Jaguar Basketball Downs FIU 79-68
The South Alabama men’s basketball team was in action on Saturday evening in their second game of a two-game conference swing through Florida. The Jags came out with a win against Florida International 79-68.
The Jags improved to 4-3 on the season and 2-0 in conference play while FIU falls to 2-3 on the season and 1-1 so far in the conference. The win also made coach Ronnie Arrow the Sun Belt Conference’s all-time leader in conference wins by breaking his tie with Gene Bartow.
“I thought we had a very solid game and I thought the guys did, in certain situations, what we had to do to win,” coach Arrow said. “We’re still fouling too much at the end when we shouldn’t be trying to block 3-point shots, and hopefully we’ll get better at that, but the bottom line is, we’re 2-0 in the conference and we’re 2-0 on the road in the conference. That’s what it’s all about, conference play getting you ready for the postseason.”
“Coach Bartow was not only a great coach, but a great person, and to be even mentioned in the same breath with him is great,” Arrow continued. “I’m really happy, but I’m happy to be 2-0 in the conference.”
The Jags shot a season best 53.3% from the floor and 54.2% from three-point range. The 13 three’s they made was a new season high as well. Eight of the 13 three pointers came in the first half and at one point has six consecutive field goals came from behind the three point line. Three of those in a row came from Mychal Ammons.
The Jags used that three point attack to turn a four point deficit into a 10 point lead with 7:16 left left before halftime.
South Alabama would stretch its lead to 20 points in the first 11 minutes of the second half.
Mychal Ammons scored a game-high 21 points while adding five rebounds and two assists. Augustine Rubit chipped in 19 points and came one short of a double-double with nine. Antoine Allen added 13 points, Freddie Goldstein chipped in 11 points and five rebounds as well. Two other Jaguars scored in single digits.
South Alabama will return home to host New Mexico State with tip-off scheduled for 7:05 pm.
Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson Issues Statement
“While I am disappointed that Middle Tennessee State University and Florida Atlantic University have elected to depart the Sun Belt Conference, the SBC is still very well positioned for the future and I remain very optimistic that the momentum that has been created in the past six months will continue to grow. The continuing 10 members of the SBC are committed to excellence and I am confident that the SBC will take advantage of these latest changes in the landscape. As I have stated many times in the past six months, the SBC will be a major player in the future, especially within its geographic footprint.
As for future members, there are several outstanding universities that have indicated interest in joining the SBC. While we have conducted research on these universities in the past six months, we will now focus on identifying the ones that will be the best “fit” for the conference and the ones that will contribute immediately in achieving our goal of being the best of the FBS conferences that currently do not receive automatic qualification into the BCS.
The future is still very BRIGHT for the SBC and I look forward to working with the leadership of the SBC in the coming days, weeks and months to continue the growth and development of this outstanding athletic conference.”
USA Falls In Hawaii 23-7 In Season Finale
The University of South Alabama dropped their season ending game in Honolulu, Hawaii on Saturday night 23-7. The Warriors gained a season-best 410 yards in the win in Aloha Stadium.
South Alabama would take the opening kickoff and drive down into the Warrior red zone however an interception in the endzone would end the Jaguar scoring threat. However, Hawaii would then drive 80 yards for a touchdown to begin the scoring.
The Jaguar defense would bend but not break the rest of the first half by holding the Warriors to three field goals for a 16-0 lead heading into the locker room for halftime. The South Alabama offense could not put together another good drive in the first half. On their subsequent five possessions of the first half, the Jags would punt each of those five possessions.
At halftime, the Jaguars would only have 55 yards of total offense with only six of those yards coming on the ground from the rushing attack.
The Jags would avoid their first-ever shutout with an 80 yard, 11 play drive that would span over five minutes. C.J. Bennett would come in and see playing time for the first time since the Jaguars game against Troy on September 29 to lead the Jaguar offense on the scoring drive. Bennett would find Bryant Lavender for a 25 yard completion to get the drive going. Julien Valentin would keep the drive alive with an eight yard rush for a first down. Bennett would keep the ball to pick up a first down on fourth and one at the Hawaii 4 yard line. Bennett would then cap off the drive with a three yard touchdown toss to Wes Saxton.
The touchdown drive would account for nearly half of the Jaguars totoal offensive output for the game. USA would end the game with 166 yards of total offense, 148 yards passing and a program-low of 34 yards rushing on 18 carries. However the Jags would gain 17 first downs, which was close to Hawaii’s 20 for the game.
Hawaii would end the game with 410 yards of total offense, 229 yards rushing matched the most ever given up by the Jaguars defense. The Warriors threw for 181 yards as well.
Senior Center Trey Clark, who started every game in his career at South Alabama and every game in South Alabama history spoke after the game. “They were tough. They were a physical group. They had some movement going on, and came with a few blitzes that gave us some problems. I think we did alright for the most part, but those sacks and fumbles hurt us.”
“The biggest thing was that we weren’t going to lay down — we weren’t going to quit. We just had that mindset that we were going to fight to the last whistle. I’m just proud of the seniors, my teammates and the coaches.”
“We came out and put together a good drive but threw an interception, and end up down 16-0 at halftime,” head coach Joey Jones explained. “We didn’t do much offensively in the second quarter, and they made some big plays. We gave up a long play on the first drive, but in the second half the defense came out and played better. They just controlled the game.”
T.J. Glover would end the game with 34 yards rushing on nine carries. Julien Valentin would add 20 yards on nine carries. Kendall Houston, who saw some action early, gained 10 yards on three carries. Ross Metheny would lose 43 yards combined in all of his sacks.
Metheny would go 11-of-24 for 111 yards and two touchdowns but also took five sacks. C.J. Bennett would come in and go 3-of-7 for 37 yards and a touchdown.
Corey Besteda would catch three passes for 42 yards, Gabe Loper would catch four passes for 32 yards, Saxton would catch three for 27 yards. T.J. Glover would add 12 yards on two receptions and Bryant Lavender would add 25 yards on one catch. Jereme Jones would keep his consecutive game with a catch streak alive with one catch for 10 yards.
Glover would have a season-high of 169 all-purpose yards as he accounted for 115 yards in kick returns, 34 yards rushing, 12 yards receiving and an eight yard punt return.
This game was the final game of 2012 season for South Alabama and the last in their two-year transition into the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. Next season the Jags will be eligible for the Sun Belt Conference title and for a bowl game.
The Jags will lose a long list of senior talent this season. Many of these guys committed to South Alabama before the school had anything to show. They bought into a vision and they helped to make that vision a reality. They created the foundation that all future success will be built upon.
B.J. Scott, Jonathan Cameron, Brandon Ross, Gabe Loper, Cori Barnett, Charles Harris, Chris Rivers, Michel Chapuseaux, Jake Johnson, Anthony Taylor, Tremain Smith, Phillip Press, Trey Clark, Kennedy Helms, Ryne Baxter and Andy Dalgleish all will not put on the Jaguar uniform again. But they will not be forgotten.
Thank you guys. Thank you for coming to South Alabama, working hard and helping to build this program. I hope to see you around the program in the future. I also wish you the best in all of your future endevours.
“It was a great experience, and we were able to play another non-conference game,” B.J. Scott said after the game. “We got a chance to experience a bowl-like atmosphere, and we have a lot to look forward to next year. We were just a few plays away in every game we lost this year. For the young guys, I just want them to stay focused and continue to work hard. I feel like we can easily flip this season around with just a little more attention to detail and focus.”
“I think we will have a great team next year,” Scott said.
Know Your Stadiums: Hawaii’s Aloha Stadium
Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii
The University of Hawaii play their home games at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The stadium also hosts the Hawaii Bowl and has been home to the NFL’s Pro Bowl game since 1980 (except 2010) and the NCAA’s Hula Bowl from 1975 through 1997 and again in 2006.
Aloha Stadium also hosts numerous high school football games during the season and is a venue for large concerts and events. One of which is a swap meet in the parking lot every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday which draws large crowds.
The stadium is located west of downtown Honolulu and two miles north of Honolulu International Airport. It was built in 1975 at a cost of $37 million as a replacement for the aging Honolulu Stadium that was demolished in 1976.
The first football game held at the stadium was between the University of Hawaii and Texas A&I (now Texas A&M-Kingsville) on September 13, 1975 in front of a crowd of 32,247.
Aloha Stadium can be reconfigured into a number of different configurations for different sporting events and other purposes. It was actually the first stadium in the United States that featured this capability.
There are four movable sections, each weighing 3.5 million pounds and with the capacity of 7,000, can be moved via air casters into a diamond configuration for baseball (and also used for soccer), an oval for football, or a triangle for concerts.
In 2003 the stadium surface was changed from the original AstroTurf that had been in place since the stadium opened to FieldTurf.
Then in July 2011 the field was upgraded to UBU Sports Speed S5-M synthetic turf system that features removable Active Panels as part of a multimillion dollar renovation to the stadium. This synthetic turf covers 110,000 square feet and has 22 removable Active Panels located in seven locations. The Removable Active Panels have inlaid logos for the University of Hawaii, Aloha Bowl and blank panels in order to accommodate the NFL Pro Bowl and NCAA Bowl Games so they can be custom pained for each event.
A 2005 study by a Honolulu engineering firm determined that the stadium required $99 million to be completely restored and would require an additional $115 million for ongoing maintenance and refurbishment over the next 20 years to extend its useful lifespan.
In January 2007 the stadium was permanently locked into its football configuration because of cost and maintenance issues. An engineer from Rolair Systems, the NASA spin-off company that engineering the system, claimed that the problem was caused by a concrete contractor that ignored specifications for the concrete pads under the stadium.
The State of Hawaii lawmakers have had numerous discussions concerning the physical condition of the stadium. There are several issues regarding rusting of the facility, hence the nickname “The Rust Bucket”, several hundred seats that need to be replaced and restroom facilities that need to be expanded to accommodate more patrons.
Then in early 2007 the state legislature proposed to spend $300 million to build a new facility as opposed to spending an estimated $216 million to extend the life of Aloha Stadium for another 20-30 years. This new stadium would be used to lure a NFL Super Bowl in the near future, possibly targeting 2016.
One council member said that if immediate repairs are not made within the next seven years, the stadium will probably need to be demolished due to safety concerns. Thus in May of 2007, the state alloted $12.4 million to be used towards removing corrosion and rust from the structure.
In 2008, the state of Hawaii approved the bill of $185 million to refurbish the aging stadium. In 2010, they completely retrofitted its scoreboard and video screen to be more up to date with high definition capability. The Aloha Stadium Authority plans to add more luxury suites, replacing all seats, rusting treatments, parking lots, more restrooms, pedestrian bridge supports, enclosed lounge and more. There is also a proposal to close the four open corners of the stadium to add more seats.
The stadium has been home to a number of events during it’s existence. The Police performed their final US tour on their Synchronicity Tour on February 25, 1984. Michael Jackson’s HIStory World Tour landed there on January 3-4, 1997 for his only US shows that decade and was the first person to sell out the stadium. Among other big concerts.
Aerial view of Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Aloha Stadium on a University of Hawaii football gameday.
Jags Fit In Work And Fun While In Hawaii
The South Alabama football team had a very productive first full day in Hawaii.
On their first night there they went to a Luau. But the next morning, their first full day there, they worked out for over an hour in helmets and shorts at Aloha Stadium, the site for Saturday’s game against the Warriors. During the workout the Jags went through position drills and formations. They also spent time working on offensive and defensive plays.
After lunch at the stadium the team took a trip to Pearl Harbor, the site of the December 7, 1941 bombing that drew the country into World War II. players, coaches and support staff were all able to view various monuments and displays. They even got to talk to survivors of the attack. The culmination of their trip was a 75 minute tour of the USS Arizona Memorial.
The team returned back to the hotel for team meetings and will meet again on Friday before an afternoon walkthrough.
The Jags and Warrior will kickoff at 6pm local time on Saturday, which translates to 10pm Central time in Alabama.
There are several options for viewing the game. Montego’s Cafe and Bar at 6601 Airport Boulevard had become a big go-to destination for Jaguar fans. Baumhower’s Restaurant announced that they will be staying open late and showing the game with the cheerleaders and SouthPaw in attendance.
The game can be seen on DirecTV channel 691 at 10pm or channel 683 at 11pm. It can also be streamed online for a fee through the Hawaii sports website.
Happy viewing Jaguar Nation and GO JAGS!
Jags End Losing Streak By Defeating FAU 77-66
The South Alabama men’s basketball team broke their three game losing streak with a win over Florida Atlantic Thursday night 77-66. The win improved the the Jaguars record to 3-3 overall and 1-0 in the Sun Belt Conference while FAU’s record falls to 2-4 overall (0-1 SBC).
“We worked on their stuff for three full days and I think tonight we guarded them,” Jaguar head coach Ronnie Arrow said after the game. “We still didn’t guard the 3-point line, but overall I was very happy, especially with our guard play. We only had nine turnovers and we held them to 41 percent shooting (from the floor).”
The win marks the 300th conference win for the South Alabama program and also coach Arrow’s 111th conference win to tie him with Gene Bartow for the most in conference history.
“I’m more into being 1-0 in the conference,” Arrow said. “That’s the most important thing. We’re working on the conference now and we play Florida International Saturday. Being 2-0, that’s the record I’m interested in.”
The Jags scored a season-high 44 points in the first half behind a career-best 23 points from Xavier Roberson. He scored 15 of his 23 points in the first half on five 3-pointers by going 5-of-8 from outside the arc prior to halftime. Six of his eight second half points came from the free throw line.
“When our 3-point shooters are on, we’re going to beat a lot of teams by a lot of points,” Arrow explained.
The Jags were down 10-6 early in the game but Roberson nailed back-to-back 3-point shots to take the lead. A layup from Javier Carter lead to another 3-pointer by Roberson to put the Jag lead up to seven points. Another layup by Carter would cap off the 13-0 Jaguar run.
Before halftime, South Alabama would put together another scoring outburst as four different Jags chipped in for the 9-0 run. Augustine Rubit slam would cap off the surge and propel the Jags to an 18 point lead.
“We were scoring off of our defense,” Arrow said. “We were able to defend and that ignited our fast break.”
FAU would end the half on a 7-0 run capped off with a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the lead to 44-33 at the half.
Both teams would cool off in the second half. South Alabama shot 50% in the first half, but would only shoot 30.8% in the second half. The Owls shooting percentage would fall by 10% in the second half as well.
FAU would only be able to get within seven points of the Jags in the final 2:19 of the game. The Jags would go 8-of-10 from the free throw line in the final 65 seconds of the game to help preserve the win.
Roberson would lead the Jags with his 23 points with 5 rebounds. Freddie Goldstein added 15 points with 3 assists. Augustine Rubit would add 11 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double while Javier Carter would also add 11 points but come one rebound shy of a double-double with 9 for the game. Four other Jaguars scored in single digits for the game.
FAU only had one player in double digits. Greg Gantt scored a game-high 29 points with 8 rebounds.
South Alabama will travel to play Florida International on Saturday with tip-off scheduled for 6:30pm Central time.
Jaguar Men Open Sun Belt Season At FAU Thursday
The South Alabama Jaguar Men’s basketball team will play for their 300th Sun Belt win when they travel to FAU on Thursday. USA has a 299-235 all-time record in the Sun Belt.
Meanwhile, Ronnie Arrow needs one win to tie Gene Bartow for the most Sun Belt wins in conference history. Arrow is 110-84 in 14 seasons in the conference at South Alabama.
The Jags enter the gamw with an RPI of 232 from RealTimeRPI and ranked 172 by Sagarin. FAU enters the game with a 270 RPI and a ranking of 250 by Sagarin.
The game will not be available on the radio, but can be heard on Jaguar All-Access for free and WNSP.com web streaming. Tip-off is scheduled for 6pm Central time.
MTSU And FAU To Hold News Conferences Today
With Middle Tennessee and FAU scheduled to have press conferences today where they are speculated to announce their acceptance of invitations to join Conference USA.
The dominos began with Maryland and Rutgers announcing that they were going to move to the Big10 from the Big East. Then more dominos fell when the Big East extended invitations that were accepted by Louisville and Tulane to join the conference.
It seems that the dominos continue to fall with Conference USA extending invitations to Middle Tennessee and FAU to join to replace the exiting schools.
This leaves the Sun Belt on the brink of falling below the eight school minimum for a football conference. Rumors are circulating that Western Kentucky may be shopping around but would be held back by the TV market.
Schools are out there ready for invitations to the conference. Some make sense but others don’t. Georgia Southern, New Mexico State and Appalachain State are out there with some eager to move to FBS while New Mexico State is being left out in the cold as the Mountain West dissolves. Lamar, Jacksonville State and Liberty may be schools ready and waiting for an invitations as well.
Don’t think Conference USA is content, they want to jump ahead and try to be a 16 team super-conference and they will almost certainly look to the Sun Belt for two more schools. Schools that are on their radar include Western Kentucky and UL-Lafayette.
The Sun Belt made big strides this season in outclassing Conference USA on the field, but C-USA has the better TV contract. I would like to see the Sun Belt get out in front and make pro-active moves instead of sitting back and waiting for the dominos to fall and then pick up the pieces afterwards.
Commissioner Benson has said throughout the season that the SBC wants to be a regional conference. They need to talk with some schools to gauge interest in moving to the Sun Belt. Southern Miss and UAB could be prime schools that are uninterested in continuing their relationship with CUSA.
Another topic that needs to be addressed is that the Sun Belt does not have an exit fee for members. This asks them to explore the grass on the other side of the fence.
What do you think? What should the Sun Belt do? Who should they consider adding? What should South Alabama do?
Lady Jags Fall To FAU In Conference Opener
The South Alabama women’s basketball team dropped their first Sun Belt Conference game on Wednesday 67-56 to Florida Atlantic. The Jags held a six point advantage at halftime, but FAU used two second half surges to rally back and overtake the Lady Jags.
Mansa El led the Jags with 12 points, six assists and five rebounds while going 5-of-13 from the field. Meghan Dunn also scored in double figures with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and 2-of-3 from 3-point range. Ronneka Robertson added six points and a game-high seven rebounds for the Lady Jags.
FAU improved their record to 4-2 overall (1-0 SBC) with the win. The Owls had three players score in double digits with Kimberly Smith leading the way with 19 points.
At halftime, the Jags led 29-22, but with under 16 minutes to go in the game the Owls surged into the lead with a 15-2 run over six minutes. With under 10 minutes to go, Brianna Wright twice brought the Jags within a bucket of cutting the FAU lead down to single digits, but with 7:13 left they pulled out to a 57-41 lead.
The Lady Jags would cut the lead to 10 points at 57-47 but that would be as close as they would get the rest of the way. FAU would stretch their lead out to 67-48 with less than two minutes remaining, their largest lead of the game and would hold on for the win.
The Lady Jags (5-2, 0-1 SBC) will close out a five-game road swing on Saturday when they play FIU at 4:30pm at the U.S. Century Bank Arena.
MTSU to Conference USA
Multiple outlets are posting that Middle Tennessee has accepted an offer to join Conference USA. This comes on the heels of the announcement that Tulane and East Carolina were joining the Big East. However East Carolina is only joining the conference in football.
They have also mentioned FAU as a possible target to fill the empty 14th slot left when Maryland and Rutgers announced that they were leaving the Big East recently.
The Sun Belt faced conference realignment last season when FIU and North Texas accepted offers to join Conference USA. The Sun Belt then extended offers that were accepted by Georgia State and Texas State to fully join the conference in all sports including football. They also added Texas-Arlington, however they do not sponsor football and was an addition to replace Denver.
Georgia Southern recently voted to possibly join the FBS ranks and have expressed interest in joining the Sun Belt before. Other possible targets to join the Sun Belt that have been tossed around is Appalachain State and Lamar University.
Watch for more conference realignment dominoes to fall if MTSU or FAU decides to check out the pastures on the other side of the fence.