Southern Miss' Basketball Woes Continue vs. App State

The Golden Eagles have now lost five games in a row, with their record dipping below .500 for the first time since November.

Southern Miss lost to Appalachian State at Reed Green Coliseum on Thursday night, falling to 11-12 on the season. / Dalton Trigg, Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI

HATTIESBURG – Following a disappointing 0-4 road trip, the Southern Miss men's basketball team hoped the warm and welcoming home atmosphere at Reed Green Coliseum would help produce a much-needed win.

Unfortunately for head coach Jay Ladner and his guys, that wasn't in the cards on Thursday night, as the Golden Eagles fell to Appalachian State, 70-63, in front of their home crowd of over 3,000 people.

With the loss, USM dropped to 11-12 overall and 5-6 in Sun Belt Conference play. The Mountaineers improved to 14-9 overall and 7-4 in Sun Belt Conference play, putting them in third place. For the first time since late November, the Golden Eagles are below .500.

As has been the case for USM in several losses this season, the three-point shooting disparity played a big role in this one. App State shot 8-17 from deep (47%), while USM shot just 3-17 (18%). That's a 15-point difference in what ended up being a seven-point loss.

Although both teams missed their fair share of free throws, USM will be kicking itself for missing eight freebies (18-26) in a game that was decided by seven points.

Junior forward Tylik Weeks led USM in scoring with 21 points on 6-13 shooting from the field and 9-11 shooting from the free-throw line. He also led the team in assists with three on the night. Graduate student big man Djahi Binet helped USM win the rebounding battle 42-35 by leading the team with 12.

Izzy Hart and Binet were the only other Golden Eagles to score in double figures with 14 and 11 points, respectively.

Graduate student guard Jalen Tot led the way for the Mountaineers with 19 points and a game-high five made three-pointers. His senior backcourt teammate Kasen Jennings poured in 18 points of his own on just 4-12 shooting overall, but a perfect 8-8 from the free-throw line.

With consistent scoring being an issue for the Golden Eagles lately, one big question looming over this season is how much longer junior guard Isaac Taveras will be out after he suffered a significant hand injury in December. In 12 games to start the season, Taveras averaged 15.8 points while shooting 53.7 percent overall before the injury.

Next up, USM will try to snap its five-game skid against James Madison (11-11) at Reed Green Coliseum on Saturday. With only eight regular-season games remaining before Sun Belt Conference tournament play, time is starting to run thin on the 10th-placed Golden Eagles.