The Records: Arkansas State (7-5, 1-2 Sun Belt). The Red Wolves ended
a two-game skid with an 87-70 conference home-opening decision over
Louisiana-Lafayette this past Thursday (12/27) at the ASU Convocation Center in
Mobile, Ala. A-State sports a current
5-1 home ledger while the Red Wolves are 2-4 on the road and 0-0 in neutral
site encounters this season. South Alabama (6-5, 3-0 Sun Belt). The Jaguars, who have won four of their last six outings, have won two
straight following a 77-62 home conference victory over UALR last Saturday
(12/22) in Mobile. USA has presently
assembled a 3-1 home ledger while sporting a 3-2 mark on the road and is 0-2 in
neutral site encounters this campaign.
The Coaches: Arkansas State – John Brady (Bellhaven, 1976), 5th season, 68-71 (.489); Career - 349-287 (.549) – (3-3 vs. USA). Brady was named the 2009-10 SBC Coach of the Year and the District VII Coach of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). He served six seasons (1991-97) as head coach at Samford and then spent 10-plus seasons (1997-08) in a head coaching capacity at LSU. Brady guided LSU to two SEC Championship titles along with four NCAA Tournament appearances, which included a Final Four appearance in the 2005-06 season. South Alabama – (Interim) Jeff Price (Pikeville, 1981), 1st season, 1-0 (1.000); Career: 18th season, 294-186 (.613) – (0-0 vs. ASU). Price, who had been USA's associate head coach since August 2011, replaced
the recently retired Ronnie Arrow. Price
was an assistant and the program's recruiting coordinator at South Alabama from
1989-93 under Arrow and served as head coach at NCAA Division II West Virginia
Wesleyan in the 2010-11 campaign. Prior
to WVWC, Price was a scout for the Los Angeles Clippers. Price spent six seasons (1993-99) as Division
II Lynn's (Fla) first-ever head coach before going to Georgia Southern where he
earned 1999-00 Southern Conference Coach of the Year recognition. He also made stops at his alma mater,
Pikeville (Ky.) College (1981-82), Georgia Southern (1982-83, 1986-87), Union
(Ky.) College (1983-85), and Washington (1985-86, 1987-89).
About South Alabama: The Jaguars, who have won four of their last six outings, ran their
current winning streak to two as a result of a 77-62
home conference victory over UALR last Saturday (12/22) at USA's Mitchell
Center in Mobile. Four starters attained
double-digit point totals, led by junior forward Augustine Rubit's game-high 19
points andfreshman guard
Barrington Stevens' 17 points. Rubit,
who was recently selected as the SBC's Player of the Week (12/18), also hauled
down a game-best 10 rebounds to go with two blocked shots and assists
each.
• Augustine Rubit (18.9 ppg.), junior guard Xavier
Roberson (13.6 ppg.), and sophomore guard Mychal Ammons (12.2 ppg.) are presently the Jaguars'
top points producers this season. Rubit
(10.3 rpg.) and Ammons (7.4 rpg.) are USA's rebounding leaders. Nationally, Rubit is 10th in double-doubles
(six), 17th in rebounds (10.3 rpg.), 40th in points (18.9 ppg.), 118th in
field-goal percentage (49.7%), and 167th in free-throw percentage (81.2%). Roberson is listed 24th in three-point field
goal percentage (44.3%) and 35th in three-point field goals (2.82 avg.). Senior forward Javier Carter ranks 32nd in
blocked shots (2.4 bpg.) and 197th in steals (1.7 spg.). USA is 92nd among the national leaders in
scoring offense (72.4 ppg.), 245th in scoring defense (69.6 ppg.), and 32nd in
blocked shots (5.2 bpg.). The Jaguars
are 3-1 at home, 3-2 on the road, and 0-2 at neutral sites this campaign.
• A season ago, South Alabama
went 17-12 and produced a second-place 8-8 SBC East Division record for the
2011-12 campaign. The Jaguars were 9-5
at home, 6-6 on the road, and 2-1 at neutral sites.
All-Time Series: The series, which started in the 1970-71 season, is currently tied at
17-all. South Alabama won the first-ever
meeting between the teams in 1970-71 with a 69-59 triumph. The Red Wolves have registered a 4-6 record
in the last 10 matchups, which includes a 2-4 road mark.
• ASU is averaging 64.0 points per game (320 total) to USA's 69.8 points
an outing (349 total) in the last five encounters. The Red Wolves are scoring at a 61.3 points
per game clip (184 total) in the last three road contests while the Jaguars
have generated an average of 72.7 points a contest (218 total) during that
span. Four of the last 10 meetings have
been decided by 10 points or more, which includes the last two. USA notched a 74-57 home victory in last
season's (2/9/12) matchup after ASU claimed a 69-57 home decision in the
2010-11 season (12/30/10).
• In last season's tilt (2/9) in Mobile, Ala., Ed Townsel (17 pts.) and Trey
Finn (11 pts.) were the lone Red Wolves in double-figure scoring. Darion
Griswold grabbed a team-high seven rebounds while Rakeem Dickerson dished out a game-high tying four assists to go
with a game-best three steals.
Scoring Machine: Junior guard Ed Townsel recorded a career-high 31
points in Thursday's (12/27) conference home-opening
win over Louisiana-Lafayette, which featured 9-15 (60%) shooting from the floor
and 10-11 at the free throw line (91%).
Townsel also connected on three of six three-point shots for 50%
efficiency from beyond the arc. Townsel,
whose previous career-best was 27 points set at home against Lamar earlier this
season (11/25).
Double Vision: Freshman
guard-forward Raeford “Gator” Worsham
claimed double-figure points for the fifth time in his last six games with a
season-best tying 18 points versus Louisiana-Lafayette (12/27). Worsham, who has racked up seven double-digit
scoring games to date this campaign, is averaging 12.7 points per contest (76
total) in his last six encounters.
Consistent Scorer: Ed Townsel has compiled double-digit
point totals in 10 of ASU's 12 games this campaign and is presently midst a
four-game double-figure scoring streak.
In his last four outings, Townsel is averaging 21.3 points per contest
(85 total). He started out this season
tallying double-digit points in his initial six encounters and produced a 17.0
points a game scoring average (102 total) in during that period. Townsel garnered 11 double-figure scoring
contests a season ago.
In The Sun Belt: The Red Wolves
are 172-175 (.496) since joining the Sun Belt Conference (SBC) in the 1991-92
season, which includes a season-best 14-4 (.778) mark in the 1997-98 campaign.
• A-State is 36-17 at home, and 14-15 on the road since the 2006-07
season.
• ASU head coach John Brady
has posted a 34-37 record (.479) in Sun Belt Conference contests since his arrival
in the 2008-09 season, which consists of a 25-10 home ledger and a 9-27 away
mark.
• Ed Townsel (16.3 ppg.), Raeford Worsham (9.3 ppg.), and senior
guard Marcus Hooten (9.3 ppg.) lead
the Red Wolves in scoring this season.
Townsel has netted 23.0% (49-213) of ASU's points in the three SBC matchups. Brandon
Peterson's 9.0 rebounds per game (27 rebs.) leads the team while Worsham has registered a squad-leading
55.0% (11-20) field-goal percentage.
Red Wolf Howl
Alerts: Marcus Hooten's 11 points against
Louisiana-Lafayette (12/27) was his third double-figure points output of this
season and snapped a four-game single-digit points string ... Trey Finn's game-high tying eight
rebounds vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (12/27) was a personal season best, surpassing
his six boards at Tennessee-Martin (11/16) and against Austin Peay (12/16) ... Trey Finn recorded two steals in the
Louisiana-Lafayette contest (12/27) to up his career total at 131, which moved
him into sixth place among ASU's career leaders past Bo Brown's (1987-89) 130
career steals ... Sophomore guard Rakeem
Dickerson's 18 steals in 12 games this season is a career season high,
eclipsing his 16 thefts in 32 contests last
season ... Marcus Hooten reached 500
career points vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (12/27) and has racked up a current
509-career point total in 46 games ... Ed
Townsel eclipsed the century mark in three-point field goals and now has
102 three's in 78 contests for a 1.3 average per outing.
Last Time Out: A career-high 31
points performance from Ed Townsel
was enough to vault the Red Wolves to a Sun Belt Conference (SBC) home-opening
87-70 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette this Thursday (Dec. 27) night in men's
basketball action at the ASU Convocation Center in Jonesboro, Ark.
Townsel, who surpassed his previous career-best of 27 points against
Lamar at home earlier this season (11/25), helped the Red Wolves end a two-game
losing string and improve to 5-1 at home.
A-State quickly started out the contest by scoring 13 unanswered points
after the ULL netted the game's initial basket. The Red Wolves, behind
Townsel's 14 first-half points, would bump their lead up to as many as 14
(23-12) eight minutes into the game only to have the Ragin' Cajuns storm back
to get within three at 31-28 with 2:43 left in the opening stanza. But,
A-State was able to widen the gap up to eight as Townsel scored the Red Wolves'
last four points of the half to give ASU a 38-30 advantage at the
break.
Much like the start of the contest, ASU came out strong in the second
half by outscoring ULL 29-11 in the first nine-plus minutes to go up by 26
points at 67-41 with 10:40 left to be played. The Ragin' Cajuns chipped
away at the Red Wolves' lead in the next five minutes to pull within 11 (70-59)
at the 5:40 mark, but would get no closer as ASU scored six straight to build a
17-point advantage at 76-59 with 3:34 remaining. ULL narrowed the margin
to 11 points (77-66) one more time as 2:24 was left on the clock before A-State
made all eight of its free throws in the final two minutes to secure their
first conference victory of the season.
Raeford “Gator” Worsham finished with a season-high tying 18 points and Marcus Hooten tossed in 11 to join
Townsel as the only other ASU players recording double-figure points.
A-State's point guards, Rakeem Dickerson
and freshman Cameron Golden
contributed nine and eight points, respectively as all eight Red Wolves who
played scored. Brandon Peterson
and Trey Finn both shared team-high
rebounding honors with seven apiece and Townsel grabbed six boards to go with a
game-high tying three steals.
ASU shot 46 percent from the floor by going 26-for-56 and was six-of-18
in three-pointers for 33 percent efficiency. The Red Wolves went to the
charity stripe 37 times and make good 29 free throws for 78 percent. ULL
hit six-of-20 triples for 30 percent and chalked up a 44 percent in shooting
with a 29-of-66 performance. The Ragin' Cajuns were six-of-10 from the
line for 60 percent. Arkansas State would also claim the advantage on the
glass, outrebounding ULL by 10 boards (41-31).
2012-13 Reference Guide Now Online: The 2012-13 A-State men's basketball
reference guide is now available to view online in a PDF format and contains
information for all devoted Red Wolves fans. The 110-page publication
features such information as 2012-13 student-athlete rosters, season preview,
student-athlete biographies, coaching staff bios, 2011-12 season statistics,
and all-time series records along with career, season, and game statistical
records. The annual publication is a production of the ASU Sports
Information Office under the direction of director Jerry Scott along
with assistant directors Chris Graddy and Joe Gorby. To view the 2012-13 ASU men's basketball
publication online, please visit the respective link - 2012-13 Arkansas State Men's
Basketball Reference Guide.
A Season Ago: A-State
concluded the 2011-12 campaign at 14-20 overall and posted a fifth-place 6-10
mark in the Sun Belt Conference's (SBC) West Division. The Red Wolves were 10-5 at home, 2-14 on the
road, and 2-1 at neutral sites a season ago.
Up Next: The Red Wolves will begin a three-game Sun Belt Conference
homestand, starting Thursday, Jan. 3, against the Middle Tennessee Blue
Raiders in Jonesboro, Ark. Game time is
set for 7:05 p.m. (CT) at the ASU Convocation Center. Following that contest, A-State will square
off against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Saturday, Jan. 5, at 7:05 p.m.
(CT) in a game which will be televised on both ESPN3 and ESPN Full Court.
