Golden Eagles travel to Rice tonight

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Southern Miss looks to end an eight-game losing streak when it travels to Rice tonight at 7 p.m.

This will be USM's first game since it was announced Tuesday that the school has self-imposed a postseason ban for the 2014-15 season.

Southern Miss (5-11, 0-5 C-USA) and Rice (5-11, 2-3) will meet for the 13th time in a series that dates back to 1975. Southern Miss holds an 8-4 advantage and have won the last five meetings.

However, the Owls lead, 3-2, in Houston.

Southern Miss is looking to snap an eight-game losing streak after falling to UAB 63-56.

Forward Matt Bingaya leads the Golden Eagles with 14.5 points (questionable tonight) and a team-high 5.4 rebounds per game. Guard Chip Armelin is second on the team with 12.8 points. Forward Norville Carey is averaging 9.6 points.

The Golden Eagles are scoring 60.5 points a game but are allowing 69.2. Southern Miss is connecting on 44.6 percent from the floor and 34.3 percent from three while allowing 47.1 percent from the field and 37.7 percent from beyond the arc.

The Owls snapped their three-game losing streak, last Saturday when they defeated Charlotte, 73-68, in overtime.

Rice guard Marcus Jackson averages 14.6 points. Forward Seth Gearhart is second on the team with 13.6 points. Guard Max Guercy is scoring 8.8 points.

 

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Two days after learning it would not be allowed to participate in postseason play this year, the Southern Miss men's basketball team returns to the court at 7 p.m. today.

The Golden Eagles travel to Rice (5-11, 2-3 in Conference USA) in hopes of snapping an eight-game losing streak and earning its first league win of the season.

Southern Miss (5-11, 0-5) announced a self-imposed postseason ban on Tuesday, which stems from an ongoing university and NCAA investigation regarding potential improper aid provided to ineligible student-athletes during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons. Tennessee head coach Donnie Tyndall was the Golden Eagles' head coach during those two seasons. Tyndall is also being investigated.

The team will not be allowed to play in the C-USA tournament nor any other postseason tournament this year.

On his weekly radio show, Southern Miss head coach Doc Sadler said he and his team are disappointed by the recent developments but will continue to play hard.

"We're going to deal with it, meet it head-on and be better because of it," he said. "We're ready to play a really good Rice team. There's no reason to think, when we get on that bus, we won't try to play our best game of the year."

The status of the Golden Eagles' leading scorer, Matt Bingaya, is in question after he was injured against UAB last week. He finished the game but has not practiced this week.