Here’s what we learned from La. Tech basketball’s win over Southern Miss
Jay Ladner thought that if his Southern Miss men’s basketball team could keep Louisiana Tech in the 60s, the Golden Eagles might have a chance in their Conference USA opener.
And for 20 minutes, that’s right where the game was, as the Bulldogs owned a 31-24 halftime advantage.
But the second half was completely dominated by Louisiana Tech, as the Bulldogs cruised to an 80-49 victory Monday night at Green Coliseum.
Louisiana Tech improved to 10-3 overall and 1-0 in C-USA, USM dropped to 4-10 and 0-1.
“We knew Tech’s got a good team,” said Ladner, the first-year coach of the Golden Eagles. “Their strengths are in good, strong guards, with a big post man in there. They did a good job of taking away our perimeter players.
“(LaDavius) Draine and Gabe (Watson), and if you look, Gabe was 4 for 13 and LaDavius was 2 for 10, we’re 0 for 16 from the 3-point line, and (Louisiana Tech) had a lot to do with that.”
For much of the first half, though, Southern Miss stayed right in the game, and still led 10-9 with 8:55 to play in the period.
But the Bulldogs went on a 10-3 run to take the lead and built an 11-point lead late in the half, as USM went the final 4:04 of the first half without a field goal.
Only timely free throws kept the margin under double digits going into halftime.
“I thought we played pretty well in the first half,” said Ladner. “We were getting some steals, forcing them into some bad shots, and I thought we should have been up 12-2, and we look up and it’s 6-2, because we weren’t able to finish on the offensive end of the floor.”
The Golden Eagles were just 9 of 27 from the field in the first half, while La. Tech hit 7 of its last 11 shots to finish the half 12 of 26 from the field (46.2 percent).
“I think it fell apart for us with two things,” said USM sophomore Tyler Stevenson, who led USM with 12 points. “Offensive execution wasn’t what it was supposed to be, and the rebounding battle. They were getting a lot of offensive boards and getting a lot of second shots.”
But it was defensive execution that did the Golden Eagles in after halftime.
The Bulldogs opened the second half with Isaiah Crawford hitting an open jump shot in the lane from four feet away, then a one-and-done for the Golden Eagles resulted in a baseline drive for a layup by DaQuan Bracey.
It was the beginning of a 13-0 run over the first 3:22 of the second half that effectively decided the outcome.
Louisiana Tech had a 25-16 advantage on the glass in the second half and hit 7 of 13 shots from 3-point range in the second 20 minutes, finishing 10 of 22 for the game from behind the arc.
“I’d have to go back and look at the film, but a couple of times, they just got out in transition and beat us down the floor,” said Ladner. “But a few times, they drove right by us and we didn’t have any secondary help.
“We didn’t play good defense in the second half, and that disturbs me.”
Southern Miss did get a boost from the return of 6-foot-9 senior Boban Jocdomni, who returned after missing five games with an ankle injury. Jocdomni played 17 minutes, scored 5 points and grabbed a couple of rebounds.
“I felt pretty good out there with my teammates,” said Jocdomni. “At this point, I’m probably about high 80s, as far as being back, but I can’t wait to get 100 percent. We’re in conference play, and my team needs me.”
Ladner said getting the big Englishman back on the floor will give his young team a boost as conference play proceeds.
“He played about as much as we wanted him to, and I thought he did a good job out there,” said Ladner. “He’s one of our only two scholarship seniors, and he gives us some bulk on the inside. I was glad to see him get out there and do as much as he did.”
Stevenson was the only Southern Miss player in double figures. Watson finished with 8 points and Jay Malone had 7.
“We just have to put this game behind us and come to practice (Tuesday) ready to go back to work,” said Stevenson. “We just have to keep playing hard.”
Bracey led Louisiana Tech with 17 points and Kalob Ledoux had 15 points off the bench for the Bulldogs.
The same two teams will go at it again on Saturday at Ruston, La., in a 4 p.m. tipoff. Next home game for Southern Miss will be Jan. 16 against North Texas.
“We’re all about putting losses behind us,” said Ladner. “That’s what we’re going to do the rest of this year, next year and the year after next. We’re going to come back to work and get ready for the next game.
“The good thing is, we get a chance to go over to their place and play them again. I like that.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 10:39 PM.