2012-2013 Southern University Jaguars
Head Coach: Drew Davis - Record: 11-13 - Season: 2nd
Coach Davis is entering into his second season as the head coach of the SWAC Conference Southern University Jaguars. Last season the Jaguars completed a 11-13 regular season record. They lost the first game of the SWAC conference tournament to eventual champions Alabama A&M. Coach Davis was quoted as saying the following after the last game of the season:
"You know, we had an uphill battle this season. With myself coming in and changing the offensive and defensive schemes, it was always going to take some time. I'm happy the kids were able to get acclimated with the system by years end. I think with the freshmen we have coming in we have a great chance at competing for a conference championship"
The Jaguars were led by their sophomore SG and local standout, Neal Webb. Webb was recognized as a 2nd team SWAC All-Conference player averaging 9.6 pts and 7.7 reb per game.
Coming in to the 12-13 season the Jaguars look to improve upon last season. They brought in an impressive recruiting class led by 7'0 standout C, Fab Robinson. Robinson is a combination of size and skill, with range out to 12 feet. He is paired up with 6'11 PF Omar Blue. Omar is known for his defensive prowess and his activity on the boards. Finishing out the recruiting class with 6'2 PG Jabarhi Mckenzie and 6'6 SF Jeffrey Davis
| Southern University Jaguars Recruiting - 11-12 | ||||||
| NAME | POS | CLASS | HOMETOWN | HT | WT | CALIBER |
| Fab Robinson | C | HS | Bloomington, IL | 7'0 | 224 |  |
| Omar Blue | PF | HS | Oxnard, CA | 6'11 | 227 | |
| Jabarhi Mckenzie | PG | HS | West Covina, CA | 6'2 | 201 | |
| Jeffery Davis | SF | HS | Bahamas | 6'6 | 189 | |
The Jaguars bring back two key veterans in JR SF Neal Webb who is transitioning from Guard to the Small Forward position. The other veteran of note is JR SG Madut Bol. Bol played Power Forward for the Jaguars during the 11-12 season. Coach Davis and his assistants worked tirelessly with Bol this off-season to improve his ball handling and decision making. Coach Davis believes Bol is the key to the season and was quoted as saying the following
"Madut is a great kid. When I came in he had been playing on the front line his entire career, both in high school and AAU. He has always been a very skilled big. At 6'9 he has no problem shooting the mid-range and 3 pt jump shot. His primary weakness was his ball handling and decision making. A lot of this is due to lack of time on the perimeter. My staff and I believe that through the work he put in this off-season he will be a terrific addition as our starting 2 guard this season."
The 2012-2013 Roster is the following:
| 12-13 Southern University Roster | ||||||
| # | NAME | POS | HT | WT | CLASS | HOMETOWN |
| 1 | Madut Bol | SG | 6'9 | 217 | JR | Jersey City, NJ |
| 2 | Fab Robinson | C | 7'0 | 224 | FR | Bloomington, IL |
| 11 | Omar Blue | PF | 6'11 | 227 | FR | Oxnard, CA |
| 20 | Jeffrey Davis | SF | 6'6 | 189 | FR | Bahamas |
| 12 | Jabarhi Mckenzie | PG | 6'2 | 201 | FR | West Covina, CA |
| 40 | Neal Webb | SF | 6'3 | 187 | JR | Baton Rouge, LA |
| 44 | Ray Ray Chase | PF | 6'9 | 218 | JR | San Antonio, TX |
| 5 | Jamel Grace | PG | 6'0 | 189 | SR | Vineland, NJ |
| 52 | Leslie Goodman | PF | 6'7 | 218 | FR | Fresno, CA |
| 32 | Mike Celstin | PG | 6'0 | 180 | SO | Clifton, NJ |
| 42 | Pat Coleman | SG | 6'3 | 188 | JR | Clarksville, TN |
| 25 | Marceis Davis | SG | 6'3 | 180 | JR | Baton Rogue, LA |
The 2012-2013 Depth Chart at the start of the season:
| Southern University Jaguars Depth Chart - 12-13 | ||||
| STARTER | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | |
| PG | Jabarhi Mckenzie | Jamel Grace | Mike Celstin | |
| SG | Madut Bol | Pat Coleman | Marceis Davis | |
| SF | Jeffrey Davis | Neal Webb | ||
| PF | Omar Blue | Ray Ray Chase | ||
| C | Fab Robinson | Leslie Goodman | ||
The Jaguars are looking to add two 4 star prospects to the roster for next season:
| Southern University Jaguars Recruiting - 12-13 | ||||||
| NAME | POS | CLASS | HOMETOWN | HT | WT | CALIBER |
| Happy Minoff | SG | JUCO | Arlington, TX | 6'2 | 175 |  |
| Roberto Youmans | PF | JUCO | Henderson, NV | 6'7 | 199 | |
__________________________________________________ ____________________________
End of Non-Conference Play (6-1)
After the first 7 games of the season the Jaguars are off to a hot start. After beating notable opponents such as #23 LSU and Oregon on the road, the Jaguars are looking to solidify themselves as one of the most dangerous mid-majors in the nation.
The only loss of the season came at the hands of Fresno State on the road. The Jaguars got down early by shooting a dismal 23% from the field. At half the Jaguars were down by 23 points.
Led by their Junior standout, Madut Bol, the Jaguars were able to cut the lead to 7 points with just 3 minutes to play. Unfortunately the deficit was just too much to overcome. The Jaguars were defeated 78-68.
| Southern University Jaguars 12-13 Schedule | ||||
| DATE | OPPONENT | RESULT | ||
| Nov 7 | at South East Louisiana | Won, 82-50 | ||
| Nov 16 | at #23 LSU | Won, 88-75 | ||
| Nov 25 | at UL Lafayette | Won, 78-57 | ||
| Dec 17 | at Tulane | Won, 97-90 | ||
| Dec 27 | at Fresno State | Lost, 78-68 | ||
| Dec 29 | at Louisiana Tech | Won, 81-71 | ||
| Jan 2 | at Oregon | Won, 75-58 | ||
Madut Bol seems to score at will. Using his 6'9 frame he has been able to get into the lane and either finish at the rim or get to the line for a pair of free throws. His 3pt shooting has been the biggest surprise and has helped the Jaguars to the hot start. He is currently 2nd in the nation in PPG and 10 points ahead of the closest player in the SWAC conference.
Madut Bol sat down with Operation Sports to answer a few questions about his sensational season:
Q: Madut, obviously this season has been a treat for you, currently you are first in the conference and second in the NCAA in scoring, what do you attribute this success too?
"Ha, well thanks. I've been working hard man, real hard. This past off-season was probably the most difficult of my career. Coach Davis really worked with me hard and made me realize what level I could take my game too with the right discipline. That combined with our young guys, man it's just been special, feels more like a dream but I don't want to wake up. Not yet at least."
Q: How can you guys continue to win at this level?
"Defense. We have to keep playing our pressure man D. If we can do that and Jabarhi can keep running the team like has been, the sky is the limit. We aren't going to be happy with just winnin' the SWAC. We definitely want to get into the tournament because we think we can make a lot of noise. But we got to take it one day at a time, that's what we got Coach D for, to keep us humble."
Q: We really appreciate your time. To close out, who has impressed you most of the young guys?
"I think they all have contributed in different ways, honestly. But the guy who flies under the radar is JD (Jeffrey Davis). He doesn't always light up the stat sheet but he's a guy we couldn't do our thing without. He guards the best perimeter player every game. It really allows me to open things up and run the fast break without worrying as much about my guy. JD is our X factor, without a doubt."
After the first 7 games, the individual statistics look like ths:
| Southern University Jaguars Stats - 12-13 | |||||||||
| Player | GP | MIN | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TPG | FPG |
| Madut Bol | 7 | 23.6 | 28.9 | 2.1 | 3.3 | .9 | .3 | 1.4 | 1.7 |
| Fab Robinson | 7 | 21.6 | 18.9 | 8.1 | 1.1 | .4 | 2.7 | .4 | 2.0 |
| Omar Blue | 7 | 22.3 | 13.1 | 8.9 | 2.0 | 1.6 | .9 | 1.4 | 1.6 |
| Jabarhi Mckenzie | 7 | 22.6 | 9.1 | 2.0 | 5.3 | 2.3 | 0 | 2.3 | 1.7 |
| Jeffery Davis | 7 | 26.0 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 1.6 | 1.1 | .7 | .6 | 1.7 |
| Ray Ray Chase | 7 | 14.3 | 3.0 | 4.6 | 1.0 | .9 | 0 | 0 | .6 |
| Jamel Grace | 7 | 7.9 | 1.6 | .7 | .3 | .4 | 0 | .4 | .4 |
| Leslie Goodman | 7 | 5.7 | 1.4 | 1.6 | .3 | .4 | 0 | .3 | .6 |
| Neal Webb | 7 | 10.7 | 1.0 | 1.3 | .7 | .3 | 0 | .1 | 1.0 |
| Mike Celestin | 7 | 2.6 | .4 | 0 | .4 | .2 | 0 | 0 | .4 |
| Marceis Davis | 7 | 1.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pat Coleman | 7 | 2.5 | 0 | .5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
__________________________________________________ ____________________________
| Matchup Preview *|* January 10, 2013 | ||
 | @ |  |
| Southern University Jaguars (6-1, Away) | Alabama State Hornets (2-10, Home) | |
Alabama St. is led by their 6'4 - JR - SG Stephawn Brown. Brown is averaging 11.8 ppg. This guard heavy team is also seeing solid contributions from 6'8 - JR - SG Shareif Adamu and 6'4 - JR - SG Kaylim Noel.
As a team ASU is last in the conference averaging 54.7 PPG and 19.1 TPG. They are a very fast tempo team, getting on the break early and often. With their 3 guard lineup they can be a nightmare if they are able to get into their style.
On Defense, ASU is known for running a 2-3 zone. They use this defense to make-up for their lack of size in the paint.
Operation Sports spoke with Coach Davis earlier this week to get his thoughts on the opening conference game against Alabama St.
"They are fast, that's for certain. Obviously they have struggled to score points but I think a lot of this is due to the type of teams they played out of conference. They really struggle when teams slow it down because they lack much size in the interior. We have to play our style of game and in particular get the ball to Fab and Omar early. Once established I think it'll make Madut's job of slicing up the zone that much easier."
Operation Sport's Keys to the Game
1. Limit transition by avoiding turnovers and bad shot selection
2. Establish the post game early to lure ASU out of the 2-3 zone
3. Work to force a double on either Fab or Omar in the first half
4. Must not let Stephawn Brown catch fire early
Projections:
Player of the Game: Fab Robinson
Key Stat: Turnovers
Score : 88 - 62 W
| Southern University Jaguars at Alabama State Hornets | |||
| Jan 10, | 1ST | 2ND | SCORE |
| Southern University (6-1) | 38 | 41 | 79 |
| Alabama State (2-10) | 32 | 32 | 64 |
| Southern University Jaguars | ||||||||||
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS |
| O.Blue | 20 | 12-16 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 26 |
| M.Bol | 17 | 10-22 | 4-11 | 0-0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24 |
| F.Robinson | 17 | 9-10 | 0-0 | 3-3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| J.Davis | 23 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J.Mckenzie | 26 | 2-6 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS |
| R.Chase | 14 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| M.Davis | 4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| N.Webb | 14 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J.Grace | 6 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| L.Goodman | 6 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TEAM TOTALS | 35-59 | 4-13 | 5-5 | 28 | 17 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 79 | |
| Alabama State Hornets | ||||||||||
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS |
| E.Samuel | 26 | 3-8 | 0-1 | 3-4 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| S.Brown | 25 | 5-9 | 4-6 | 0-0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 |
| A.Whitaker | 21 | 5-9 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| S.Adamu | 20 | 6-12 | 1-4 | 1-2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 |
| J.Jefferson | 16 | 3-7 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS |
| A.Bazin | 12 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| H.Bograkos | 10 | 9-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D.Harvey | 7 | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| K.Neal | 6 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| E.Hart | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| TEAM TOTALS | 26-52 | 5-13 | 7-11 | 19 | 19 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 64 | |
Post Game
Southern University dispatched the Alabama St Hornets by following the gameplan laid out by Coach Davis. They started the game hot by pounding the ball inside to their two bigs, Robinson and Blue. Blue ended up with a game high 26 pts and 10 reb and had this to say after the game:
"Big game for us. To come out and get a win in the first conference game, on the road, it was huge. I was able to get the ball from Jabarhi in my spots and just go to work, man. We really had a nice size advantage and we looked to take what we were given all night. Real happy with the win."
Coach Davis was just as pleased with the result:
"It was important for us to contain their scorers. Both Brown and Adamu scored 14 but we were able to contain the rest of the guys. We forced the issue at their front line early, got their starters in foul trouble, and Omar and Fab did the rest. I was very pleased with the way Jabarhi took over the game without scoring. He was passing the ball well and putting his guys in position to score. He also ended up with 6 boards which was huge for us. Madut is very consistent. He continues to score over 20 night in and night out. He is a special player and this group is in position to do special things this year in conference."
Player of the Game
Southern PF - Omar Blue - 26pts 10reb 2blk
OS Signing off.