Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI

Southern Miss Valiant Second Half Comeback Falls Short vs. South Alabama

The Golden Eagles were down by as many as 17 points in the second half against South Alabama, but they made things interesting late.

Dalton Trigg

Tylik Weeks led Southern Miss with 25 points against South Alabama on Thursday night at Reed Green Coliseum.
Tylik Weeks led Southern Miss with 25 points against South Alabama on Thursday night at Reed Green Coliseum. / @SouthernMissMBB on X

HATTIESBURG – Following the Southern Miss men's basketball team's big win over Kent State last weekend, head coach Jay Ladner laid out the blueprint for what his team needed to do in order to finish the season strong over the final five games and improve its potential Sun Belt Conference tournament seeding.

"First of all, we need to get Isaac (Taveras) back in condition and rhythm. That’s gonna take a few weeks," Ladner told Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI. "Secondly, (we need to) stay committed to defense and rebounding the ball. We have improved tremendously in that area. A factor in defense is offensive shot selection. Shooting good shots improves defensive transition, which improves defense."

For the first 30 minutes of Thursday night's game at Reed Green Coliseum, the Golden Eagles didn't get Ladner's memo about staying committed on defense, as they trailed South Alabama 63-46 with 11:54 remaining in the second half.

Southern Miss fought back to cut the deficit to as few as four points, but ultimately, the Jaguars showed why they're ranked near the top of the Sun Belt this season. The Golden Eagles lost a hard-fought game, 84-78, dropping to 13-14 overall and 6-8 in Sun Belt play. South Alabama improved to 18-7 overall, and 8-4 in Sun Belt play.

Golden Eagles star guard Tylik "Bully" Weeks led the team with 25 points on 6-14 shooting from the floor and 11-12 from the free throw line, to go with five rebounds, and seven assists.

Djahi Binet, Israel "Izzy" Hart, and Isaac Taveras were the only other Southern Miss players to score in double figures with 15, 11, and 11 points, respectively. Binet, who is coming off winning Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week, also registered 12 rebounds and two blocks.

Although Southern Miss got decent scoring on this night, it wasn't enough to overcome the dominant performance of South Alabama's dynamic guard duo of junior Jayden Cooper and senior Chaze Harris. Cooper finished with a game-high 34 points on 10-16 shooting overall, including 7-9 from 3-point range. Harris pitched in with 26 points on 9-11 shooting overall.

The schedule won't feel sorry for the Golden Eagles, as they face Troy at Reed Green on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The Trojans boast a 17-9 record, which is good for second place in the Sun Belt. When Southern Miss played at Troy in mid-January, the Trojans won in blowout fashion, 91-65.

We'll see if Ladner's crew can exact some revenge with home court, as well as the bad taste of a loss in their mouths, on their side this time.

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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Southern Miss Golden Eagles on SI and the lead host of the Nasty Bunch & Beyond podcast. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. Trigg entered the sports journalism industry in 2017, covering the Dallas Mavericks for 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, where he continued to cover the Mavs until 2024. He also owns and hosts the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which has been going strong since 2019. You can find Trigg on all social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter): @dalton_trigg.