Jags End Losing Streak By Defeating FAU 77-66
The South Alabama men’s basketball team broke their three game losing streak with a win over Florida Atlantic Thursday night 77-66. The win improved the the Jaguars record to 3-3 overall and 1-0 in the Sun Belt Conference while FAU’s record falls to 2-4 overall (0-1 SBC).
“We worked on their stuff for three full days and I think tonight we guarded them,” Jaguar head coach Ronnie Arrow said after the game. “We still didn’t guard the 3-point line, but overall I was very happy, especially with our guard play. We only had nine turnovers and we held them to 41 percent shooting (from the floor).”
The win marks the 300th conference win for the South Alabama program and also coach Arrow’s 111th conference win to tie him with Gene Bartow for the most in conference history.
“I’m more into being 1-0 in the conference,” Arrow said. “That’s the most important thing. We’re working on the conference now and we play Florida International Saturday. Being 2-0, that’s the record I’m interested in.”
The Jags scored a season-high 44 points in the first half behind a career-best 23 points from Xavier Roberson. He scored 15 of his 23 points in the first half on five 3-pointers by going 5-of-8 from outside the arc prior to halftime. Six of his eight second half points came from the free throw line.
“When our 3-point shooters are on, we’re going to beat a lot of teams by a lot of points,” Arrow explained.
The Jags were down 10-6 early in the game but Roberson nailed back-to-back 3-point shots to take the lead. A layup from Javier Carter lead to another 3-pointer by Roberson to put the Jag lead up to seven points. Another layup by Carter would cap off the 13-0 Jaguar run.
Before halftime, South Alabama would put together another scoring outburst as four different Jags chipped in for the 9-0 run. Augustine Rubit slam would cap off the surge and propel the Jags to an 18 point lead.
“We were scoring off of our defense,” Arrow said. “We were able to defend and that ignited our fast break.”
FAU would end the half on a 7-0 run capped off with a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the lead to 44-33 at the half.
Both teams would cool off in the second half. South Alabama shot 50% in the first half, but would only shoot 30.8% in the second half. The Owls shooting percentage would fall by 10% in the second half as well.
FAU would only be able to get within seven points of the Jags in the final 2:19 of the game. The Jags would go 8-of-10 from the free throw line in the final 65 seconds of the game to help preserve the win.
Roberson would lead the Jags with his 23 points with 5 rebounds. Freddie Goldstein added 15 points with 3 assists. Augustine Rubit would add 11 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double while Javier Carter would also add 11 points but come one rebound shy of a double-double with 9 for the game. Four other Jaguars scored in single digits for the game.
FAU only had one player in double digits. Greg Gantt scored a game-high 29 points with 8 rebounds.
South Alabama will travel to play Florida International on Saturday with tip-off scheduled for 6:30pm 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/.
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/.
Jags Use Strong Second Half To Down William Carey 82-64 In Home Opener
The South Alabama Jaguars Men’s Basketball team used a strong second half to defeat William Carey 82-64 in their home opener for the season. The Jags improve to 2-0 on the season while WCU used this game as an exhibition game.
William Carey led most of the first half but the Jags took the lead back late in the first half, but the Crusaders were able to steal the ball and lay it in before the buzzer to take a 36-36 tie into halftime. However the Jags would use a 12-0 run early in the second half to pull away.
“I kept telling everybody that that team was very athletic and could shoot the ball,” Jaguar head coach Ronnie Arrow said. “Not to take anything away from them, but we didn’t guard like we wanted to at the beginning of the game. We get a little hard-headed now and then where we have to be proven that they can shoot the ball and I think they proved it that they could shoot it in the first half.”
Sophomore Mychal Ammons earned his third consecutive double-double going back to last season with 19 points and 13 rebounds. “I think last year we played (Mychal) 95 percent outside,” Arrow stated. “He never played outside before but we thought that he could become a 6-foot-6 power ‘3’ man and all that skill work he did last year has helped him this year play the ‘3’ and the ‘4.’ He can put the ball on the floor better. Now he’s taking ‘4s’ off the dribble and when he takes it outside he’s taking ‘3s’ off the dribble so he can dribble penetrate better with all the experience he got from last year.”
Augustine Rubit, a junior, fell one rebound short of a double-double with 20 points, 16 in the first half, and nine rebounds. “I thought Aug was getting back to his form,” Arrow said. “He really isn’t back yet from his dislocated toe, but he was moving a lot better tonight.”
During the 12-0 run that put the Jags up for good, four different Jaguars contributed with scores. Junior Antoine Allen nailed back-to-back 3-pointers, the first for the Jaguars in the game, to cap off the run.
Midway through the second half the Jags had a 7-0 run with Xavier Roberson hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the Jags lead to 59-44.
On the other side, William Carey opened the second half shooting 1-of-11 from the floor.
“We won’t face anybody all year that’s got a front line like they’ve got,” William Carey head coach Steve Knight said. “They finally started making some shots in the second half, and that hurt us. If you’re going to try to double the post, then they start making threes, it’s pick your poison. They did a much better job in the second half of mixing it up.”
Roberson scored 15 points, all in the second half. Senior Javier Carter tied a career high with three assists with seven blocks to tie him for fifth place in school history.
South Alabama will face Tennessee State on Monday at 3pm in the next round of the Coaches vs Cancer classic. They will play in Atlanta and hosted by Georgia State.
USA Men Defeat Spring Hill 73-40
The Jaguar Men’s Basketball team defeated the Spring Hill Badgers 73-40 in an exhibition game Monday night at the Mitchell Center. The defense led the way as the Jags held their opponents to 21.7% shooting in the second half and 28.3% for the game.
“I think that our defense was really good tonight,” Jaguars Men’s Basketball head coach Ronnie Arrow said. “We held them to 28 percent. Last year we beat them by 24 and won 17 games. We’ll use it as a measuring stick. We’ve got to go to work because the next game is a big game for us and we’ve got a lot of work to do as far as taking care of the ball.”
Sophomore Mychal Ammons scored 17 of his game-high 21 points in the second half while pulling down eight rebounds. He scored 10 in a row late in the second half. “I thought late in the game Mychal came up with some big things for us,” Arrow said.
Neither the Jags nor the Badgers shot well in the game. The Jags only converted 34.5% of their shots from the floor including 29% in the first half.
The Jags began on a shooting slump by going 0-for-10 with five turnovers in a stretch that spanned nearly eight minutes. That stretch allowed the Badgers to cut the Jaguar lead to 21-17, a mere four points, with 3:55 left to play in the first half. But the Jags defense turned up the heat and allowed the Jags to close the half with a 10-1 run.
“The press early was good but our half-court defense limited them and held them to 28 percent,” Arrow commented. “Any time you hold a team to 28 percent I think that’s pretty good.”
Mychal Ammons lead the Jags with 21 points going 8-of-11 from the field and 2-of-3 from three point range. Freddie Goldstein and Xavier Roberson both scored 13 points each. Goldstein added eight rebounds. Augustine Rubit chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds for the game. Three other Jags scored for the Jags as well.
The Jags wrapped up their preseason exhibition schedule with a 3-1 record. They will open up the regular season with a trip to Florida State on Friday with a game against the Seminoles set to tip-off at 6pm.
Jaguar Men’s Basketball Hosts Spring Hill College Tonight
The South Alabama Men’s basketball team will play an exhibition game on Monday night at the Mitchell Center. The Jaguars will host Spring Hill Badgers with tip off set for 7:05pm.
The game will not be broadcast on 105.5 FM WNSP due to the New Orleans Saints Monday night football game, but it will be broadcast on their website www.wnsp.com. You can view the game if you are a subscriber to the Jaguars All-Access service on USAJaguars.com.
This will actually be the team’s fourth preseason game. They had a three game exhibition tour of Canada where the Jags went 2-1.
“The biggest thing is, we got the experience,” Arrow said of the Canadian trip. “Unfortunately when we got back and we got started, Aug went out for three weeks and Javier was out for two weeks, so that put them behind. We’re just now getting everybody back healthy. We have some catching up to do.”
This will be the 20th meeting between the Jags and the Badgers with South Alabama holding a 16-3 edge in the series. “We hope that our fans come out and watch,” Arrow said. “I know Spring Hill will bring a nice group and we hope to have all of our fans come see what we have for this year.”
The Jags won last season 88-64 with an 18 point night by Augustine Rubit and a double-double from Mychal Ammons.
Coach Ronnie Arrow was pleased to get the team extra practices for the trip through Canada, but he says that there is still work to be done. “We still need a lot of work on different things,” Arrow said. “We’re working on the defensive part of all five guys on the floor getting after it. Offensively, with the things we’ve put in, the personnel is catching on a lot more quickly than last year.”
Spring Hill enters the game 0-2 so far this season with an overtime loss to Fisk 74-70 and an 83-46 loss to #24 Southern-New Orleans. They return four starters including Todd Martin, a former Jaguar who is the team’s top returning scorer.
Ronnie Arrow Speaks In Preseason Media Day Press Conference
South Alabama Men’s Basketball coach Ronnie Arrow spoke at the Sun Belt Conference media day on Wednesday. They also announced the all-conference teams and preseason polls earlier in the morning but they also listed the television schedule for the upcoming season.
The South Alabama – FAU game on February 9 was selected to be shown on the Sun Belt Network and the tip-off was changed to 7:30pm for the broadcast. Also the season opening game against Florida State can be seen on ESPN3.com at 6pm CST.
Below are highlights of the teleconference.
Coach Ronnie Arrow’s opening statement. “We have seven guys back from last year’s team, with Aug, Freddie, Javier Carter and Mychal Ammons, guys that were able to give us a lot of good minutes last year. Xavier Roberson broke a bone in his foot last year but is back full-strength. We’re looking forward to it. We think we have the players in place to be able to make a run at the championship, as long as everybody stays healthy. I think the conference is going to be up. Last year there were four to six teams that had seven or eight new players and now those teams have all those guys back this year with experience.”
Arrow spoke about the race for the Sun Belt title. “When you have Tony Mitchell back… I was telling everybody he could in the pros that I know that he was ready and he needs to go. He chose to come back and he brings instant notoriety to the league with a player of that status. I think Augustine Rubit is right there with him. I think Aug has proven he’s not only one of the top players in the conference, but also in the country. As far as teams being able to come on, we believe that we’re one of those teams. I think it’s going to be very competitive. Middle Tennessee has 10 of their 12 back, North Texas has a lot of their guys back and Arkansas State has a lot of their guys back. I think it’ll be a competitive race and there will be teams in this conference knocking off big-name schools in preseason.”
Arrow then spoke about how the preseason is going for the Jaguars so far. “We had an intrasquad game last game and we had some good things happen in certain areas. We’re playing Mychal Ammons inside and outside. He averaged 10 points and five rebounds as a freshman. If Tony Mitchell wouldn’t have been a freshman last year, Mychal would have been looked at as one of the top two or three freshmen in the league. He’s playing very well. We have a new guy, Viktor Juricek from Slovakia, who has come in and is learning. He’s getting Americanized quickly. He’s used to the European style where he hangs around the 3-point line, he can shoot the ‘3’, but we’re getting him Americanized so that he can go inside and outside. He’ll be a young man to watch this year. Javier Carter was the eighth-best shot blocker in the country last year before he got hurt and he ended up being the 16th-best shot blocker. Antoine Allen and Dre Conner are two guards that we brought in to keep people off of Aug and not be able to double down on him.”
Then Arrow spoke about getting ready for the season. “One of the things that helped us was our trip to Canada. We got to have eight practices and play three games over there. So we got to play against good competition to get us ready. With all the guys back and the new guys, it gave them a chance to know each other on and off the court. Our first regular season game is at Florida State, so we better be ready. So all of that and the strong non-conference schedule will help us.”
South Alabama has an exhibition game agaisnt Spring Hill College on Monday, November 5. They will begin the season against Florida State on Friday, November 9 in Tallahassee, Florida with a 6pm tip-off. The game can be seen on ESPN3.
Three Jaguar Men’s Basketball Players Name To All-SBC Team
The South Alabama Men’s Basketball team had two players voted to the preseason All-Sun Belt Conference team on Wednesday. They also were picked to finish second in the Eastern Division.
Junior Augustine Rubit and seniors Javier Carter and Freddie Goldstein were chosen for the All-Sun Belt team. The Jags are tied for second most with Arkansas State behind Middle Tennesee State who had four.
Rubit returns as the top scorer in the Sun Belt Conference with an average of 15.2 points per game, 9.2 rebounds per game and 12 double-doubles last season to be the first Jaguar player named to the First Team All-Sun Belt Conference Team since 2008. His rebounding average led the conference and was 38th in the nation while finishing second in the conference in scoring.
Rubit was the 2010-2011 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and already ranks eighth in South Alabama school history in career rebounds with 576 and third in rebounding average with 10.1 per game.
Javier Carter and Freddie Goldstein were both third team selections. Carter blocked 72 shots with an average of 2.7 blocks per game which ranked 16th in Division I. Those 72 blocks are third in school history and ranks second place in school history with 132 in his career. He also averaged 6.1 points and 5 rebounds per game last season with two double-doubles.
Goldstein is the Sun Belt’s defending 3-point champion. He made 2.5 3-pointers per game last season and was second on the team in scoring with 11.7 per game. He set and tied the school record for 3-pointers in a game with nine and placed 15 in the conference in 3-point percentage (37.1%). He used his 3-point skill to become the first Jaguar to score 30 or more points in a game twice in a single season since the 2007-2008 season.
In the preseason poll of conference coaches the Jags were voted to finish second in the Eastern Division behind Middle Tennessee State. MTSU received all 11 first-place votes and 65 points while the Jags had 51 votes. Behind the Jags were Western Kentucky with 47, FAU with 29, Troy with 22 and FIU with 17.
In the western division North Texas was a unanimous pick with 55 points. Arkansas State had 40, UALR had 33, ULL had 24 and ULM had 13.