His three-pointer with seconds left gave the Tigers a much-needed lift as they head to the locker room with the score 32-23. But the numbers in the first half are somewhat discouraging for the Tigers: four players with two fouls. They’re shooting just 23.1 percent from behind the three-point arc. Luckily for the Tigers, Southern Miss is shooting just as poorly, except from the foul line.

Back after halftime…

The Golden Eagles are shooting a miserable 18.8 percent from the floor, but they’re 100 percent - 14 of 14 - from the free-throw line. The Tigers are shooting 5-of-7 from the line.  This has to do wonders for Southern Miss’s morale, knowing that they’re playing the Tigers within 8 while shooting so horribly from the floor.

This game is a little closer than it should be. With 3:35 left in the first half, the Tigers are only up by 8. Three players - Antonio Anderson, Joey Dorsey and Derrick Rose - have each picked up their second foul and gone to the bench. I doubt anyone here’s remotely worried yet, but still….

After injuring his leg recently, Andre Allen is back and in the game. Tiger fans give a loud cheer.

It’s 20-5 right now, and Southern Miss has managed just two baskets. They are now shooting 11.1 percent from the floor. What do Tiger fans do during games like this? Over the last few seasons, they’ve had a lot of practice.

In the first few seasons at the Pyramid, the Tiger student section was positioned directly behind the opposing team’s bench. The students were so loud that the opposing teams quickly learned to take their chairs at least 20 feet out onto the floor during timeouts, just so they could be heard.

Those were fun times. The fans had particular fun jousting with former Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins, who gave as good as he got.

Read the rest of this entry »

In seven minutes, the Golden Eagles have made one shot. ONE SHOT, a three-pointer. They’re shooting 20 percent from the floor. This is almost embarrassing. They just missed another one.