HATTIESBURG, Miss. – After a tough road loss in Ames, Southern Miss needed to get back home, get back to work and get back in the win column.
On Wednesday night at Reed Green Coliseum, in front of a rowdy crowd, the Golden Eagles accomplished all of those things, as they overcame a 15-point second-half deficit to win 84-80 over Jackson State in overtime.
The win moves Southern Miss to 2-1 on the season. The loss drops Jackson State to 1-3 on the year. Although Jackson State has only one win so far this year, it came on the road at Tulane last week, which shows just how competitive and scrappy the Tigers can be.
Despite some anxious moments and facing plenty of adversity, Jay Ladner’s group was ultimately able to respond to its first loss of the season with a bounce-back win.
“I was not pleased with the way we began the game. … We’ve got so much to clean up and work on, but I don’t want to say any of that without giving credit to Jackson State,” Ladner said afterward. “Very talented guys. A lot of those guys are Mississippi guys.
“But the guys never quit. This type of game with a new group of guys has the opportunity to bring our team together and help take us to the next level.”
Say what you will about how Southern Miss got into the situation it was in, having to come back from such a large deficit, but showing enough grit and resilience to dig out of it and complete the comeback is the kind of stuff that can galvanize a team as the season progresses. This team is full of new players still learning how to play with each other, but tonight gave us a glimpse of what their resolve looks like when things get tough.
Here are the biggest storylines from Southern Miss’ win over Jackson State.
The Final Moments of Regulation
With 13 seconds remaining in regulation, JSU led by three and had a chance to ice the game at the free-throw line, but standout guard Mike Williams missed the first of a one-and-one, giving the Golden Eagles one final opportunity.
Southern Miss lead guard Jalyke Gaines-Wyatt rushed up the court and got fouled, sinking one free throw to cut the Golden Eagles’ deficit to 69-67. JSU then turned the ball over with 4.2 seconds left, giving Southern Miss one last chance to tie or take the lead. Golden Eagles big man Cam Wallace was fouled in the paint with 1.4 seconds left and calmly sank both free throws to send the game to overtime.
Gaines-Wyatt and Wallace Carry the Load in Overtime
In overtime, Gaines-Wyatt and Wallace continued what they started in the final minutes of regulation, accounting for 14 of the Golden Eagles’ 15 points in the extra period.
After being tied at 78-78 with 57 seconds remaining, Gaines-Wyatt scored the next three points from the free-throw line, giving the Golden Eagles an 81-78 lead with 24 seconds left. JSU responded with a layup from Williams, but Gaines-Wyatt yet again hit two more freebies to give Southern Miss an 83-80 lead with eight seconds remaining.
Then, as JSU tried to get the ball up the court for a chance to tie the game, Isaac Taveras came up with his third steal of the night and hit a free throw afterward to seal the 84-80 win. Taveras finished with 10 points (4-12 FG), nine rebounds, one assist, one block and three steals in 26 minutes.
Gaines-Wyatt led the team with a season-high 28 points (7-12 FG, 3-6 3P), three rebounds, four assists and one steal in 37 minutes. He also shot 11-of-12 free throws.
“I just want to thank my teammates a lot,” Gaines-Wyatt said. “They had a lot of trust in me out there today. They wanted to get me the ball, and they know that I’m not just looking for me to score. I’m looking for them to score also. So I just saw a lot of things open up. If anybody stepped up, it was a kick, but nobody stepped up today, so it was a lot of drives [for me], a lot of fouls, and I appreciate my teammates for that.”
Wallace also had his best game of the early season, finishing with 21 points (8-16 FG, 5-7 FT) and six rebounds in 30 minutes. The Southern Miss coaching staff challenged the veteran to bounce back and play more to his abilities after his first two games of the season, and he did just that.
“Really just getting myself back together and getting back on the right path from the last games. But my teammates never stopped trusting me. My coaches never stopped trusting me,” Wallace said.
“It’s probably one of the best programs I’ve been at. They’re not just giving you anything. They want you to go earn it, want you to go take it, and we talked about that, and I just took that to the chin, and I couldn’t let my teammates down anymore from the previous performances I’ve had. So I had to step up, had to give everything I got. They believe in me, I believe in them, and we’re just going to continue to go from there.”
As this season progresses, the leadership and experience from two seasoned veteran players like Wallace and Gaines-Wyatt will go a long way toward Southern Miss becoming the team it wants to be by March.
Things to Fix: Turnovers, Missed Free Throws
Although the Golden Eagles were happy to escape with a comeback win on Wednesday, it’s still worth noting the areas that put them in a 15-point hole to begin with. One of those areas was turnovers, as Southern Miss had 18 that led to 32 Jackson State points. The other one was free-throw shooting … at least for the first 35 minutes of the game.
For the game, Southern Miss shot 26-42 from the charity stripe, leaving 16 points on the table in what ended up being just a four-point win. Overall, Ladner didn’t like the energy his guys were playing with early, but he was still proud of how they came back and finished the job.
“The preparation … I didn’t think we looked prepared. That’s my responsibility,” Ladner said. “I discussed that, of course, strongly at halftime. We just looked like we weren’t ready to play, and that upsets me. So we’re going to clean that up. But with that being said, I was so proud of the guys. Again, the toughness, the no panic.”
Gaines-Wyatt and Wallace came through with some massive free throws when it counted the most at the end of regulation and in overtime.
“Both of these young men, I thought, just had great, great games,” Ladner said of Gaines-Wyatt and Wallace. “Both of them hit huge free throws, pressure-packed free throws. Cam, of course, [hit] two at the end of regulation to tie it, and then Jalyke hit [them], it seemed like, every single time.
“So I thought they did a good job of handling that down the stretch once we got the lead. And again, my hat’s off to Jackson State. [Head coach] Trey [Johnson] and those guys did a great, great job. Heck of a team, picked to win the SWAC. But we’ve got a lot of work to do ourselves, and [we’ve] got a quick turnaround before we play a good team on Friday.”
Unsung Hero: Igiede and His Defense
Southern Miss guard Anthony Igiede finished with eight points on 4-of-10 shooting with five rebounds, two assists and one block, but his defense on JSU guard Mike Williams, especially in the second half, was notable.
Williams finished with 27 points on 11-of-20 shooting overall, but 16 of those points came in the first half alone on 7-of-8 shooting. That means for the entire second half and overtime, he was held to just 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting, and Igiede’s defense played a big part in that.
“Mike Williams is as good a guard as [you’ll see],” Ladner said. “We just played an All-American at Iowa State, and man, [Williams is still] as good a guard as we’ve seen. He’s really, really good. … I thought Anthony Igiede did a great job late when we went to no-catch. We just did a much better job on him as the game went on, and I thought that was the difference.”
Next Up: Familiar Foe in San Marcos
Southern Miss won’t have long to enjoy getting back in the win column. The Golden Eagles head to San Marcos, Texas, on Friday to take on Texas State, a familiar face from the Sun Belt that now calls the Pac-12 home.
Some old rivalries hit a little differently once the conference patch on the jersey changes, and this is one of them. For the Bobcats, it’ll be a chance to show their new league they belong. For Southern Miss, it’s the second road test against a power-conference opponent in a week. It’s also a fair way to find out whether the fixes we saw in the second half of Wednesday night’s win carry over away from Reed Green.
“We know that they’re going to have an outstanding team. They have a lot of the same players that were really good for them last year. TJ [Texas State head coach Terrence Johnson] does a great job. So we’ll have a short turnaround, but I’m hoping that we’ll continue on,” Ladner said.
“We’ve got an opportunity to carry the momentum from tonight and not revert back to, ‘Hey, we think we can just go out there and show up and beat somebody.’ [You’ve] got to go earn it every night.”
Tipoff in San Marcos is set for 7 p.m. CT on the Pac-12 YouTube channel. Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more coverage of Golden Eagles basketball all season long.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
