Southern Miss Golden Eagles
Conference USA (25-8, 11-5)
Southern Miss was supposed to be towards the back of a long list of teams that could compete with Memphis for the title of the best team in Conference USA. Instead, everybody has been chasing Coach Larry Eustachy and his Golden Eagles. Southern Miss navigated through a tough non-conference schedule and came away with some pretty good wins. The good times kept going throughout most of the conference slate as well.
Big Wins: 11/19 at Colorado State (79-58), 12/17 Mississippi (86-82), 2/1 Memphis (75-72)
Bad Losses: 11/17 at Denver (52-59), 2/8 at UAB (61-71), 2/18 at Houston (71-73)
Coach: Larry Eustachy (8 seasons at Southern Miss)
Why They Can Surprise:
Southern Miss has a couple great ballhandlers and they can help the team adapt to whatever the game brings. This is a team that beat Ole Miss 86-82 and one week later beat South Florida 53-51. Whatever the tempo may be, point guard Angelo Johnson will have his team playing under control. Johnson’s abilities at the point are his best asset, but he is a great player because he can score and defend as well. Most expected junior college transfer Neil Watson to backup Johnson at the point, but he has played way too well to leave on the bench for that long. Watson has an amazing assist-to-turnover ratio and can score and shoot better than Johnson. Watson’s future is bright, but for now Johnson provides the leadership and Watson will be by his side acting as a secondary point guard for about 20 to 25 minutes per game. This team rarely turns the ball over when those two on the floor together…or even when just one of them is on the floor for that matter. Those two are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the talent on the perimeter. LaShay Page is the long range shooter of the team and Darnell Dodson is an experienced wing who can hit the glass as well. Add glue guy Rashard McGill and the backcourt has plenty of weapons.
Why They Can Disappoint:
Unfortunately for Southern Miss, the backcourt has to do a lot of work. This is a team that shoots from the perimeter and does not get a lot of easy buckets. They do not even create many turnovers to get easy baskets for the guards. They have to work for their points due to the lack of a consistent interior scorer and the inability to create turnovers. That is not a horrible thing since Johnson and Watson can work the half-court offense brilliantly, but if the team starts shooting poorly, they will not beat a more athletic team. Jonathan Mills, a 6-6 junior, has had some very good games and is playing pretty good basketball right now, but he is undersized. Torye Pelham is a very consistent shooter, but he does not shoot very often. Maurice Bolden is an interesting player. At 6-10 he is the tallest player on the team who plays significant minutes, but he is a guard. Bolden is a matchup nightmare for opposing power forwards since he can get around them on the dribble, but he does not help Southern Miss too much with their need for a traditional interior scorer.
Probable Starters:
Angelo Johnson, Senior, Guard, 9.5 ppg, 3.0 apg
LaShay Page, Junior, Guard, 11.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg
Rashard McGill, Junior, Guard, 2.7 ppg, 2.9 rpg
Maurice Bolden, Senior, Guard, 9.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.1 bpg
Jonathan Mills, Junior, Forward, 9.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg
Key Roleplayers:
Neil Watson, Sophomore, Guard, 12.2 ppg, 4.5 apg
Darnell Dodson, Senior, Guard, 11.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg
Cedric Jenkins, Sophomore, Guard, 2.6 ppg, 2.0 rpg
Torye Pelham, Senior, Forward, 6.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 71.6 (92nd in nation, 3rd in conference)
Scoring Defense: 64.2 (96, 8)
Field-Goal Percentage: 41.8 (253, 12)
Field-Goal Defense: 43.8 (211, 10)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 6.4 (139, 3)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 36.4 (73, 3)
Free-Throw Percentage: 74.0 (37, 1)
Rebound Margin: 4.7 (41, 3)
Assists Per Game: 11.4 (279, 10)
Turnovers Per Game: 11.5 (28, 1)
Last Five Postseason Appearances:
Southern Mississippi 2010 CIT First Round loss to Louisiana Tech
Southern Mississippi 2001 NIT First Round loss to Mississippi State
Southern Mississippi 1998 NIT First Round loss to Auburn
Southern Mississippi 1995 NIT First Round loss to St. Bonaventure
Southern Mississippi 1994 NIT First Round loss to Clemson
*all team stats through 3/4
See All Men’s Basketball Postseason Capsules
