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.
USA Baseball Opens Spring Practice Today
The Jaguar baseball team is set to hold their first official practice of the 2014 season today at 2pm at Eddie Stanky Field.
The Jags were Sun Belt Conference co-champion and were selected for the NCAA Regional. Coach Mark Calvi returns 11 letterwinners from last season including Matt Bell who received second-team All-SBC honors. Additionally the Jags will welcome 21 newcomers to the roster with three returning redshirt freshmen.
USA is scheduled to face LSU, Auburn, 2013 College World Series runner-up Mississippi State in non-conference midweek games. They will also travel to Arkansas for a three-game set in Fayetteville against the Razorbacks.
South Alabama will also host the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Championship for the 11th time but the first since 2007. The Jaguars have not won an SBC Tournament they have hosted since 2000 with they sweeped the bracket in four games when they were seeded fifth.
“We’re ready to get going,” coach Calvi said. “The team worked hard in the fall and during the offseason, and we are all eager to get started. We have a challenging schedule, but that is what we need in order to be ready for the postseason and get to where we want to go.”
South Alabama will kickoff their season on Friday, February 14 when they host Tennessee Tech for the first of a three game series at Eddie Stanky Field. First pitch is set for 6:30pm.
South Alabama DC Hired By Georgia
Defensive coordinator Kevin Sherrer coaching the defense on the sidelines during one of the Jaguars home games. Sherrer leaves South Alabama after one season to join his friend and new Georgia defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt’s staff.
South Alabama head football coach Joey Jones will have to fill the defensive coordinator position for the second consecutive season as first-year defensive coordinator Kevin Sherrer was hired away by the University of Georgia.
Sherrer, 40, joins newly hired Georgia defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt to coach on the defensive side of the ball. Sherrer coached the defensive backs at USA, but will likely coach either linebackers or defensive line at Georgia as Pruitt is expected to coach the secondary.
This is not a surprise to many as Sherrer and Pruitt have long had ties to each other. They both played at the University of Alabama, coached together at Hoover High School and both worked at Alabama in recent years.
This past season under Sherrer, the Jaguar defense ranked first in the Sun Belt in sacks (38), 2nd in scoring defense (25.2) and total defense (384.3) and tied for fourth in interceptions (11). The Jaguar defense ranked 50th in the nation in total defense, just five spots behind the Bulldogs.
This news comes just two weeks before National Signing Day, when high school players can sign their National Letter-of-Intents for the school of their choice.
Not necessarily related though, was the news that Shaquille Jones, a 6’2″ 165-pound defensive back from Palm Bay, FL., flipped his verbal commitment from South Alabama to the University of Louisville. He becomes the first verbal commitment to new UL head coach Bobby Petrino.
The secondary has been a position where the Jaguar coaching staff has focused a lot of their recruiting effort over the past year.
Other defensive commitments have reaffirmed their commitment to South Alabama via social media.
The timeline for the hire is a bit up in the air right now. With two weeks until National Signing Day, the staff will be focused on the recruiting trail. However, Jones would probably want to fill the position sooner rather than later and he has an advantage that just a year ago he was in the same position looking for a Defensive Coordinator. He probably has a few names already in mind from the last search along with new names from the last year.
One thing we know from experience is Coach Jones has hired great coaches each time there was an opening.
Former USA DC Bill Clark To Be Announced Head Coach At UAB
Former defensive coordinator Bill Clark working with Jake Johnson and the linebackers during individual drills during preseason camp in 2012.
Former South Alabama defensive coordinator, who left the Jaguars after the 2012 season to take over the head coaching position at Jacksonville State University, has reportedly signed a contract to become University of Alabama at Birmingham’s new head football coach.
Clark also officially let Jacksonville State know on Tuesday that he was leaving, he met with the team at 6pm to announced to them that he was leaving and JSU then announced his resignation and quickly filled his position.
UAB has not officially announced Clark, but a press conference is scheduled for 3pm on Wednesday in the Green and Gold room at Bartow Arena that will be open to the public.
Garrick McGee resigned after two seasons at UAB to go to Louisville to serve as offensive coordinator under head coach Bobby Petrino, whom he also served the same position under at Arkansas prior to accepting the head coaching position at UAB.
Clark, 45, led JSU to an 11-4 record in his first season as the head coach and made it to the FCS quarterfinals. That set an Ohio Valley Conference record for wins and tied a school record for wins by a first year coach.
JSU also set 49 school records, 13 OVC records and three NCAA records during the season. They defeated Samford and McNeese State to earn their first-ever playoff wins at the Division I level.
Clark was the offensive coordinator for four seasons at South Alabama and the Jaguars finished second in the Sun Belt Conference in total defense in 2012, their first season playing in the conference and their first season as an FBS team.
South Alabama and UAB recently announced a home-and-home series between the two in-state schools. The first game will be in 2015 in Birmingham and the second game will be in Mobile.
Jacksonville State quickly announced that offensive coordinator John Grass will assume the head coaching position with the departure of Clark. He served as assistant head coach and offensive coordinator in 2013. Under his tutalidge, the Gamecocks offense set numerous school, conference and national records.
Grass graduated from JSU in 1990 and joined Clark’s staff after 17 years as a head coach at the high school level for over 17 years. His career record was 122-61.
Grass will be formally announced on Thursday.
USA Softball Ranked 20th In Preseason Poll
The 2013 South Alabama Softball Team earned their second consecutive SBC Tournament title after defeated WKU 2-0 on Saturday, May 11, 2013 | sunbeltsports.org
The University of South Alabama Softball team set a new first in program history on Tuesday. After repeating and Conference champs last season and hosting their very first NCAA Tournament regional, the Jaguars are ranked in the USA Today/NFCA Division I preseason Top 25 poll.
USA earned a spot at #20 in the preseason poll and are one of two Sun Belt schools in the top 25 as Louisiana-Lafayette was voted #13. Western Kentucky received voted but were not ranked in the top 25.
Last season the Jaguars posted a 48-9 record overall and reached the championship game of the NCAA Tournament regional and were ranked #17.
Three other teams from the State of Alabama were ranked or received votes in the poll. Alabama was ranked #6, USA #20, UAB #21 and Auburn received votes but were not in the top 25.
USA will play UAB on February 6 at Jaguar Field then again on February 19 in Birmingham. The Jags will also play Alabama on April 2 in Tuscaloosa.
USA will face other preseason top 25 teams as well. They will face #23 Georgia three times (twice in Georgia tournament February 15, 16 and once in Orlando tournament on February 23), #18 ranked Baylor in the Gulfport, MS. tournament, #17 LSU on April 23 in Baton Rouge and #13 ULL April 12-13 in Lafayette.
They will also face Virginia Tech and Western Kentucky, both schools receiving votes in the poll, but not enough to rank them in the top 25.
“It is always an honor to be recognized as one of the top programs in the NCAA,” said Jaguar head coach Becky Clark. “As coaches and players, we know that all of this will ultimately be played out on the field. I definitely think the preseason list is an indicator of the type of softball that is being played in the Sun Belt; to have two teams in the Top 20 and another team receiving votes is a testament to the hard work put in by the coaches and student-athletes in our conference.”
Jaguar Field is undergoing renovations that should be ready by the time the season starts. The Softball team is also getting a new indoor batting and pitching complex, a new and larger press box, sunken dugouts and will have seating that will wrap around from dugout to dugout.
The Jags are returning seven starters from last season. Their season begins on February 6th against UAB at Jaguar Field. First pitch is set for 6pm.
Go Jags!
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 Announces Jaguar Sports Properties With Pat Greenwood As Director Of Multimedia Operations
Head coach Joey Jones speaks with sideline reporter Pat Greenwood heading into halftime against Middle Tennessee on Saturday, November 17, 2012.
On Thursday, South Alabama Athletics Director Joel Erdmann announced that the University will part ways with IMG College and will create the Jaguar Sports Properties division.
J.D. Byars was named the Director of Broadcasting/Corporate Sales Executive, Ashley Ehlert was named the unit’s Account Executive and Mike Geidlin as named the Assistant Business Manager for the group. The three began their duties earlier this month.
Local 15’s Pat Greenwood will join the staff as Director of Multimedia/Corporate Sales Executive on March 1. Greenwood has been the sideline reporter for the Jaguar football team since it began and did some color commentary for football and men’s basketball broadcasts on occasion over the last couple years.
JSP will be overseen by current Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs Travis Toth. The group will be responsible for athletic corporate and multimedia sales as well as radio and television production including game broadcasts and coaches’ shows.
“These hires reflect well-seasoned and superior professionals in their field of expertise,” Erdmann said. “The mission of Jaguar Sports Properties is to generate revenue through sponsorships which are paid directly to the department while expanding our awareness, growing our fan base and solidifying our brand. The broadcast assignments for applicable sports – including current radio personality Lee Shirvanian — will be announced later this semester. We anticipate a tremendous broadcast team promoting several sports and the department as whole using radio, television and ever-growing on-line content.”
“This is a very exciting and important time for our department,” explained Erdmann. “Approximately five years ago we entered into a partnership with IMG College which gave them the rights to manage our sponsorship and multi-media sales. That partnership was a prudent decision as working with IMG helped us in navigating the birth of an FBS football program. We deeply appreciate IMG College for that guidance and support. The decision to go in a different direction and create an internal unit was amicable in nature and primarily based on our desire to have complete control of our advertising inventory, our audio and video productions, our sales strategies and stewardship of our sponsors.”
It is expected that Lee Shirvanian will continue his work announcing baseball and basketball but the football announcing crew may change and is currently being considered. ALso Erdmann wants to add affiliate radio stations to expand reach and help increase the fanbase.
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!