the foul line.
Freshman Ken “Juice” Williams added 13 points and two 3-pointers while coming down with six rebounds. Junior Mychal Ammons also came down with six rebounds while adding 12 points.
“I told the guys in the locker room after the game that I was really proud of their effort and if they continue to throw the ball all over the place like that I’m going to lose the rest of my hair,” head coach Matthew Graves said after the game. “It’s a learning experience for all of us and the thing I told them I was most proud about was the way they defended. Normally, when a team throws the ball all over the place, they don’t shoot a high percentage and they’re playing from 10, 12 points down. Right out of the gate I thought we did an excellent job of guarding them and making them take contested shots, so I was really pleased with our defensive effort tonight.”
“Walking up and down the side line it felt really good,” Graves said about his first game as a head coach. “It was a dream of mine to do that and making that dream become a reality. We have a great team and a great staff and it was a lot of fun tonight.”
The exhibition allowed the Jags to get some game-time experience in their new system. “It’s a new system, new time and I think we had four freshmen on the court at one time,” said Graves. “It’s a learning experience and I think what people can take from this is how good were going to be three games from now, five games from now, ten games from now. It’s going to be a growth process for this team.”
In the first half the Jags only hit 24% of their shots with 12 turnovers but they opened the second half with a 12-4 run to give USA the largest lead of the game. The Jags almost doubled their scoring in the second half as they hit 13-of-23 for a 56.5% clip.
The Rams ended the Jaguar’s threat to run away with the game with an 11-3 run to cut the Jaguar lead to 42-39 with 9:20 left in the game. Ammons hit two free throws to start a 6-0 run that ended up being a 13-2 run to put the game away.
USA blocked 10 shots as a team which included four from Rubit and two from Williams. Senior Antoine Allen was held out of the game for a violation of team rules.
South Alabama will open the season against Detroit on Friday. The game is scheduled for a 7:05pm tip.
USA Men’s Basketball Open Season In Exhibition Against Mobile Tonight
The University of South Alabama Men’s Basketball team will take on the University of Mobile in an exhibition game this evening.
This will be head coach Matthew Graves first time on the sideline as the Jaguars head coach during a game.
This will be the beginning of the final seasons for seniors Augustine Rubit and Antoine Allen. Rubit was just named the Sun Belt Conference Preseason Player of the Year. He has a chance to become the University’s first four-time All-Sun Belt Conference honoree.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.
Rubit Named SBC Preseason Player Of The Year, Ammons Named To All-SBC Team, USA Picked 2nd In Conference
Augustine Rubit was named to the All-SBC First Team and also SBC Preseason Player of the Year. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
South Alabama’s Augustine Rubit was named the 2013-2014 Men’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year.
Rubit, a senior from Houston, Texas, was voted the Player of the Year after last season and earns the preseason honor for the second consecutive season. He was named to first-team All-Sun Belt Conference Team and was joined by junior Mychal Ammons who was named to the third team.
Rubit lead the conference for the third consecutive season with 10.5 rebounds per game and finished second in the conference in scoring with a career-high 19.4 points per game. He recorded 16 double-doubles and set a new school record with 198 free throws made in a season. He is only 42 rebounds away from becoming USA’s career leader.
Ammons earned his first All-Sun Belt recognition. He was the team’s second-leading scorer and was third on the team in rebounding. He was also the team’s most-accurate 3-point shooter by connecting on 39.4% of his outside shots.
Western Kentucky was voted to finish first in the Sun Belt standings this season with a total of 91 points and five first-place votes. The Jags were voted to finish second with 78 points and two first-place votes. The full list of Sun Belt rankings are below.
1. Western Kentucky 91 (5)
2. South Alabama 78 (2)
3. Arkansas State 74
4. Georgia State 73 (2)
4. Louisiana Lafayette 73 (1)
6. Arkansas-Little Rock 48
7. Texas-Arlington 36
8. Texas State 34
9. Troy 26
10. Louisiana-Monroe 17
Along with the honors for Rubit and Ammons, the conference announced its TV package for the season. The Jags have six games scheduled for television coverage with a possibility of two other games being added during the season. USA’s road opener at Texas on November 12 will be shown on the Longhorn Network and the road trip to former Sun Belt rival Middle Tennessee on November 30 will be available on CSS while Root Sports will broadcast the USA vs Gonzaga game on December 14.
South Alabama will have three conference games broadcast on the Sun Belt Network including one home contest. The Jags vs ULM on January 18 in the Mitchell Center will tip off at 7:30pm (it was originally announced for 4:05pm).
The Jags two other Sun Belt Network appearances will be January 11 at Arkansas State (7pm tip) and at Louisiana-Lafayette on March 2 (3pm tip).
The Sun Belt Network is a joint partnership with Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS) and Cox Sports Television (CST). Each broadcast game will be available in 13 states across the southeast and are often available on ESPN3.com and ESPN GamePlan outside of the CSS and CST market footprint.
Jags Men’s Basketball Show Progress In First Intrasquad Scrimmage
The South Alabama Men’s Basketball team held their intrasquad scrimmage Monday afternoon at the Mitchell Center. First year head coach Matthew Graves put the team through four eight-minute quarters with a variety of lineups to gauge the progress made after two weeks of practice.
Last season’s Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, Augustine Rubit, collected 17 points, 12 rebounds and a block in 26 minutes of playing time. Another returning starter for the Jags, Mychal Ammons, had six points, three rebounds and a block in 16 minutes of play.
Freshman guard Ken “Juice” Williams put in six points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal. Sophomore Barrington Stevens III put in 10 points, two assists, two rebounds and a steal.
Coach Graves did not point out any individuals, but said that certain guys had moments but that the team is still a work in progress. However, he said that they are heading in the right direction and is pleased with their progress over two weeks of practice.
The team will have Tuesday off before returning for two practices on Wednesday.
USA Men’s Basketball To Scrimmage Today At 4pm; Open To Public
The South Alabama Men’s Basketball team will hold an intrasquad scrimmage on Monday at 4pm in the Mitchell Center. It will be open to the public.
First-year head coach Matthew Graves will preview an early look at what the Jaguars will look like in a game-type situation.
The scrimmage will have four eight-minute segments and in each segment the coaches will mix up the teams. This will allow the coaches to get a look at different combinations so they can try to put groups of players together consistently.
They will have three officials who will call the game. Though it will be similar to what they have been doing during practice, the coaches expect the players to respond to playing with real officials by “turning it up a notch,” Graves told AL.com.
The Jags will have an exhibition on November 5 at the Mitchell Center against the University of Mobile.
There is no charge for the scrimmage.