Golden Eagles hope to continue hoops hot streak after holidays

The Southern Miss Golden Eagles rolled into the winter holidays on a three-game win streak with an overall record of 7-2. The Golden Eagles expanded that streak to 11 games over the break as they produced nine wins and suffered only one loss, improving their record to a sparkling 16-3.

The highlight of the win streak came from Dec. 17-22, when Southern Miss played three games that featured consecutive wins against teams from from the SEC (Ole Miss), the PAC-12 (Arizona State) and the Big East (USF). This was the first time the Golden Eagles defeated teams from the "power" conferences since they posted four such victories during the 1987-88 season. Golden Eagle senior guard Darnell Dodson gained recognition for his stellar play from Dec. 19-25 as he was named Conference USA men's basketball Co-Player of the Week. Dodson averaged 14.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals during this span, as he was an integral part of Golden Eagle victories against Arizona State and USF.

The Golden Eagles have posted a 3-1 mark since they began conference play with a victory on Jan. 4 against East Carolina. They also defeated Tulane and UAB, but suffered a hiccup when their 11-game win streak came to an abrupt halt against  their conference foe, Memphis. The tough 58-60 road loss was just the Golden Eagles' most recent escapade of losing to the Tigers in heartbreaking fashion, as this game marked the Golden Eagles' seventeenth-consecutive loss to Memphis in the Larry Eustachy era and their eighteenth overall.

Southern Miss returned to their winning ways with a hard fought 59-55 victory against the UAB Blazers on Saturday, and they hope to build momentum from this win going forward in conference play. Eustachy and the Golden Eagles take the court next on Saturday against the Marshall Thundering Herd at 5 p.m. at Reed Green Coliseum. The game will be televised on Comcast Sports Southeast.