By By Austin Bishop/EMG regional sports director
Jan. 20, 2002
HATTIESBURG Southern Mississippi head basketball coach James Green was a little happier with his squad after Friday night's 73-64 loss to Memphis than he was following Tuesday's 70-61 setback to Tulane.
Too much load for three guys
Due mostly to foul trouble and a lack of experienced depth, the Golden Eagles had to turn to a trio of players to play most of the minutes Friday night.
Senior point guard Brad Richardson played all 40 minutes, while Elvin Mims came off the bench to post 38 minutes and center Ben Lambert played 34.
Only one other Eagle played as many as 20 minutes that being sophomore Clement Carter and he fouled out with 6:57 to play after posting 22 minutes.
While the effort was good, the fatigue began to show up on the Golden Eagles as the game moved deep into the second half.
In comparison, Memphis had seven guys who played 21 or more minutes, with freshman Dajuan Wagner playing the most at 38.
Foul trouble had something to do with that, as both Carter and Myles fouled out and Lambert and freshman David Haywood finished the night with four fouls each.
Bigger Tigers controlled boards
The size advantage definitely went to Memphis. The Tigers started a 7-footer (Earl Barron) at center and had 6-foot-10 Kelly Wise at power forward, with 6-foot-9 Chris Massie coming off the bench.
The only real size for the Golden Eagles came from Lambert, a junior forward from Prichard, Ala.
The size difference showed up in the stats, as the Tigers outrebounded USM 40-31.
Wise had 13 rebounds for Memphis, including 10 on the defensive end, while Massie had nine and Barron picked up nine. In all the Tigers had 28 defensive rebounds, while USM only had 14 on the offensive end.
Mims led USM with nine rebounds.
While USM was the smaller team, it didn't stop the Golden Eagles from swatting away a few shots.
The Golden Eagles blocked eight shots, including five by Lambert.
4,310 turn out to watch game
Despite the fact the game was played later than usual tip off was 8:05 p.m. and the game was televised nationally on ESPN, the largest home crowd of the year turned out for the game at Reed Green Coliseum.
Before Friday night's attendance of 4,310, the biggest Reed Green crowd this season was the 3,102 that showed up for USM's season-opening 83-58 win over Jackson State.
Green was appreciative of the turnout.
So much for that one
Going into the University of Memphis game the Golden Eagles had held the lead at halftime five times this season. All five times USM came out with the win.
That trend changed on Friday night, as Memphis outscored USM 51-38 in the second half to overcome a 26-22 halftime deficit.
USM, now 6-9 on the season, has won only one game this season in which it trailed at the half. That was a 66-60 win over Alcorn State.
Tigers hold big edge over USM
Although the Golden Eagles have had recent success against Memphis despite losing twice to the Tigers this season USM is on the short-end of the all-time series.
With the most recent win, Memphis now leads the series 45-21 overall, and has won 16 of 28 games played in Hattiesburg. USM has won seven of the last 10 games played at Reed Green Coliseum between the two schools.