Southern Miss falls to South Alabama in Sun Belt quarterfinal, awaits postseason fate
A historic season won’t have the confetti-covered ending Southern Miss was hoping for.
The Golden Eagles fell to South Alabama in the quarterfinal round of the Sun Belt men’s basketball tournament Saturday, 78-61.
The Jaguars broke open the game with an 18-2 run inside the final eight minutes of the contest and hit nine field goals in a row in the closing minutes. Southern Miss led for just over 10 minutes throughout a back-and-forth battle — until the final stretch.
Jaguars forward Owen White hit five second-half 3-pointers on his way to a 26-point outing.
Denijay Harris led USM with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Felipe Harris added 15 and seven.
“Our guys are hurt, crushed, to be honest with you, because our goal was to get to the NCAA tournament,” USM head coach Jay Ladner said after the game. “We do have some basketball left in front of us and (our players) will respond the right way.”
Southern Miss, the league’s regular season champion, has an automatic bid to the NIT, and may play postseason basketball at home.
Alvarez’s absence felt
Point guard Neftali Alvarez did not play Saturday due to a re-aggravation of a foot injury he suffered at Mercer last season, according to Ladner.
Alvarez originally aggravated his foot early in the season and ended up missing 16 games as a result. Ladner says the injury flared up again during practice in the middle of the week, but there was no structural damage and he was a game-day decision.
His absence was evident in the box score.
A healthy Alvarez has the ability to open up the bench with his presence alone, bridging minutes for fellow point guard Mo Arnold and allowing few extra moments for Austin Crowley to get some rest. Without him, all five starters played at least 30 minutes and the bench didn’t produce a single point.
Without Alvarez and his two-way presence, USM dealt with a spike in turnovers and fewer transition opportunities. South Alabama outscored the Eagles 25-6 in points off turnovers.
“The X-ray looks great, no structural damage,” Ladner said. “We’re thankful that it wasn’t worse than it was.”
It’s unclear what the timetable for his return will be, but with no damage to the bone, it’s possible Alvarez could return in time for postseason play.
Next opportunity
Southern Miss played in — and won — the NIT in 1987, when Ladner was a player on the team.
“I was fortunate to play on the team in ‘87 and it was the exact same scenario at Southern Miss,” Ladner said. “The only four-year school in the history of the state of Mississippi (to win) is Southern Miss in 1987. Maybe that’s where the Lord has intended us (to be). Our guys are hurt and they didn’t want to hear that, but I gave them that same scenario in the locker room a few minutes ago. It was a deja vu moment for me, because we were crushed when we got knocked out of the Metro Conference in ‘87.
“Of course, the NIT is prestigious and (our players) love each other. They’re not ready to quit playing. We still have a lot left to play for.”
Ladner said it took a few days, but his team in ‘87 was able to change its mentality and rattle off five straight wins in the NIT, beginning with a home win over Ole Miss.
This year’s Southern Miss team is the latest victim of a long-running problem plaguing the teams who own the top seed in the SBC tournament: This is the third consecutive season in which the regular-season champion of the league failed to escape the quarterfinals. The last time the top seed represented the conference in the NCAA tournament was in 2019, when Georgia State did so.
“I’ve been a part of lot different leagues, whether it was a Power Five league as an assistant, multiple leagues as an assistant, (the Sun Belt) is a monster,” South Alabama coach Richie Riley said. “It is an absolute monster. Beating the No. 1 team is a huge step because you have to do it... but in some leagues when you do that, there’s not a whole lot left behind them. You knocked off the champ and now there’s not much left. That’s not this league.”
The NIT field will be announced Sunday, March 12, and the first round will be played March 14-15.
This story was originally published March 4, 2023 at 11:27 AM.
