Of 325 NCAA Division I ranked men’s basketball programs, the Southern University men’s basketball team (5-16 overall, 3-10 Southwestern Athletic Conference) is ranked 243th in scoring offense with 66.6 points per game. With an average of 41.3 points per game, the Jags are placed 264th. The Jaguars have officially hit rock bottom.
“Men’s basketball is simply not what it used to be,” said Clifton Perry, Southern Class of ’84 alum who is a native of Bastrop. “When Jobe first came to Southern, we could not be stopped, we had Phils (Bobby), Johnson (Avery), etc… Now we just can not seem to get anything going as a team.”
The Jaguars dropped two more games on the road. One of those loses came at the hands of the perennial cream-puffs Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a team that contends the Jaguars for last place by only one game, with 3-10 record in SWAC play.
“I can not believe we lost to PB, we are horrible…When does the baseball team have a home game?” said Micheal Thomas, a senior business management major from Oakdale.
In Saturday’s flogging, the Jaguars were defeated 88-77 in overtime by the Golden Lions of UAPB (2-21 overall, 2-11 SWAC), handing the Golden Lions their second win of the season.
The Jaguars led 70-65 with 22 seconds remaining in the game, then Lamarquis Blake put up five quick points to send the game into overtime, where the UAPB picked up 18 points to reign victorious over Southern.
Leading the Jaguars were senior guard Victor Tarver with a season-high 26 points and five assists for Southern. Sophomore guard Tim Johnson added 19 and sophomore center Jerrid Campbell put up 18 points.
Leading UAPB were Kory McKee with 22 points and Blake added 13 points, Brandon Jones and Antwan Emsweller gave 12 apiece and Justin Lloyd 11.
On Monday night, Itta Bena, Miss. was the site of a losing battle to the Green Devils of Mississippi Valley State (10-12 overall, 9-4 SWAC).
Valley’s Ashley Robinson broke MVSU’s all-time assists record against Southern. Robinson currently has 552 assists in his collegiate career.
The Jaguars have only five wins on the entire season, and were led by Tarver with 22 points. Tarver went 6-for-8 on three-pointers. Coming off the bench was sophomore Jarvis Vaughn. Vaughn posted 16 points, while Jerrid Campbell supplied 10 points.
Attarius Norwood, the Green Devils’ leading scorer, had 22 points leading Valley (10-12, 9-4) to victory. D’Jamel Jackson had18 points with Solomon Forbes providing 10.
The Jaguars will fight to keep their eighth place standing against Alabama State University, Saturday February 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Clifford T. Seymour Gymnasium.
