Fan(less) base

The Jaguars’ game against Alabama State on Jan. 23 was one of the biggest games Southern has played at the Minidome. It was played live on ESPN-U but only 1,357 fans witnessed Southern head coach Rob Spivery defeat his old team 72-68 in overtime. At Saturday’s game against Alabama A&M there were approximately 4,000 fans.
The men’s basketball team has not led the conference since the 2000 season. With substantial reasons to support the teams, where were the students?
“Winning always helps,” Spivery said. “The guys compete and play hard and win in the process and people will come out and get involved. Hopefully as we continue to win, more people will show up for the game.”
Students said they do not know when the games are and they do not attend because last seasons record was not impressive.
“To be 7-1 and on top in the SWAC, that’s not bad,” said Sherman Hughes Jr., a junior kinesiology major from New Orleans. “I thought they were going to be a sad team this year. I’ll start going to the game and support my home team.”
Last semester the Student Government Association, along with the athletic department held a Midnight Madness event, where the student body came out and viewed the first practice game of the season. According to SGA President Justin McCorkle, they pushed nearly 500 basketball schedule flyers before the Southern-Alabama State game, but it was not effective and plans to issue out more for the next game.
“SGA has been trying to get more people there, that was the purpose of the Midnight Madness last semester,” McCorkle said. We are going to do pep rallies. We are going to try to do more things when the team is playing at home to get that spirit.”
Next home game is Saturday in the F.G. Clark Activity Center. The women’s game begin at 5:30 p.m. and the men’s at 7:30 p.m. against Alcorn State University.