Eagles look to prove doubters wrong

Southern Miss Men's Basketball Head coach Larry Eustachy has brought life back into the Golden Eagle basketball program entering his eighth year.

He's posted four winning seasons in the last five years. The 2011-2012 season will be a good indicator of how he has built the program to last.

Eustachy's squad has been picked to finish sixth in the conference due to the fact that USM lost graduating seniors Gary Flowers, R.L. Horton, and Sai'Quon Stone and the transfer of guard D.J. Newbill off of last year's squad that went 22-10. Talent is still plentiful on the squad as point guard Angelo Johnson is still at the helm and Maurice Bolden will give needed on-court leadership. Johnson averaged 7.5 points per game and added 4.1 assists a game and Bolden chipped in 6.8 points per game and grabbed 4.4 rebounds per contest.   

Eustachy talked about how the team is coming together for the season opener against Spring Hill on Saturday at noon.

"(We) aren't nearly where I think we are going to be, but probably ahead of where we should be. We have a good core of returning guys and a really good core of new guys. It's really about getting the new guys to understand what it takes to play at this level. It helps when you got guys that can show them how to do it. This is the best situation that we have had that way. We have returning guys that show you how to do it," he said

Guard LaShay Page and transfer Rashard McGill will be looked upon to be guys that step up to take pressure off Johnson and Bolden. Page, who played off the bench, will increase his minutes on the court while McGill averaged 9.8 points a game and 5.8 rebounds at Tallahassee Community College.

"Right now, they have us picked sixth in Conference USA and we think we are far better than that. We feel like we have a chance to win this league. We have to buy into what Coach is trying to say and we have to continue work hard. We can't take plays off," Page said.   

McGill talked about what how he can help the team.

He said, "Any way I can. I'm going to do my best to help my teammates and coaching staff to win. Anything they ask of me, I will do it. Defensively, to stop their best player and offensively, get into the paint and make plays and rebounds."

The Eagles will be tested in the non-conference portion of their schedule. They will take to the road for a west coast road trip as they play at Denver (Nov. 17), at Colorado State (Nov. 19) and then, over Thanksgiving break, they will compete in the Great Alaska Shootout against UC Irvine, Central Michigan and New Mexico State. New Mexico State will then come to Hattiesburg on Dec. 4th and Louisiana Tech (Dec. 10), Ole Miss (Dec. 17) and South Florida (Dec. 22) are highlights of the non-conference home games. The Golden Eagles are also slated to play at Pac-12 power Arizona State on Dec. 19th. Conference USA play will begin on January 4th as they will host East Carolina.

"I tell my team a lot, because I went to the (NCAA tournament) when I was with USC. It's fun and I want to leave with a legacy that said we did something at Southern Miss, win the Conference, get a ring and make it into postseason play because anything goes in the tournament," said Angelo Johnson, who started his career at Southern California before transferring to USM.