A-State committed a season-high 21 turnovers in a 70-60 loss at Texas State on Saturday. The Red Wolves were outscored 32-6 in points off turnovers in the game.
Anthony Livingston posted his 14th double-double and sixth game with 20 or more points and 10 or more rebounds. Livingston had 20 points and 13 rebounds and was joined in double figures by Cameron Golden (12) and Frederic Dure (11).
The Red Wolves perimeter shot 15 percent (3-20) at UALR (Feb. 19), but has since responded by going 40 percent (40-99) in the last three games against ULM (16-33/49 percent), UT Arlington (14-38/37 percent) and Texas State (10-28/36 percent).
In the last three games, Frederic Dure has shot 59 percent (19-32) from the floor and 59 percent (10-17) from beyond the arc.
A-State has amassed a record of 202-202 (.500) since joining the Sun Belt Conference in the 1991-92 season. A-State is now 131-68 (.662) in home SBC games while the road record sits at 71-133 (.349).
A-State is 5-1 in league play, 7-1 on the season, when pulling down 40 or more rebounds. In four of the Red Wolves six conference wins, the opponent shot below 40 percent from the field. The Red Wolves are 11-5 on the season when pulling down 35-plus rebounds. A-State is 10-5 when attempting fewer three-pointers in the second half compared to the first half and 9-3 when shooting a better field goal percentage than their opposition.
A-State is 3-5 this season in game two of the home-and home conference series. Under head coach John Brady, A-State is 20-27 in game two of a regular season home-and-home conference series.
SERIES HISTORY
• A-State and South Alabama meet for the 40th time on Thursday with A-State carrying a 22-17 edge in the series. The Red Wolves have won five-straight meetings and seven of the last eight after the Jaguars had won five straight from 2006-09.
• The Red Wolves erased an 11-point second-half deficit to force overtime and came away with a 63-60 victory in Mobile in the league opener for both teams on Dec. 31.
Anthony Livingston led A-State with 16 points and 13 boards while
Nouhoum Bocoum added 14 points. Dionte Ferguson had a game-high 18 points to lead South Alabama.
• A-State is 14-4 on the home floor against South Alabama, including a 12-4 mark at the Convocation Center. The Red Wolves have won three-straight against the Jaguars at the Convo, the last loss coming on Jan. 17, 2009, 74-67.
SCOUTING SOUTH ALABAMA
• South Alabama is coming off the bye date on Saturday, the fifth opponent A-State has played after a bye. The Jaguars were dealt a 75-57 loss to ULM in their last game to drop to 9-20 overall and 7-11 in Sun Belt play.
• The Jaguars have lost three-straight games, but all three were against the teams currently tied atop the Sun Belt Conference standings.
• Ken Williams leads the Jaguars, scoring 15.4 points per game on 38 percent shooting. Abdul Lewis averages seven rebounds a game to lead the team while Dionte Ferguson has pulled down 6.3 rebounds per game while averaging double figure scoring (10.9). Taishaun Johnson also averages double figures (13.1) and is the team leader in steals with 30.
• South Alabama scores 68.3 points per game while their defense has allowed opponents to average 73.7. The Jaguars shoot 41.8 percent from the floor and 33.8 percent from beyond the arc. Opponents have shot 44.3 percent from the field and 34.5 percent from three-point range this season against South Alabama.
• South Alabama's head coach is Matthew Graves. He sports a 20-39 record in his second season as head coach after coming over from Butler. Graves played for the Bulldogs from 1993-98 and was an assistant coach there from 2003-13, serving as associate head coach for the last three of those seasons.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE LIVINGSTON
• Sophomore forward
Anthony Livingston has posted nine double-doubles in the last 13 games and has 14 on the season, tied for the most in the Sun Belt Conference.
• With 14 double-doubles, Livingston has the most since Dan Henderson had at least 15 in the 1975-76 season. Attempts to find accurate number are unsuccessful thus far, but Henderson led A-State in points and rebounds in 15 games.
• Saturday at Texas State, Livingston had his second-straight and seventh game with 20-plus points and 10-plus rebounds.
• Averaging 15.6 points and 10.0 rebounds, Livingston is among 17 players nationally to average a double-double. He joins Shawn Long of Louisiana-Lafayette as one of the two from the Sun Belt Conference.
• Jeff Clifton (1993-94) was the last player to finish a season averaging a double-double for A-State. He averaged 10.0 rebounds and 21.3 points in 27 games with 13 double-doubles.
APPROACHING THE TOP-10
•
Anthony Livingston has pulled down 271 rebounds this season and with six more he would tie Steve Brooks (1973-74) for 11th on the single-season ledger (277).
•
Anthony Livingston has 27 blocked shots this season and with eight (8) more he would tie Mike Siles (1980-81) and John Tate (1986-87) for the 11th-most in a single-season with 35.
•
Cameron Golden has drained 58 (58-189) of his three-point attempts this season and with eight (8) more treys he would tie
Ed Townsel (2012-13) and Keith Gray (1990-91) for the 11th-most in a single season with 66.
DURE PROVIDES SPARK
• A-State head coach
John Brady informed
Frederic Dure about five minutes before playing ULM (Feb. 21) that the junior guard would be making his first career start. Dure (Dur-A) responded with a career-night of 22 points, including the game-winning basket, and eight rebounds.
• Dure was 9-of-10 (90 percent) from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Dure was the first player to shoot 80 percent or better in a game since
Ed Townsel was 7-of-8 (87.5 percent) against UT Arlington on January 2, 2014.
• With 22 points in his first career start, Dure was the second A-State player to reach that mark this season.
Anthony Livingston had 26 points in his first start, the season opener against UT Martin.
• Dure posted 20 points in his second-straight start, against UT Arlington on Thursday to continue to help A-State. With his 20-point performance, Dure is the first A-State player since
Anthony Livingston on Jan. 17 and Jan. 19 to score 20 points in back-to-back games.
• Despite being held to 11 points, Dure continued to shoot the ball well, going 4-of-7 from the field and 2-of-3 from three-point range at Texas State.
• In his three starts, Dure is averaging 17 points, six rebounds and three assists. He is shooting 59 percent from the floor (19-32) and three-point range (10-17)
STAT TRENDS
• A-State is 11-5 this season when grabbing 35 or more rebounds. The five losses with came at Toledo (73-65), versus UALR (75-65), at Georgia Southern (65-60), at UALR (70-57) and at Texas State (70-60). A-State is 7-1 overall and in five of the six SBC wins the Red Wolves pulled down 40 or more rebounds.
• The Red Wolves are 9-5 when 25 or more of their points are inside the painted area.
• The Red Wolves are 8-3 this season when earning a trip to the free throw line more than their opponents.
A COMMON THEME
• A-State enters Saturday's game with a 6-12 mark in league play and a few stats stand out when finding what went right for the four wins.
• The Red Wolves are 5-1 in league play when grabbing 40 or more rebounds. A-State is 6-1 in league play when reaching 50 points before their opponent, 10-2 on the season. The lone loss came to Appalachian State on Jan. 3.
• When opponents shoot 40 percent or below from the floor, A-State sports a 7-1 record on the year and 4-1 in league play. Georgia State (35.8 percent) is the only foe to shoot below 45 percent and defeat the Red Wolves.
PERIMETER SHOOTING
• The A-State perimeter shooting posted a 3-for-20 (15 percent) performance at UALR (Feb. 19) but has since found an edge on the perimeter.
• Against ULM (Feb. 21), the perimeter shot 48 percent (16-33) and followed it up with a 37 percent (14-38) night against UT Arlington. Against Texas State (Feb. 28), the wing players shot 36 percent (10-28) to move to 40 percent (40-99) over the last three games.
• A reason for the surge is evident in the play of
Frederic Dure. In his last three games, Dure is shooting 59 percent (19-32) from the field and 59 percent (10-17) from three-point range.
• For the season, the Red Wolves perimeter players have shot 38 percent (334-876), including 36 percent (215-593) in conference play.
BREAK IT DOWN
• A-State faces a near must-win game on Thursday to keep hopes alive for a trip to New Orleans for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Four teams will battle for the final three spots in the tournament. Appalachian State is ineligible for the tournament due to APR penalties.
• A-State at 6-12 in conference play is one game back of South Alabama and Texas State. With a win over South Alabama Thursday and a win Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette, A-State would be the seven or eight seed regardless of other outcomes.
• If A-State defeats South Alabama and drops Saturday's game to Louisiana-Lafayette, the Red Wolves would need either South Alabama to lose to Troy on Saturday, or for Texas State to lose at Appalachian State and ULM this week in addition to ULM defeating Georgia State on Wednesday. With a ULM win over Georgia State, A-State would own tiebreaker over Texas State based on who finishes atop the standings.
• If South Alabama defeats A-State, the Red Wolves will be on the ropes as a Texas State win at Appalachian State or a Georgia State win at ULM would end the hopes. Should the Red wolves lose Thursday and neither Texas State nor Georgia State win, the Red Wolves would need a win over Louisiana-Lafayette and a Texas State loss at ULM to secure a place in the tournament field.
DID YOU KNOW?
• The Red Wolves have gone 126-straight games hitting a three-pointer. The last time A-State didn't hit a shot from behind the arc was Feb. 24, 2011 when North Texas held the Red Wolves 0-8 from three at the Convocation Center. A-State would win the game without needing a three-point make, 63-47.
• A-State has gone 583 games since losing a game in which it scored 90 or more points. The loss came in the 1995-96 campaign, a 101-93 loss at Jacksonville on January 22, 1996.
