South Alabama’s men’s basketball team will return to the Mitchell Center on Wednesday, February 25, to face the University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) at 7:30 p.m. CT. This game marks the beginning of the final week of Sun Belt Conference regular-season play.
The Jaguars currently hold a record of 20–9 overall and 10–6 in conference games. Their opponent, ULM, enters with a 4–25 overall record and has won just one conference matchup this season.
In their previous outing, South Alabama defeated Troy 65–54 at home. The Jaguars held Troy to just 24.5 percent shooting from the field and limited them to six points in the paint. South Alabama outscored Troy 30–6 in that area and secured a rebounding advantage of 39–35. The win gave South Alabama back-to-back seasons with at least 20 victories for the first time since 2009.
ULM comes into Wednesday’s contest having lost 17 of its last 18 games. Their only conference victory was against Old Dominion on February 4 by a score of 85–79. Krystian Lewis leads ULM in scoring with an average of 18.3 points per game, ranking third in the Sun Belt Conference and among national leaders in free throws made this season. ULM allows an average of 83.3 points per game and has a negative rebounding margin.
South Alabama leads the all-time series against ULM, holding a record of 19 wins to ULM’s 17, including an eight-to-six edge when playing at home in the Mitchell Center. However, the Jaguars have lost three out of their last five meetings with ULM. In their previous encounter this season during the Sun Belt opener at ULM, South Alabama overcame significant deficits—including erasing a fourteen-point margin with just over three minutes left—to win in double overtime despite ULM making nineteen three-pointers.
“South Alabama suffocated Troy defensively on Feb. 21, holding the Trojans to 24.5 percent shooting and 27.6 percent from three while allowing only six paint points — Troy’s lowest field-goal percentage in Sun Belt play this season.”
The Jaguars will finish their regular season with two consecutive home games at the Mitchell Center: against ULM on February 25 and then Southern Miss on February 27 for Senior Night honoring Chaze Harris, JJ Wheat, Randy Brady, Maxwell Land and Hantz Louis-Jeune.
Chaze Harris is leading the Sun Belt Conference in scoring with an average of 18.9 points per game—22.4 within conference play—and ranks among national leaders for both free throws attempted and field goals made this season. He has scored more than twenty-five points in four straight games and surpassed two thousand career points earlier this year.
Defensively, South Alabama forces opponents to rely heavily on perimeter shots; nearly two-thirds (64.4%) of opponents’ field goal attempts come from beyond the arc—a shot profile rarely seen nationally—and they allow opponents just a thirty-two percent success rate from that range while leading all teams nationally for most three-point attempts allowed per game (39.2).
Additionally, South Alabama is among national leaders for ball security; they rank third for fewest turnovers committed per game (8.7) and eleventh for turnover margin (+3.9), committing fewer than ten turnovers eighteen times so far this season.
“South Alabama closes the regular season with two home games at the Mitchell Center,” according to team officials.
For more information about South Alabama men’s basketball or upcoming games visit USAJaguars.com or follow @SouthAlabamaMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.
