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.
USA Soccer’s Lauren Allison Gets Second SBC Offensive Player Of The Week Honor
Lauren Allison, a freshman, earned her second honor as Offensive Player of the Week after scoring four goals over the weekend to close out the regular season. | Photo usajaguars.com
South Alabama Jaguar Soccer Freshman forward Lauren Allison was named the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday.
Allison, after being held goalless for four games, returned to form over the weekend with four goals in two matches including her first career hat trick against Louisiana-Lafayette.
On Sunday, she had a goal and an assist for a nine-point weekend that helped propel the Jags from fourth place to second place in the conference heading into the Conference Championships.
This is the second time this season Lauren has been named the SBC Offensive Player of the Week. Earlier this month she earned the honor after a one-goal, two-assist performance against Arkansas-Little Rock and Arkansas State.
Allison, a native of Bicester, Oxfordshire, United Kingdon, has 39-points on the season which is the fourth-best in USA single-season history. She has 14 goals which is also tied for fourth-most in a single-season at USA. Her 11 assists leaves her two assists away from making it into the Jaguars single-season top 10.
Allison led the conference in points, points per game, goals, goals per game, assists, assists per game and game-winning goals through the regular season. She had been ranked as high as second place in the NCAA in points, third place in goals and fourth place in points per game earlier this season.
USA Soccer Finishes Season With 3-1 Win Over ULM
The South Alabama women’s soccer team scored twice in a two minute span against Louisiana-Monroe to end the regular season with a 3-1 win on Senior Day.
The Jags (12-5-2, 5-2-1 SBC) also claimed maximum points on Thursday against ULL to finish the weekend with six points and helps the team to climb from fourth to second in the unofficial final regular season standings.
The Jags are tied with the ULL for second, but would be seeded ahead based on their win over them on Thursday.
Senior Shelby Owen opened the scoring for the Jags in the third minute. ULM (6-12-1, 1-7-0 SBC) could not manage a shot on goal until the 18th minute. They needed at least a share of points to receive a berth in the SBC Championship in San Marcox, Texas on November 6 – 10.
Five minutes into the second half, they would tie the game after a penalty.
The Jags responded with two goals in the 78th and 80th minutes of the match to put the game away. The Jags will now prepare for the Sun Belt Championships on November 6-10 when they face Georgia State. The Jags defeated the Panthers in Atlanta on October 10 by a score of 2-1.
Final seedings will be announced by the Sun Belt Conference soon.
The Sun Belt Conference Announces Affiliation With New Miami Beach Bowl
The Sun Belt Conference announced that it has tie-ins with the newly created Miami Beach Bowl. The Bowl will be owned and administered by the American Athletic Conference and will be played at the Miami Marlin’s new stadium, Marlins Park, which opened two seasons ago.
The Sun Belt will be in the six year bowl rotation for the game along with Conference USA and the Mid-American Conference.
In 2014 and 2015, Conference USA will face a team from the AAC. In 2016 and 2018, a team from the MAC will face an AAC team. That leaves a Sun Belt team to take part in 2017 and 2019.
“The Sun Belt Conference is excited to be included in this new bowl game,” said Commissioner Karl Benson. “Our student-athletes and fans look forward to postseason opportunities and I know that the Miami Beach Bowl will be a great showcase for college football.”
“We are very pleased to host the Miami Beach Bowl at Marlins Park,” said Marlins President David Samson. “Bringing postseason football back to the site of the Orange Bowl should bring a smile to the faces of college football fans throughout South Florida. The history of college football in Miami is replete with fond memories of great players making historic plays on these hallowed grounds. Marlins Park is a perfect venue for exciting college football, and we look forward to many memorable matchups in the years to come.”
Marlins Park will be able to seat 34,000 for football with 50 luxury suits, a retractable roof, climate controlled temperatures and a natural grass playing surface. It opened in 2012 for Miami Marlins, a Major League Baseball team.
Non-AQ Top 10 Rankings
This week’s Non-AQ Top 10:
|
Non-AQ Top 10
|
|||
|
RK
|
TEAM
|
RECORD
|
PTS
|
|
1
|
Fresno
State (9) |
6-0
|
108
|
|
2
|
Northern
Illinois (2) |
7-0
|
98
|
|
3
|
Brigham
Young |
5-2
|
85
|
|
4
|
Ball
State |
7-1
|
71
|
|
5
|
Boise
State |
5-2
|
70
|
|
6
|
Bowling
Green |
5-2
|
51
|
|
7
|
East
Carolina |
5-2
|
41
|
|
8
|
Louisiana
|
4-2
|
22
|
|
9
|
Tulane
|
5-2
|
20
|
|
10
|
Ohio
|
5-2
|
17
|
Dropped from rankings: Marshall
Others receiving votes: Marshall 12, Rice 5, Toledo 4,
Buffalo 2.
USA Volleyball’s Lewis Earns Back-To-Back Freshman Weekly Honors
Jessica Lewis earned her third Freshman of the Week honor this season and the first back-to-back weekly honor in program history. Photo by Brad Puckett | usajaguars.com
South Alabama’s Jessica Lewis earned her third Freshman of the Week honor on Monday. This marks back-to-back weeks she has earned the honor as well.
In all, this is the fifth weekly award for the Jaguar volleyball program and only the 11th time a Jaguar has earned a conference weekly honor in program history. This is the first time in the program’s history that a student-athlete has been honored with weekly honors in consecutive weeks.
Lewis led the Jags with 31 kills and 22 digs over the weekend. She began the weekend with 12 kills and seven digs at Texas-Arlington. Then on Sunday she earned her first double-double with 19 kills and a career high 15 digs at Texas State.
Lewis ranks second on the team and fifth in the conference in kills with 3.19 per set while also ranking seventh in the conference in points with 3.49.
The Jags will host Texas State on Friday at 7pm and Louisiana-Lafayette on Sunday at 1pm at Jag Gym.
Jags Rank 78th In First BCS Rankings
The first Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings were released on Sunday and the Jags debut at #78.
Here are the rankings for all of the Sun Belt Conference teams and Jaguar opponents:
- 39 Tennessee
- 39 Louisiana-Lafayette
- 51 Tulane
- 72 Western Kentucky
- 73 Louisiana-Monroe
- 78 South Alabama
- 80 Arkansas State
- 84 Troy
- 91 Texas State
- 103 Kent State
- 999 Georgia State (not eligible along with Penn State and Texas-San Antonio)
USA Volleyball’s Lewis Earn Freshman Of The Week Honor
Jessica Lewis earned her second Freshman of the Week honor this season. Photo by Brad Puckett | usajaguars.com
South Alabama Women’s Volleyball freshman Jessica Lewis earned her second Freshman of the Week honor and join last weeks Mechell Daniel to give the Jags back-to-back Freshman of the Week honors.
The Jags have had four honors this season as Lewis and Daniel have both been honored twice now. They mark the first time in program history that USA has had a player win a weekly honor four times from the conference in the same season and also the first time USA has had back-to-back weekly award winners.
Lewis, in her first weekend back in the starting lineup after an injury, was key in helping the Jags win back-to-back Sun Belt matches over the weekend. Over the weekend she had 26 kills for a 3.25 kills per set average while hitting .317. She averaged 3.44 points per set and had two blocks.
She ranks second on the team in kills with 3.0 per set in the 29 sets she had played.
The Jags will hit the road for a pair of Sun Belt road matches with Texas-Arlington on Friday night at 6:30pm and Texas State on Sunday at 1pm.
Congratulations Jessica! Go Jags!
Sun Belt Conference In Rotation For New Bahamas Bowl
The Sun Belt Conference will be part of a rotation among five conference for the new Bahamas Bowl. Along with the Sun Belt the Mountain West Conference, Mid-American Conference, American Athletic Conference and Conference USA will make up the five conference rotation.
The inaugural Bahamas Bowl will kick off in December 2014 at the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium. The stadium current seats 15,000 people, but has the ability to be expanded to hold up to 30,000 and is named for the Olympian track and field star.
The agreement for this new bowl game is for the next six seasons beginning in 2014.
“The Sun Belt Conference is thrilled to be part of this new football bowl game,” Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson said. “Our student-athletes and fans look forward to being able to enjoy the history and traditions of Nassau and the country of the Bahamas while at the same time being part of the history that will come with this event.”
Earlier this year the Sun Belt worked out a connection with the new Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama while Conference USA was included in the rotation for the new Boca Raton Bowl just last week.
It is expected that a creation of a new bowl game to be played at Marlins Park in Miami that will be anchored by the American Athletic Conference.
USA Volleyball’s Daniel Earns Second Freshman Of The Week Honor
Freshman Mechell Daniel was named Sun Belt Freshman of the Week for the second time this season. Photo by Brad Puckett | usajaguars.com
South Alabama volleyball player Mechell Daniel earned her second Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Week honor on Tuesday.
This is the third honor for a Jaguar this fall and the ninth time overall that a Jaguar has earned a conference honor. Jessica Lewis was named the conference’s freshman of the week on September 6 and Daniel earned her first on September 16.
This is the first time that South Alabama’s Volleyball squad has earned a weekly award three times in a single season and Daniel is the first player in the program’s history to earn multiple player of the week honors.
Daniel is tied for second in the conference in points (4.32) and ranks third in both kills (3.73) and serving (0.32).
The Jags will travel to Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday to face the Ragin’ Cajuns at 6pm. They will then return home to host new SBC member Georgia State at 7pm on Saturday.