Southern Miss’ 67-58 win against Texas State was by no means the prettiest.
Despite holding the lead for almost the entire game, the Golden Eagles fell short in several statistical categories, but in the final three minutes, USM displayed something that doesn’t show in the box score – composure.
The Bobcats led for just 34 seconds in the entire game but took the lead with just under three-and-a-half minutes left at 55-53. Unlike past seasons, Southern Miss never panicked and instead answered with a dominant 14-3 run.
“In the past, if it came down to that, we probably would have folded and lost by 20,” said DeAndre Pinckney, who scored 10 points. “We would have disappointed all the fans and never had another fan in there. One thing I can say about this team is that we are mature. Even when we are losing at halftime or something, we don’t get down on each other.
“I applaud the coaches for the way they talk to us and treat us because that makes us want to go out there and do the extra little things for them.”
Southern Miss was outrebounded 28-10 in the second half and 39-31 by the end of the game. However, in that final three minutes, the Golden Eagles won the battle of the boards 6-4.
“I thought our defense really stiffened up in those last three to four minutes,” Southern Miss coach Jay Ladner said. “We were rebounding like we wanted to win. There was a commitment, and we were a little soft early on in the game. Our guys did a great job of finishing that game out.
“I think we have great composure. I think we have great experience out there. I thought our guys did a great job of handling the pressure.”
Ultimately the game was a defensive struggle, but Southern Miss fell into a scoring drought that carried over into the second half. Towards the end of the first half, the Golden Eagles went on a 6-minute, 47-second field goal drought, which allowed Texas State to narrow the score to 27-26. Felipe Haase, who finished win 17 points, helped spark a 7-1 run at the end of the half to make the game 34-27.
At the start of the second half, Southern Miss missed its first eight shots. The Golden Eagles didn’t score their first field goal until 13 minutes into the half, which was a dunk by Pinckney that pushed USM’s lead to 39-36. Until USM’s big run at the end of the game, both sides traded buckets, with the Golden Eagles holding only as much as a six-point lead.
“I thought in the first half that it took us a little bit to get into a rhythm,” Ladner said. “Of course, (Texas State) had a lot to do with that. The ball has to move for us, and that’s our game. We were trying to take off mismatches in the post too early. That disrupted the flow of what we were trying to do.
“I go back to the quality of the shot,” Ladner said. “We were turning it over? No. Were we taking bad shots? There were one or two that was questionable, but I thought, for the most part, that we were getting good looks at it. It was good shots that were not going."
Notably, Southern Miss was ledy by Austin Crowley, who scored a game-high of 24 points.
The Golden Eagles stay a perfect 12-0 at home, exceeding the original team’s goal of being .500 at home while also being one win away from achieving the initial team goal of 20 wins.
“As the season goes on, there are ups and downs,” Ladner said. “When we accomplish one goal, we set another goal that we set higher than that. We want to exceed the record is. We want to exceed what our goals were.”
Southern Miss will now hit the road as the Golden Eagles travel to play Troy on Thursday at. 6 p.m.
Follow @AndrewAbadie on Twitter for Southern Miss coverage.
