Southern Miss Hoops Preview: Golden Eagles welcome "War Eagles" to Hattiesburg on Tuesday night

Auburn will be the first SEC team to visit Reed Green Coliseum since 1995-1996

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this fall to help bring you, the fan, more detailed Conference USA sports coverage. Today, our head Conference USA sports writer Thomas "Bubba" Rosenbaum previews the basketball game between Southern Miss and Auburn.

Following a rough first couple years, Southern Miss’ third-year head coach Larry Eustachy has the Golden Eagles sitting at 9-2 and playing good basketball. How good? Well, that remains to be seen since the non-conference schedule has been extremely light and loaded with cupcakes up to this point. Four of their wins have been against non-Division I competition. Their schedule is so weak that long-time ESPN college basketball analyst and commentator Dick Vitale cracked on them earlier this season during a telecast.

USM should receive their strongest test to date on Tuesday night when they face Jeff Lebo’s Auburn Tigers (10-4) in Reed Green Coliseum. The game is scheduled for a 6:00 p.m. tip-off.

The last time out, the Golden Eagles collected a 58-41 victory over McNeese State. It was Southern Miss’ tenth straight victory at Green Coliseum. Their two losses came against solid Alabama and Bradley teams on the road.

Following last season, Eustachy saw the need to make some major roster changes and executed an eye-opening roster overhaul. USM is an extremely young team, as they have 11 newcomers—8 of which are freshmen. Over the past three games, the starting line-up has consisted of three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior. Eustachy realizes the need for patience with such a youthful squad, but is seeing improvement with each game.

"It's just going to be a learning process. We're still getting better, but we are still making mistakes that young teams make,” the Southern Miss’ coach said.

The Golden Eagles are shooting the basketball well, as they’re knocking down 48 percent on the year. They are making nearly 37 percent of their three’s, but are only shooting 63.8 percent from the charity stripe. USM is outrebounding the oppositon by 12. However, these field goal percentages and other statistics could be misleading given their schedule.

Despite their youth, the Golden Eagles are very deep. They have nine players who are averaging over 14 minutes per game—all of which have made starts at some point in the season. USM three consistent starters have been guards Jeremy Wise (6’2”, 165), Courtney Beasley (6’3”, 210) and Sai’Quon Stone (6’6”, 205).

Wise, a freshman, leads the team in points per game and free throw shooting percentage. He is also one of the team’s top three-point threats, having connected on 40.9 percent (18-of-44) of his attempts.

Wise is the only player in double figures, but there are four other players who are averaging just under 10 points per game. This group is led by guards Courtney Beasley and Sai’Quon Stone who are scoring 9.9 and 9.6 points per game, respectively.

Juniors Gjio Bain (7’0”, 225) and Demar Dotson (6’9”, 255) are the leaders on the interior. Bain, who is from Nassau, Bahamas, leads the team with 5.9 rebounds per contest despite only playing 16 minutes. He is also shooting 80.8 percent (21-of-26) from the floor. Dotson, who is scoring 8.2 points while shooting 60 percent from the floor, is second on the team with 5.6 boards per game.

Freshman Andre Stephens (6’8”, 225) is also hitting the glass well, as he is pulling down 5.5 boards a game.

Southern Miss will face an Auburn club that posted a 69-53 win over Charleston Southern on Saturday. The Tigers’ four losses have come against very good competition— Oklahoma State, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh and Texas A&M. However, this will be Auburn’s first road game, as only two of their first 14 games have been away from home and those were on a neutral court.

The War Eagles are posting 75.5 points per game and have five players scoring in double figures. The Tigers’ bench appears to be pretty deep as well, as ten players are logging more than 13 minutes per contest. Lebo’s squad is shooting 47 percent from the field, but only 31.6 from three and a miserable 58.1 from the free throw line.

Junior forward Quan Prowell (6’8”, 210) leads the team with 15 points per game, but has only played in three games and hasn’t started any.

Korvotney Barber, a 6’7” forward, is the team’s leading scorer for those with the most minutes. He has started every game and is averaging 13.9 points and 7.2 boards per game. Barber also leads the team in blocked shots, as he is swatting 2.6 shots per contest.

The Tigers’ Josh Dollard (F, 6’7”, 225) is pulling down a team leading 8.3 rebounds, and is also scoring 12.4 points per game.

The backcourt’s leading producer is 6’5”, 220-pound guard Rasheem Barrett, who is tallying 12.9 points every time out. Frank Tolbert is also averaging over 12 points (12.1) while 6’4” Archie Miaway is one of the top three-point shooters on the team at 37.5 percent (21-of-56).

Quantez Robertson is Auburn’s top assist man, as he is recording 5.5 per game.

Eustachy and his Golden Eagles have to be tired of hearing how easy they’ve had it up to this point. They’ll be looking to collect their most impressive victory to date while notching the program’s tenth win of the season.

Don’t be surprised if this is a closely contested ball game in the upper 60s to low 70s that is decided in the game’s waning minutes.