Southern Miss defended home court versus one of the better teams in the Sun Belt Conference on Saturday, defeating Troy 69-65.
The Golden Eagles (14-14, 7-8 Sun Belt) went toe-to-toe with the Trojans (17-10, 9-5 Sun Belt) who were at the top of the conference before the game. Southern Miss forward Tylik Weeks scored 30 points in the second half along with another monster night from Djahi Binet, who picked up a career-high 18 rebounds. The French center added 14 points for his ninth double-double of the season.
Scoring summary
A 6-0 run from Southern Miss in the first 4:30 minutes galvanized the crowd in Reed Green Coliseum as the Golden Eagles took an 8-4 lead. The momentum came after an Isaac Taveras pass to Binet for an alley-oop. Southern Miss hit a cold streak coming out of the first media timeout, going on a three-minute scoring drought that included five-straight misses. The bright spot for Southern Miss was the early shooting of Curt Lewis as he hit two three-pointers to account for the triples of the game.
The Golden Eagles started the game 7-for-24 from the field but clung to a 16-14 lead and the defense had forced six turnovers, while the offense was limited to only two giveaways. Southern Miss pushed its lead to seven after Taveras hit a reverse dunk. Troy ended the half on a 9-2 run after Taveras’ dunk as the Trojans hit a shot with 10 seconds left to send the teams to half tied at 26.
The Trojans came out in the second half and scored the first five points before Binet found the basket. Weeks started to come alive in the final frame, scoring six points for Southern Miss in three minutes. The Golden Eagles went over four minutes without a field goal, which allowed Troy to maintain an eight-point advantage with 8:20 left on the clock. Southern Miss punched right back with a 12-1 run that was capped with a Binet jumper to give the home team the lead.
The Golden Eagle defense also stepped up big, forcing a turnover that resulted in two of Southern Miss’ 21 fast-break points. After Binet scored on consecutive possessions, Weeks went back to score eight-straight to give Southern Miss a three-point lead. Southern Miss held off Troy as Dylan Brumfield and Taveras iced the game from the free-throw line.
Coach’s comments
While the Golden Eagles had a disappointing loss to South Alabama Thursday, head coach Jay Ladner saw this victory as a positive step in preparing for the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Pensacola.
“I have been blessed to have some great young men during my coaching career, any lack of success, I take responsibility,” Ladner said. “We have had a choppy few games before the return of Isaac Taveras and we have played an incredibly tough schedule without many home games before now.”
Numbers never lie
Southern Miss finished with 18 offensive rebounds, tying its season high along with eight blocks which was the second-most this season. The Golden Eagles finished with 10 steals to reach double figures in that category for the eighth time this season and is now 19-5 all-time against Troy and 13-1 in Hattiesburg against the Trojans.
Southern Miss trailed by eight points in the second half before finishing the comeback win and is tied for the third-largest comeback win this season. Tylik Weeks recorded 32 points, while thirty of the points came in the second half when he scored 16-straight at one point. Binet picked up his ninth double-double after contributing 11 points. Taveras scored in double figures for the 13th time this season after finishing with 11 points.
Next up
Southern Miss has a seven-day break before returning to Reed Green Coliseum to take on Old Dominion in the home finale. This will also be senior day for the Golden Eagles, with tip-off slated for 2 p.m. CT on ESPN+.