Coinciding with what newly-minted Southern Miss football coach Charles Huff says is the biggest recruiting weekend in school history, the Golden Eagles men’s basketball team got the job done on Saturday by beating Huff’s ex-employer to open Sun Belt play.
While Marshall (7-6, 0-1 Sun Belt) never allowed Southern Miss (5-7, 1-0) to go on a big run, the energy inside of Reed Green Coliseum helped lift Jay Ladner’s group to a much-needed victory. In front of over 3,200 fans, the Golden Eagles jumped out to 39-34 halftime lead.
That’s when Huff headed to center court with the crowd giving the new football coach a standing ovation. Not only did Huff tout the men’s basketball team along with Southern Miss athletics as a whole, but he took some time to introduce some of the newest faces fans will see next fall on the gridiron. So far this weekend, Huff and the Southern Miss football team have received commitments from nearly a dozen players, including former Marshall quarterback and 2024 Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year Braylon Braxton.
Once the halftime presentation with Huff ended, the Golden Eagle basketball team trotted back onto the court and never trailed in the second period. Clutch free throws and forced turnovers toward the end of regulation solidified a 68-66 win over the Thundering Herd.
Scoring summary
A back-and-forth affair began to lean in Southern Miss’ direction when point guard Jose Benitez hit a jumper to take a 20-19 lead with 8:56 left until halftime. After this, Ladner’s group saw its lead reach as high as eight points while allowing Marshall to tie the game on a handful of occasions in the second half. However, the Golden Eagles never allowed the Thundering Herd to retake the lead.
One of the ties came at the 11:28 mark in the second half as Marshall shooting guard Mikal Dawson knotted things up at 50-50. Southern Miss responded with a 10-6 run before the Thundering Herd battled back to tie the game at 60-60 with 5:54 remaining.
The Golden Eagles turned to power forward Denijay Harris, whose stellar performance (29 points, 10 rebounds) helped catapult the team to its first win in over two weeks.
Harris scored the final four points as his teammates forced a turnover with 15 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
What the coach said
Visibly excited about the environment inside Reed Green Coliseum on Saturday and how his team fed from it, Ladner expressed an appreciation after the game for how his team not only prepared but executed – especially when the game was close.
“For the last two days, I really liked our preparation and knowing that we are not far away,” Ladner said, touting the team as more talented than what their record shows. “Defensively, we got the stops when we needed to. As I told the players, it wasn’t the prettiest I’ve ever seen, but we had some great effort against a team we have not been very successful against in the past.”
Ladner, who has led the Golden Eagles to a 42-31 overall record since joining the Sun Belt before the 2022-23 season, has been successful against most conference teams. However, Saturday’s win was the first he had seen over Marshall since both teams moved into the conference.
Numbers never lie
While Marshall was more efficient from the field, knocking down over half of its shots, Southern Miss was able to capitalize on turnovers to capture the game’s momentum. In total, the Golden Eagles forced the Thundering Herd to spit over the ball 12 times while scoring 15 points off those turnovers.
Southern Miss also won statistical battles in rebounds (36-31) and assists (14-9) while outshooting Marshall from beyond the arch with a 30% success rate from three-point range.
Harris was the best all-around player on the floor, securing his third double-double this month and fifth of the season. Joining him at the top of the Golden Eagles’ side of the box score was Christian Watson (10 points, 5 rebounds), Neftali Alvarez (8 points, 4 assists), and DeAntoni Gordon (7 points, 8 rebounds).
For Marshall, four players – Obinna Anochili-Killen (15 points), Dezayne Mingo (14 points), Mikal Dawson (14 points), and Nate Martin (12 points) – were double digit scorers. But the rest of the team proved mostly inefficient.
Next up
Southern miss will enjoy a nine-day break before taking on cross-town foe William Carey on Monday, Dec. 30. Tipoff for the annual Mayor’s Cup is set for 7 p.m. CT inside Reed Green Coliseum.