BOONE, N.C. – Capping off its three-game homestand, the App State Men's Basketball team (13-9, 7-4 SBC) looks to remain hot as they welcome the Southern Miss Golden Eagles (10-13, 5-6 SBC) to the Holmes Center on Wednesday. The meeting in Boone will mark the Golden Eagles' first trip to the Holmes Center in program history and the first meeting in Boone between the two teams since 1991. Tipoff from Holmes is set for 6:30 p.m. and the contest can be streamed on ESPN+.
Southern Miss's trip to the Holmes Center on Wednesday will mark App State's final regular-season contest against teams from Sun Belt West schools this year. Entering Wednesday, the Mountaineers are 2-3 against Sun Belt West schools. In the Kerns era, App State is 24-24 against Sun Belt West schools.
App State has won 23 of their last 29 games against league opponents. Of the team's 23 regular-season Sun Belt wins since the start of last season, 14 have come by double digits, which includes four already this season. App State is one of only four teams in the Sun Belt Conference with at least 20 league wins since the start of last season (Troy, Arkansas State and James Madison).
Saturday's win over Georgia State to open the month of February marked App State's seventh consecutive win in February and the team's ninth February win in its last 10 contests. Of the team's seven consecutive wins in February, the Mountaineers have won by double digits in four of them. Since Kerns took over the program in 2019, App State is 21-18 in games played in February.
The Matchup
- Who: App State vs. Southern Miss
- Where: Holmes Convocation Center // Boone, N.C.
- When: Wednesday, Feb. 5 // 6:30 p.m.
Tune In
- Watch: Watch (ESPN+) | David Jackson (PxP), John Reisterer (Color)
- Listen: FLAGSHIP 97.3 (North Wilkesboro), 96.3 (Winston-Salem/Greensboro), 1350/96.1 (Asheville), 1250/103.9 (Marion), 790/93.7 (Johnson City) | Matt Present (PxP)
- Live Stats: appstatesports.com
Last Time Out
Leading by as many as 14 points in the second half, App State saw its lead shrink to as little as two points with four minutes to go, but strong shooting late and timely defensive stops helped the Mountaineers close out an 80-76 win at the Holmes Center over the Georgia State Panthers last Saturday. Although they made just two first-half 3-pointers, the Mountaineers drilled six of their final nine shots from the long line to seal the deal.
App State shot 50.9 percent from the field against the Panthers, marking the seventh time this year that it has eclipsed 50 percent shooting. The Mountaineers have now won 22 straight contests in which they score at least 80 points and are 6-1 this season when shooting over 50 percent from the field.
Dior Conners was electric in the win over the Panthers, specifically in the second half, as he scored 16 of his 18 points in the final frame with four threes. With the Mountaineers scuttling to open the second stanza and Georgia State pushing to close the gap, Conners drilled three long balls within three minutes to right the ship and fend the Panthers off. Conners' four made 3-pointers marked his eighth game this season with at least three made shots from behind the arc.
Scouting the Mountaineers
Winners of seven of its last nine contests, App State heads into Wednesday's game against the Golden Eagles with a 13-9 record overall and a 7-4 conference record. Over the past nine games, the Mountaineers have posted four double-digit victories and are outscoring their opponents by 82 points (+9.1 scoring margin). According to EvanMiya.com, the Mountaineers are the 24th-most improved team in the country over the last 30 days, jumping up 43 spots in the rankings since Jan. 5.
Stifling defense has continued to be the story for App State this season as they enter play on Wednesday with the Sun Belt's second-best scoring defense and the nation's 16th-best scoring defense, allowing just 63.5 points a game. The Mountaineers have let just six opponents eclipse 70 points against them this season and have kept 12 of their last 14 opponents below 70 points. Since Jan. 4, App State is allowing just 60.9 points a game.
Although they don't shoot a lot of threes (496 attempts), the Mountaineers boast one of the more efficient 3-point shooting percentages in the league entering its game against the Golden Eagles as they enter play on Wednesday shooting 35.9 percent from the long line. This is good for the second-best mark in the Sun Belt Conference, trailing only Texas State. App State has made at least 10 3-pointers in nine games this season and have won 23 straight contests when shooting at least 40 percent from 3-point land.
One of the best duos in the conference resides in Boone, N.C., as
Myles Tate and
CJ Huntley head into Wednesday's game against the Golden Eagles in the top 10 in the league in scoring. Tate leads the way entering Wednesday, averaging 16.3 points a game while Huntley scores 14.8 points a night, good for the second- and seventh-best tallies in the conference, respectively. Between the two players, they have combined to score every 20-point game by a Mountaineer this season (15) and 35 of App State's 63 10-point outings.
Scouting the Golden Eagles
Southern Miss enters the Holmes Center with a 10-13 record, but are 5-6 in Sun Belt play. The Golden Eagles come into play on Wednesday off a win at home against Georgia Southern last Saturday but had lost four of five games prior to the Saturday victory.
Playing on the road has not been kind to Southern Miss this season as it has won just one time in games played away from Reed Green Coliseum (1-11). The team's lone win away from home came on Jan. 25 at Louisiana. In fact, since the start of last season, Southern Miss is just 6-24 away from Hattiesburg.
Head coach Jay Ladner's squad boasts one of the best post players in the conference in Denijay Harris, who comes to Boone as the Sun Belt's leader in points per game (16.4) and rebounds per game (10.8). Harris leads the Sun Belt Conference in double-doubles as of Wednesday with 11 and has tallied at least 15 points in his last three outings.
Series History
The Mountaineers and Golden Eagles are set to meet for the first time since Dec. 31, 2022, on Wednesday and just the second time since Southern Miss joined the Sun Belt Conference prior to the 2022 season. Additionally, this will mark Southern Miss's first trip to the Holmes Center in its program's history and the first time in almost exactly 34 years since the teams last met in Boone.
Entering Wednesday, App State has yet to beat Southern Miss in the first three games played between the two programs. Southern Miss is the lone current Sun Belt team that App State has never beaten (0-3).
Huntley and
Jackson Threadgill are the only Mountaineers with experience against Southern Miss, both having appeared in one game against the Golden Eagles in their careers. Huntley started in App State's 2022 matchup in Hattiesburg, scoring 10 points in 30 minutes while grabbing seven rebounds. As a member of the Charlotte 49ers, Threadgill was a conference rival of Southern Miss for the first two years of his career. In his lone outing against Southern Miss, Threadgill tallied 10 points in 27 minutes.
Next Up
The Mountaineers will take a brief break from conference play to participate in the second leg of the MAC-SBC Challenge on Saturday, taking a trip to Athens, Ohio, to take on the Ohio Bobcats. It will be the first meeting between App State and Ohio since 2014. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.
The 2024-25 men's basketball season is presented by Foscoe Companies.
