Balanced offense paves way for Southern Miss basketball's 10th win of the season

Southern Miss overcame a dreadful start as well as a rough patch late in the game to bounce Rice 86-75 Thursday at Reed Green Coliseum.

The victory evens the Golden Eagles’ overall record at 10-10, and gets them to 3-4 in Conference USA play. It is the most wins for Southern Miss since it finished with 25 in 2011-12. The team won 56 games in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, but all but two were vacated following an NCAA investigation.

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Rice drops to 4-15 overall and 1-5 in C-USA.

Dominic Magee, who put up a team-high 22 points, paced the winning effort and was one of three Golden Eagles to score in double-figures.

Southern Miss hosts North Texas at 4 p.m. Saturday. 

Some good, some bad

The visiting Owls came out firing Thursday, and Southern Miss was doing very little to stand in their way. Rice led 8-3 early and built a 14-8 lead several minutes later.

Late in the game, Rice put together a stretch where it hit 8 out of 9 field goal attempts, outscoring Southern Miss 20-5 over that span. But Doc Sadler’s squad held on, getting a basket from LaDavius Draine with less than a minute to play to stop the bleeding and put the Golden Eagles up 82-75.

“Wasn’t happy with the way the game started,” fourth-year coach Doc Sadler said. “I thought were kind of playing cool. Defensively, I wasn’t as pleased as I would like to be. The thing we had to do a good job of was take away the lane. And we didn’t do that in the first half.

“Then, we got a 20-point lead. We haven’t had many 20-point leads. Maybe we don’t know how to play with a 20-point lead. Hopefully, that’s something we get to experience a little bit more.”

Draine can be a difference-maker

The true freshman from Calhoun City finished with 16 points, including the jumper along the far baseline that kept the Owls from inching any closer than 5 with less than a minute to play.

“It was a big play,” Draine said. “I just seen the (defender), he was closing out pretty hard. I knew I could take him to the baseline. I was making that shot all game, so I took it again.”

Last week, in his first significant minutes of the season, Draine deposited 14 points in a loss at Middle Tennessee and 19 at UAB.

“He can score,” said Cortez Edwards, who scored 13 points, passed out 10 assists and came up with 6 steals. “No matter what position you put him in, he’ll find a way to score. I don’t even know what it is. He just knows how to play offense.”

Small fries

The only player listed on Southern Miss’ roster taller than 6-foot-4, Eddie Davis III, saw just 12 minutes of action against Rice.

The Golden Eagles, who have lacked much size for several years, were out-shot and out-rebounded by the Owls. But Sadler’s team made up for it, coming up with a dozen steals (more than 4 above its season average) and passing out 23 assists, while only turning the ball over 8 times.

“The thing we’ve got to do with Tim (Rowe) and Eddie to play is they’ve got to rebound the basketball,” Sadler said. “If they’re not rebounding the ball, we’ve got to find other ways to (produce offense). They both know that. I’m sure they’re disappointed. I’d be. Let’s see if they’re going to compete and work hard. We need both of them.

“But I’m fine playing small ball if we’ve got to.”