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Southern Mississippi (7-16, 4-7) @ UTSA (10-13, 5-5)
Site – Convocation Center.
Time – 7 p.m. Thursday.
Radio/TV – KTKR (760), Spectrum Sports.
Sagarin ratings – USM 325, UTSA 286.
Point spread – UTSA by 6.
Series – USM leads 4-2, including the Golden Eagles’ 77-59 victory in Hattiesburg, Miss., on Jan. 5.
USM projected starting lineup – F Michael Ramey 6-5 sr. (6.2 ppg, 1.5 rpg), F Quinton Campbell, 6-7 sr. (12.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg), F Raheem Watts 6-7 sr. (6.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg), G Cortez Edwards 6-2 soph. (10.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg), G Kevin Holland 6-1 sr. (5.0 ppg, 1.7 apg).
UTSA projected starting lineup – F Jeff Beverly 6-6 jr. (16.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg), C Lucas O’Brien 6-10 sr. (6.3 ppg, 4.1 rpg), G Giovanni DeNicolao 6-3, fr. (8.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.0 apg), G Gino Littles 6-0 jr. (6.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.3 apg), G Byron Frohnen 6-5 fr. (8.0 ppg, 6.7 rpg).
USM factoids – The Golden Eagles’ victory in the first game against UTSA was sparked by Khari Price, who scored a career-high 20 points in his first game back from knee surgery … Price suffered an injured hand last week and will miss the rest of the season … USM features a solid bench that accounted for a 38-5 edge in the Golden Eagles’ most recent victory Feb. 2 against Marshall … Five of USM’s final seven regular-season games will be on the road … The Golden Eagles had one of their most efficient floor games of the year in their loss Saturday vs. Western Kentucky with nine turnovers, one of four times this season to have less than 10.
UTSA factoids –In the previous six games between USM and UTSA, the home team has won six games. UTSA has beaten the Golden Eagles twice … With 10 victories this season, UTSA has joined a group of five teams that already have doubled their win total from last season. The others are Illinois-Chicago, Minnesota, Southeast Missouri State and UMBC … Beverly had a monster week, but surprisingly was not voted as Conference USA’s Player of the Week. He averaged 26.4 points and 4.5 rebounds, including a career-high 32 points in the victory over UAB … The Roadrunners are 9-1 at home this season, including eight straight victories before they were beaten last week by C-USA leader Middle Tennessee.
They said it:
UTSA coach Steve Henson on Jeff Beverly not getting Conference USA player of the week last week: “He had a heck of a week. I know that. He’s come close a couple of times. He was so good on Saturday and pretty good on Thursday against two pretty good teams.”
Henson on the Roadrunners’ rematch with USM Thursday night: “Southern Miss, they scrap and whipped us in the second half down there. Their zone bothered us and we missed every 3-point shot we took in the second half. They really stymied us. We’ve got to have a sharper zone offense and compete. It will be a real grind with them.”
UTSA junior guard Kyle Massie on what changed for Roadrunners in the UAB victory: “We just came in after four tough losses and came back when we had to get the next one on Saturday. It’s what we did in practice was what got our mindset ready.”
Massie on the turnaround under Henson this season: “We’re all staying really positive about it. Our coach encouraged us to come in and make a difference so we believed in it and that’s where it all started.”
Tgriffin@express-news.net
Twitter: @TimGriffinBig12
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