South Alabama hosts Southern Miss in a Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball game at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Mitchell Center. Here’s a look at what you need to know about the matchup:
Last time out: Lost to Old Dominion, 73-61 in overtime
Top players: G Myles Corey (16.5 ppg, 4.6 apg); F Barry Dunning (12.4 ppg, 5.8 ppg); F Judah Brown (10.8 ppg, 46% 3-pt); F John Broom (6.2 rpg, 1.8 spg)
Notable: Wednesday’s game is the third of four straight at home for South Alabama, which also hosts Troy at 3 p.m. Saturday. … The Jaguars had a five-game winning streak snapped last time out. South Alabama had won its previous four Sun Belt games by double-digits before losing at home to the Monarchs. … South Alabama leads the country in fewest turnovers per game, averaging just 8.9 per contest. … Brown is first in the Sun Belt and sixth in the country in 3-point percentage. … South Alabama guard JJ Wheat leads the Sun Belt in assist-to-turnover ratio (3-to-1) and is fifth in steals per game (1.7). … South Alabama also tops the Sun Belt in assists per game (16.29), 3-pointers per game (9.6), steals per game (9.8), scoring defense (61.5 points per game), opponents’ field-goal percentage (37.8%), turnover margin (5.94 per game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.82-to-1).
Top players: F Denijay Harris (16.7 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 1.7 bpg); G Neftali Alvarez (11.3 ppg, 3.6 apg, 1.7 spg); G Andre Curbelo (12.1 ppg, 4.9 apg); F DeAntoni Gordon (8.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.6 bpg)
Notable: Southern Miss leads the all-time series with South Alabama 27-24, though the Jaguars have won four straight and seven of the last eight against the Golden Eagles. Southern Miss has not won in Mobile since 2015, when it was a member of Conference USA. … Harris leads the Sun Belt in rebounding and is narrowly in second in scoring, just 0.1 points per game behind Arkansas State’s Taryn Todd coming into Wednesday. … The 6-foot-7 Harris had a monster game vs. Texas State, with 32 points and 23 rebounds. It was the first 30/20 game in college basketball this season. … Curbelo missed eight games due to a concussion before returning to the lineup on Dec. 30. He has four double-digit scoring games in five outings since his return, including 13 points and six assists vs. Texas State.
