It was a night of mostly highs for Southern Miss, as the Golden Eagles opened the season with an 80-67-win over William Carey.
Southern Miss took a 20-point lead in the first half, but a second-half surge by the Crusaders left the Golden Eagles dissatisfied with their win at Reed Green Coliseum on Tuesday night.
“I didn’t like the way we finished the first half,” Southern Miss coach Jay Ladner said. “I hope that our players understand. I hope that we learn from this. Now we have to learn how to win. Now we expect to win, but we have to learn how to win. A winning team is going to kill a gnat with a sledgehammer. They are not going to let up and play to a standard.”
In the first half, Southern Miss jumped out to a 22-2 lead as William Carey struggled with its shooting early on, with the Crusaders at one point shooting an abysmal 7%.
Unstoppable Big Men Combo
One of the main reasons Southern Miss jumped out to such a large margin was the big man duo of Tyler Stevenson and Isaih Moore. The duo’s early combination helped the Golden Eagles outscore the Crusaders 15-5 in the fast break.
In his first career game at USM, Moore posted a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds while Stevenson put up seven points and six rebounds.
“Watching what Tyler did last year, he’s a good player,” Moore said. “Knowing with me coming in that I could feed off him and that we could feed off each other, our chemistry will continue to grow over the next four or five games.
“We are still developing our chemistry, but I feel we had a good first outing with each other.”
William Carey had no answers for the two as they made quick work of the Crusaders in the fast break while also laying down numerous dunks.
“It gives us versatility,” junior point guard Tae Hardy said. “Those two guys have height and length, and they can shoot from the inside out and put the ball on the ground. They are athletic. It gives me a chance to get to the lane. If somebody helps out, then maybe I can throw a lob. It gives me more targets to pass to when I drive into a lane and kick out. It gives us a rebounding image.
“They also help with that vocal side. They bring that energy. They let us know when the guards need to help with rebounding. It helps with accountability.”
With such a large early margin, Stevenson and Moore were never on the floor at the same time after that. According to Ladner, the duo showed off how he intends for his team to play.
“Both of them are talented, and both of them are hard workers,” Ladner said. “I think you can see flashes of being exciting and of the way that we want to play. It’s pretty to watch in the fast break and the alley-oops. It’s exciting. Those guys are so athletic and can do that. The more and more that they play together, they complement each other.”
Second Half Lull
Despite Southern Miss holding a halftime lead of 52-25, William Carey managed to chip away at the deficit. Midway through the second half, the Crusaders responded with a 15-0 run to make the score 65-49.
“I thought those first 14 to 15 minutes were the best that we have played,” Ladner said. “It shows the importance of intensity. We were hard to score against. We created a lot of turnovers. That fueled our fast break and our offense. Everybody was in a good rhythm.”
With the help of the Crusaders’ leading scorer Zarkeichious Martin, who scored 17 of his 30 points in the second half, William Carey came within 11 points with less than four minutes left in the game.
“Consequently, as a coach, I’ve never learned how to deal with overconfidence,” Ladner said. “It’s human nature to relax. Once you lose that intensity level, it’s very hard to get that back. I’m not taking anything away from William Carey.”
Tae Hardy Goes Off
Despite Southern Miss’ issues in the second half, Hardy was a constant force on the night as he scored 30 points along with four assists.
“I do my same routine after every game,” Hardy said. “I get shots up. I honestly feel good every game. When the first shot went in, I felt like my teammates trusted me with the ball more. I gave them more assists.”
Hardy was also 4-for-9 from the 3-point line. Notably, Jaron Pierre Jr. was also 4-for-9 beyond the arc, as he finished the game with 16 points.
“It felt good to get some going in,” Hardy said. “Most of them felt good coming off my hands. It just gives me more confidence for the next game.”
Hardy’s performance comes after he went 0-for-6 in the Golden Eagles’ exhibition game against Delta State.
“We are not going to beat Tae’s head over a scoreless game because I know how much Tae works,” Moore said. “This is the epitome of what he does. He came out and had 30 points and shot O for something last game. That’s Tae.”
Holder Comes Off The Bench
Walyn Napper earned the start but only played for eight minutes as he was held out after reaggravating a turf toe injury.
“Walyn has been battling turf toe really bad,” Ladner said. “A kid stepped on his foot real hard out there tonight.”
Coming into Napper’s place was true freshman Rashard Bolden. Bolden posted 13 points off the bench as he shot 3-for-6 from the field and was 6-for-7 from the free-throw line.
“That would have killed us in years past, but we have really good depth in that position,” Ladner said. “Rashad Bolden is not your normal freshman. He is very cool and a heck of a player. I thought he was solid again out there tonight. He got some good minutes.”
Southern Miss returns to action on Friday as they host Louisiana-Lafayette at 7 p.m.
William Carey will return to action against Xavier on Monday.
