The Student Printz November 16, 2015.

Monday, November 16, 2015

Volume 100 Issue 24

www.studentprintz.com PAGE THREE

PAGE FIVE

NEWS

‘Devotion’

Book’s author visits Hattiesburg for Veterans Day celebration.

PAGE EIGHT

PAGE SIX

F E AT U R E

OPINION

S P O RT S

Faculty, staff, students reflect on past through sound.

University a battleground for civil liberties.

Golden Eagles thump Rice in a 65-10 rout.

Reverberations

Mizzou

Football

Moser chosen as provost for USM Joshua Starr Printz Reporter

Following a months-long search process, The University of Southern Mississippi President Rodney Bennett selected interim Provost and Vice President of Student Affairs Steven Moser for the provost position Nov. 12. Pending approval from the Institutions of Higher Learning’s Board of Trustees, Moser will continue to serve as the chief academic officer in a permanent capacity.

In one of six open forums Moser held to faculty, students and staff during the search process, Moser said since accepting the interim position in May 2015, he has been working hard to address major issues facing the university, and he hoped to continue to do so.

“Those who know me well know I don’t keep seats warm very well, so I want to be actively moving things forward,” he said.

In his Oct. 11 forum with faculty at the Hattiesburg campus, Moser admitted to having an advantage over the other two finalists for the position, Wayne Raskind of Wayne State University and Glen Cope of the University of Missouri—St. Louis.

Moser said the experience he had garnered in the interim position provided him with an intimate understanding of USM’s departmental structure, which he

said he had and would continue to use to best address the university’s needs.

Among his accomplishments as interim provost, Moser cited his office’s success in mitigating a major inefficiency

affecting the university’s budget: the digital systems used to manage, among other things, the accounts and courses of USM applicants, students and faculty known as consistent relations management.

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Moser said when he took the interim position, the university employed four competing and non-coordinated CRM services and that internal discussions to change this system had been going on for years.

“Within three weeks we had managed to come to a place were we were ready to actually step forward and commit to a single source,” he said.

Moser said prior to changes in enrollment management made under his leadership, enrollment at the university was about 18 percent below target, and his changes have since had dramatic effect.

“I don’t think we would have moved from negative 18 percent to negative 1.44 percent had we not been decisive in making some critical and key changes in enrollment management,” he said.

In the week following the finalist forums, a committee organized to review the finalists’ bids submitted its official recommendation to Bennett on Oct. 27.

In addition to bearing the search committee’s recommendation, Bennett held open office hours to the university community for input while he considered the three finalists for the position.

Upon naming Moser, Bennett said he was confident Moser’s leadership will serve USM well.

“I am confident that Dr. Moser’s deep knowledge of and commitment to our university coupled with his strong academic background and ability to develop and maintain effective relationships across the institution will facilitate our success,” he said.

ON CAMPUS

Students honor Mizzou with moment of silence Julius Kizzee News Editor

On Thursday, students at The University of Southern Mississippi gathered at the fountain on campus to take a moment to observe recent events happening at the University of Missouri.

The picture and hashtag to spread awareness of the event, #SilenceForMizzou, was accompanied by a statement spreading through social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to invite students to observe the moment.

“This is not a call for minority

students,” the flyer said. “This is a call for all that recognize and are disturbed by the tragedy occurring.”

Over 60 students came to show support, and they observed a moment of silence lasting almost 20 minutes.

Students held hands and closed their eyes during lunch to calmly observe and show support for the situation at Missouri.

“Being a black male at a predominantly white institution, you have to understand that the problems that arise at Missouri currently are problems that we as all black (students) on campus at predominantly

white institutions face on a daily basis,” said economics and political science double major Jaylen Hackett. “It’s something that is prevalent and needs to be addressed.”

The Mizzou events have been centered around African-American students at the university feeling oppression and race-driven opposition from others in the community. With those events, several universities and communities around the nation have chosen to support and voice their opinions on the situation.

MISSOURI, SEE PG. 3

Hunt Mercier/Printz Assistant Photo Editor Students at The University of Southern Mississippi stand in silence for students at The University of Missouri on Thursday afternoon.

Page 2 | Monday, November 16, 2015

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NEWS

Monday, November 16, 2015 | Page 3

STATE

Mississippi gets ‘D-’ in state integrity Andrew Dutton Printz Reporter

Mississippi received a “D-” in the latest state integrity investigation conducted by the Center for Public Integrity.

This score placed the state of Mississippi at 33 out of 50 states.

The State Integrity Investigation is a data-driven assessment of state government accountability and transparency that is conducted by Global Integrity and the Center for Public Integrity.

In the 2015 investigation, Mississippi earned a score of 61, a major drop from their 2012 score of 79, or C+.

The report said political candidates in Mississippi are free to raise unlimited sums of money and spend it largely as they choose. The legislative and judicial branches were largely exempt from the state’s open records law, and the state ethics commission rarely used its power to investigate public officials.

This led to the state government being plagued by a series of scandals, the most notable being the former Department of Corrections commissioner, Christopher Epps, who pleaded guilty in February to charges of corruption. Epps had accepted $2 million over eight years in exchange for directing hundreds

of millions of dollars in contracts to private businesses.

The state’s lowest score was in the political financing category, which was last compared to other states’ scores in this category.

According to the report, the low score came from state auditor Stacey Pickering’s actions.

The report said that between 2007 and 2014, Pickering used campaign funds to purchase an RV, a garage door and $136,000 in non-itemized campaign travel reimbursement fees over three non-election years.

Though federal investigators are looking into whether these purchases were illegal, there are no state laws preventing a

candidate from using campaign funds for personal reasons.

The Mississippi Ethics Commission has broad authority to start investigations and hold political figures accountable, but followers of state politics say the agency does not appear to aggressively exercise those powers.

The commission did provide the State Integrity Investigation with a record of cases litigated since 2013, which listed only five and did not specify what the violations were.

Commission executive director Tom Hood said there could be other cases it did not provide.

“It’s the best the investigative

NATIONAL

Author tells emotional story of local aviator Camille Myrick Printz Reporter

In a time when racial tension plagues our nation, The New York Times bestselling author Adam Makos chooses to tell the story of an unlikely friendship. In his new book “Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Brotherhood and Sacrifice,” Makos wrote about the inspiring companionship between U.S. Navy aviators Tom Hudner and Jesse Brown.

Over the weekend, Makos visited Hattiesburg to speak about his book in the African American Military History Museum located in downtown Hattiesburg, off of Mobile Street. Veterans, professors and interested locals gathered to hear the story of Hudner and Brown.

This story is important because Jesse Brown was a native of Hattiesburg and the first AfricanAmerican aviator in the U.S. Navy. Hudner and Brown served their country during the Korean War, building their friendship over the years into something that has lasted a lifetime.

Hudner and Brown were friends during the era of segregation.

Tom Hudner was a white officer, but his loyalty and love for his best friend Brown overruled any social stigmas that made their friendship “unlikely.”

This love and loyalty was demonstrated in Korea the day Brown’s plane crashed into the mountains. Hudner, in an effort to save his friend, crashed right next to Brown, and tried to help him escape the wreckage. In that moment, Hudner made Brown a promise: ”We’ll be back for you.” Unfortunately, Brown died a while later, but it is Hudner’s act of selflessness and heroism that inspired Makos to write “Devotion.”

“I really wanted to know what was so amazing about Jesse

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that Hudner would crash-land his plane for him,” Makos said.

“And I wanted to know more about Hudner all these years later. What Hudner did was really the embodiment of ‘no man left behind.’”

Unfortunately, Hudner, now age 91, never got to keep his promise.

Makos, deeply moved by the story of these two men, is determined to help Hudner fulfill his promise.

“We pulled some strings, we made some promises, we spent some money and took some risks, and we went to North Korea,” Makos said. “Tom, at the age of 89, when he should have been bouncing his grandkids on his knee, when he should have been working on maybe his golf game, got on a plane and flew from Boston to North Korea.”

Hudner and Makos entered into the most unpredictable and dangerous regime in the world to find, recover and bring home the remains of Brown. The North

Koreans not only said yes to their endeavors, but also offered to help in the search. However, the U.S. government would not allow them to recover Brown’s remains.

U.S. officials told Makos and Hudner that there would be no search mission until North Korea abandoned its projects with nuclear weapons.

“My question for you today,” Makos inquired of his audience Saturday, “is whether or not the return of U.S. military remains— the return of Jesse’s remains— should be tied to nuclear warfare.”

Everyone in the room answered with a unanimous “no.”

“I was also surprised to find out that our U.S. Korean specialist had never been to Korea,” Makos said.

Jesse Brown died when his daughter, Pamela, was only oneand-a-half years old. She was also in attendance at Makos’ speech and book signing. She has been very involved in the

overall process of writing the book as well.

“I want to thank Adam, because for me, he has fleshed out the man I didn’t know,” Pamela Brown said. “When I was growing up most of my relatives got really emotional when I would ask about my dad, and I learned not to ask questions. For me, Adam has brought my father more alive than I’ve ever been able to know before.”

At the end of the speech, eyes were wet with tears in the room.

Makos urged the audience to spread the word of Jesse Brown and his inspiring story. His hope is that one day Brown’s remains will be returned to U.S. soil and buried in Arlington so that his life story can live on. Makos claims this story is bigger than a text recalling history.

“It is one of the most incredible stories of humankind,” Makos said. “It’s not just a military story— it is a human story.”

assistant could do,” Hood said.

Curtis Wilkie, veteran reporter at the University of Mississippi’s Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics, tried to explain why the state government is in such bad condition.

“I think because of its conservative nature that this state is naturally not going to reveal a lot of the things that go on in its government,” Wilkie said.

Wilkie also commented on the effectiveness of agencies created to keep public officials from violating the law.

“They’re all pretty toothless,” Wilkie said. “They really don’t do much. I don’t look to them for deliverance.”

MISSOURI CONTINUED “It’s something that we need to stand in solidarity for to show that we are a unified student body and to show that we care about events and things that impact us personally,” Hackett said.

“I hope to show that there is support and there (are) people behind what they are doing there.”

This demonstration can be compared to the protest of the Mississippi state flag, when certain students felt the need to voice their opinion.

“We understand what it means to be a minority on an institution that wasn’t created for you,” said senior English major Anika Butler. “However, integration happened years ago, so these students deserve to be treated fairly just like we’re treated fairly here at Southern Miss.”

At Southern Miss, African-Americans make up roughly 31 percent of the student body, according to Niche Social.

With the demonstration, students were able to show that they supported the Missouri community, black or not, all the way from Mississippi.

Students at Missouri first started their protests stemming from their calling for the removal of the president of the university system, Tim Wolfe. Wolfe stepped down from his position on Nov. 9 after three and a half years on the job, but protests have gotten out of hand.

Racial events on campus, vandalism at their culture center and even a professor telling a journalist to leave a hunger strike, have all been corresponding events to the unrest on campus.

“It was just a time for us to come together and show the students at Mizzou that we care about them,” Butler said.

“We still support them and care about them.”

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FEATURE

ON CAMPUS

Cook Library celebrates novel writing month Nan Beauti Printz Reporter

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), an annual approach to innovative writing in which participants begin on Nov. 1 and work toward writing a 50,000-word novel by the end of the month.

The Cook Library observes NaNoWriMo by hosting weekly write-ins at 7 p.m. on Mondays throughout November inside of the art gallery. The NaNoWriMo challenge at Cook Library write-ins allows writers the opportunity to write their novels in the presence of others, a chance for feedback and encouragement.

“National Novel Writing Month is a wonderful opportunity for people to dive into their imaginations and do one of the most crucial things in life: create,” said Grant Faulkner, executive director of National Novel Writing Month, in a recent press release.

“Everyone has a story that needs to come to life, so the shelves of the NaNoWriMo library stretch endlessly. NaNoWriMo helps people find their voice in the act of writing and through the encouragement of the writers in the NaNo community.”

Cook Library is set to host the Night of Writing Dangerously on Friday at 5 p.m. in the art gallery.

The event is scheduled to last six hours and offers participants to catch up on word count during the challenge. Students who are unable to attend any of the Hattiesburg write-ins can opt to participate fully online. Attendees are not required to register at the NaNoWriMo website to participate

Beth Cunningham/Printz Students spend hours furiously typing for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) event. Cook Library will host Night of Writing Dangerously on Friday at 5 p.m.

in any of these events.

NaNoWriMo motivates writers with concepts of fervor, determination and a target end date. The initiative is for anyone who has ever envisioned or

dreamed of writing a novel.

Participants of the writing month can register and track their progress on the NaNoWriMo website, which also offers motivation from other writers and

allows volunteers to organize gatherings to advertise and boost participation. On the website, participants can also join a region where signing up for information about local meet-ups is posted.

The Monday night write-ins at Cook Library are one of three weekly write-ins in Hattiesburg.

The other two are Thursday nights at Java Werks from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at Books-A-Million starting at 2 p.m. Anyone is allowed and encouraged to participate in NaNoWriMo. In Hattiesburg, several members of Hub City Writers make up the core group of regulars who attend these events.

Students are welcome to attend any and all events. The writeins are welcoming, informal events. Participants work on a variety of novel themes—some science fiction and fantasy, others on young adult, horror and historical fiction.

National Novel Writing Month is also a nonprofit organization that incorporates programs that empower creative writing around the world.

This is the first year Southern Miss has had write-ins at Cook Library. The librarians sought to have on-campus write-ins this year so that more students could easily participate.

“On Nov. 30, you validate your word count on the NaNoWriMo

website,” said Elena Azadbakht, a health and nursing librarian, as well as an assistant professor. “That’s how you officially win NaNoWriMo. It’s more a competition you have with yourself—you challenge yourself to complete a novel in a single month.”

Writing a novel, especially within a month, requires dedication and focused creativity. Senior media production major Kirstie Lowery is writing a supernatural horror book titled “All Hallow’s Eve,” a project during which she has faced and overcome challenges.

“Some things that have challenged me in the process are learning how to further develop my characters, as well as painting a picture with words,” Lowery said.

“Our readers do not automatically know what our characters or scenes look like, so we have to be very good at using words to display it for them.”

“If you enjoy writing creatively, I think it can be a great way to destress during a busy semester,” Azadbakht said. “It’s okay if you’re too busy to make it to 50,000 words. The point of NaNoWriMo is to commit to actually sitting down and writing—the emphasis is on getting words on the page, not on perfection.”

For more information about the Cook Library write-ins or the Night of Writing Dangerously, contact Elena Azadbakht at 601-266-6424.

FEATURE

ON CAMPUS

Monday, November 16, 2015 | Page 5

Professor delves into auditory history Briar Blakley Printz Reporter

To conclude the fall portion of the Reverberations series— an interdisciplinary exploration of acoustics in social and natural environment—Kevin Greene took listeners on a journey through slavery and Jim Crow laws while teaching the importance of auditory experience through music and understanding what sound means.

Greene, assistant professor in the Department of History and Interdisciplinary Studies, chose to give his lecture without a slideshow in order to reinforce the point of allowing sound to describe scenarios.

“Once you learn to read sound, you’ll go through historical text and you’ll find that people robbed of literacy, oppressed with the knowledge and information, will make up for their lack of access to learning through visual cues for reading and for literacy in

ON CAMPUS

other ways, and the AfricanAmerican experience is filled with references and ideas about sound,” Greene said.

The faces of the faculty, staff and students reflected a feeling of passion as they were moved by the sounds and songs that were used to communicate through the underground railroad system.

“Silence was a very important factor in the underground railroad,” Greene said. “There were certain codes and sayings used to relay messages between helpers and slaves.”

Professors read along, voluntarily citing pieces of history-changing documents, one of them being the Emancipation Proclamation that freed slaves in America.

Among those professors was interdisciplinary instructor and director Laura Malone, who reflected on her emotional experience during the lecture and what it changed for her.

“It took me on a journey,” Malone

said. “One of the things I never expected was the (rawness) of some of the sounds and what type of emotion it evoked. This experience gave me a different way to look at text when I read and a different way to take it all in.”

Greene also discussed a musical genre that is close to home for Mississippians: the blues. African Americans used this genre to convey life’s troubles and good times by way of melodies and rhythms.

“Blues operated far beyond sound for just entertainment purposes,” Greene stated.

Many of the listeners were curious to understand how they could use their newfound insight to understand the sounds stemming from today’s hardships.

When asked how powerful is the sound of today’s generation in response to social issues compared to those sounds reflected from slavery to the fall Jim Crow period, Greene said, “Technology has

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made this generation powerful with various outlets to use sound to paint a picture of what (goes) on in society.”

Junior business administration major Terrance Horton says this discussion ignited an interest in how some of his favorite artists have captured and expressed, through

sound, the problems African Americans may face post-slavery.

“Living in America today, there’s still a lot of anger today. I would say Kanye West’s ‘Yeezus’ album captures that feeling,” Horton said.

“It’s a matter of accepting this and finding ways to deal with it which can be done through using sound.”

Hattiesburg’s religious landscape becomes more secular Nan Beauti Printz Reporter

The secular movement is growing, as more nonreligious individuals are replacing and influencing their religious counterparts of past generations.

The Pew Research Center announced in its newest Religious Landscape Survey this year that the percent of Americans unaffiliated with religion rose from 16 percent to 23 percent in just seven years. This rise is fueled primarily by young millennials rejecting religion and remaining secular as they grow older.

The number of self-identifying atheists and agnostics rose to 11 percent.

The Secular Student Alliance, a national nonprofit representing nonreligious students, claims that this growth gives it power as a new force.

“Today’s millennials are rejecting religion in droves, and they won’t stand by as reproductive health is restricted and their LGBTQ friends are stigmatized,” Secular Student Alliance executive director August Brunsman IV said in a press release. “The Religious Right pulled our country toward intolerance for far too long, and young secularists are finally here to pull it back.”

Since the Secular Student Alliance is an educational nonprofit national organization and involved at numerous universities, The University of Southern Mississippi has its own Secular Student Alliance developed through the Office of Student Activities. The group is currently inactive, as it is going through the process of becoming an official university organization due to a previous lack of turnout at meetings.

The main setback group

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leader Kevin Clifton deals with is attendance. Its small number of members, however, is expected to grow, as more and more free thinkers are exposed to the group and its initiatives to unite nonreligious students. The group consists of and encourages atheists, agnostics, areligious, secular and free-thinking

individuals to join.

The organization writes on the USM website of Special Interest Student Organizations, “We insist upon reason and logic as being our guiding principles. Also, we like helping out the university and community as a whole pertaining to societal issues.”

The SSA’s wide scale purpose

is to educate high school and college students about the importance of scientific reason as well as the intellectual basis of secularism in its atheistic and humanistic manifestations.

Clifton is the president of the Secular Student Alliance at USM and has been an atheist ever since his personal growth led to his

leaving Christianity.

“Being known as an atheist carries with it a certain stigma in the South,” Clifton said. “Nonetheless, I have made peace with this.”

A conversation about any faith, or lack thereof, can be difficult in an evangelically dominant state like Mississippi. Many with seemingly uncommon beliefs have felt like outcasts, even in the Hattiesburg community.

“People can be very critical and unacceptable of my ideals and beliefs,” said a senior healthcare marketing major who requested to remain anonymous. “It is frustrating to attend an event that is not supposed to be religiously tied and have to bite my tongue when someone begins to pray to a god I don’t believe in. I am not concerned about being offended, but I wish people would embrace the idea that not everyone believes the same thing, and as a society we should work toward unity and acceptance.”

The student believes that agnostics and atheists are seen as evil by some of the religious community and that this misconception leads to alienation of people.

“In the South, it would be fair to say that many people are fervently religious and quick to judge those who are not,” the student said.

“I believe that one of the biggest factors that causes strife between the religious and nonreligious is ignorance. If people would actually sit down and try to understand why people believe what they do, and what they actually believe in the first place, we could work toward a much more unified community.”

For more information on the Secular Student Alliance, contact Kevin Clifton at kevin.clifton@ eagles.usm.edu.

Page 6 | Monday, November 16, 2015

OPINION

NATIONAL

Mizzou can unite on grounds of race Jessalyn Bisesi Printz Reporter

“Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom - and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech,” Benjamin Franklin once said.

One must understand that with the freedom of speech comes great responsibility-a responsibility that does not need to be taken lightly. The University of Missouri in all its controversies proves a prime example of this infamous quote concerning multiple accounts.

The trickle effect could be used to best describe the University of Missouri’s current situation.

Former president Timothy Wolfe and former chancellor R. Bowen Loftin both “made a series of enemies among faculty, graduate students and legislators” in regard to issues such as “abortion rights, tea-party politics, academic publishers, graduate student benefits and their responses to racially inclined incidences,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Recent racial issues include a swastika drawn on a dorm wall with feces. Lack of action taken

by Wolfe and Loftin was the tip of the iceberg as racial tensions began to spiral out of control.

This caused a series of protests such as the hunger strike and

the strike against playing in their upcoming game by a group of Mizzou football players. Each group had one common ground: they wanted President Wolfe to resign among other demands such as hiring more black faculty and staff.

One demand was met as Wolfe resigned, followed by Loftin. However upon talking with USM media law professor Justin Martin, I have learned that hiring faculty and staff based strictly upon a specific race is not legally allowed. In fact, in most legal documents it is enforced that no discriminatory action be taken based upon a specific gender and/or race.

Another incident in which legality was questioned was the incident forcing a student reporter to be removed from the protest site. Due to the protests taking place in a public space, the student reporter legally had the right to video the protests.

Martin provided more insight into the situation.

“The government cannot abridge freedom of speech with few exceptions: obscenities, jeopardizing national security, fighting words or violence,” Martin said.

These students are using their given right, yes, but it is necessary to think carefully about the consequences of their words and actions.

The protestors at the

Hunt Mercier/ Assistant Photo Editor Students at The University of Southern Mississippi stand in silence for students at The Univeristy of Missouri on Thursday afternoon.

University of Missouri have the ability to bring positive change and restore peace on a campus currently overtaken with chaos and fear. That in itself is powerful. However, something

as powerful as change should be taken seriously and looked upon in a rational manner for successful results. Hopefully the University of Missouri can restore itself, learn from these

incidences and better itself in hopes of a brighter future where all students, no matter the race, can unite as one and proudly call Mizzou their educational home.

NATIONAL

Feurstein’s red cup claims absurd, nonsensical Hiba Tahir

Printz Reporter On Nov. 1, Starbucks released its highly anticipated holiday cups for the Christmas season. That same week, a Russian plane crashed in Egypt, the Kansas City Royals beat the New York Mets in the 2015 World Series—their first title win in thirty years—Chipotle closed 43 restaurants linked to E. coli outbreaks and the U.S. held state and local elections.

Interestingly, it was the first “event” that seemed to capture the most social media attention.

Post after post and tweet after tweet argued various opinions about Starbucks. Some, goaded by social media personality Joshua Feurstein, claim the popular chain is waging a war on Christmas with the simple design of the cup, which is entirely red, save for the green Starbucks logo.

“Do you realize Starbucks wanted to take Christ and Christmas off of their cups?”

Feurstein said in a viral video.

“That’s why they’re just plain red.”

He then encouraged viewers to

say “merry Christmas” instead of their names so that baristas are forced to read and call out the phrase.

and Facebook.

The obvious problem with Feurstein’s claim is that the cup is not entirely red—it also

consider snowflakes, snowmen, stars, ornaments, sleds, turtledoves and trees particularly Christian, Starbucks has never

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#MerryChristmasStarbucks is the movement’s designated hashtag, and it’s already garnered quite a few entries across Instagram, Twitter

incorporates a green Starbucks logo. Since when are red and green not universally symbolic of the Christmas season?

Furthermore, unless you

incorporated Christ or Christian themes in its holiday cups.

“Since 1997 Starbucks has served its holiday beverages in a unique cup, starting with a jazz-

themed design in jewel tones of deeper reds, greens and blues,” Starbucks said in a Nov. 8 press release on its website. “Every year since, the cup has told a story of the holidays by featuring symbols of the season from vintage ornaments and handdrawn reindeer to modern vectorillustrated characters.”

Feurstein’s absurd claims fall flat in the face of art enthusiasts everywhere who believe Starbucks is simply capitalizing on a recent trend in design that emphasizes minimalism and allows customers more space to express their own creativity.

“In the past, we have told stories with our holiday cups designs,” said Jeffrey Fields, Starbucks vice president of design and content, in the press release. “This year we wanted to usher in the holidays with a purity of design that welcomes all of our stories.”

As someone who regularly draws on her own Starbucks cup, I can definitely appreciate the sentiment and look forward to doodling on the two-toned red ombrè design.

SPORTS

Monday, November 1, 2015 | Page 7

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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Freshmen help lead Lady Eagles Jacob Kemp Sports Writer

Kerri Jewett-Giles and Caitlin Jenkins led the Lady Eagles to a 6544 win over Alabama State in their season opener.

In the exhibition match against West Alabama, it was Jenkins putting on a show, but in the Lady Eagles’ season opener, it was Jewett-Giles who netted a doubledouble and narrowly missed a triple-double.

She finished with 19 points, 10 steals and eight rebounds. Despite both freshmen doing well, the Lady

Eagles still found themselves down at halftime, 26-22.

But after a spirited locker room chat with head coach Joye LeeMcNelis, the Lady Eagles came out firing in the second half. In the third quarter alone, the Lady Eagles outscored Alabama State, 31-13.

Their 31-13 run was based on Lee-McNelis’ staple—defense and creating turnovers. Southern Miss got 12 easy buckets off of turnovers and shot an unprecedented 66 percent from the field. Jewett-Giles also scored 10 of her 19 points in the third quarter and helped the Lady Eagles take the 39-35 lead.

“When you look at the first half and then the second half, it’s definitely two different chapters in the book,” Lee-McNelis said. “I thought the first half, other than Kerri (Jewett-Giles), I thought we played very timid, very complacent. We didn’t play with a sense of urgency.”

Jewett-Giles was not the only freshman to get in on the action.

Jenkins then took over and helped lead a 12-2 run to end the quarter.

Southern Miss’ stifling defense continued in the fourth quarter and did not allow a single field goal.

Over the last 13 minutes of the game, USM only allowed seven

total points, which looked more like the Lady Eagles everyone saw against West Alabama.

While Jenkins and Jewett-Giles were the front-runners, it was still a team victory for USM as four Lady Eagles score double-digit points.

Jewett-Giles had 19, while Jenkins, Jayla King and Brittanny Dinkins had 14, 10 and 10 points, respectively.

Much like the 2014-15 team, this Lady Eagles squad seems to be a second half team. With much of the team playing timid in the first half, it was Lee-McNelis who had to fire up her young, inexperienced team.

“Second half was a tale of a

different story. It was so much better,” Lee-McNelis said. “I thought we played with a much higher level of intensity. I challenged several players in the locker room at halftime and they responded well in the second half. We have to be pleased with the win.”

The Lady Eagles will face arguably the best team they will face all year tonight when they travel to Waco, Texas, to take on the No. 5 team in the nation, Baylor. The Lady Bears are coming off a 62-20 thrashing of UT-Arlington in the first round of the preseason WNIT. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Golden Eagles embarrassed by Memphis Joshua Campbell Sports Editor

Southern Miss struggled, to say the least, in its season opener, losing to Memphis on the road 6749 on Saturday.

There is no easy way to put it.

The Golden Eagles were awful

against the Tigers. USM’s starters combined for just 12 points on 5-of21 shooting. As a team, the Golden Eagles shot just 26.9 percent from the field and 29 percent from behind the arc.

The Tigers asserted their dominance early, racing out to a 12-2 lead not even five minutes into

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the game. The Golden Eagles did not get anything going in the first half and committed 11 turnovers in the first 14 minutes of the game alone.

“Anytime you get off to a start like we did with the turnovers and (allowing) transition baskets, you are going to be out of the game real quick,” said head coach Doc Sadler.

“You take points from the free throw line, the points in transition and points off of turnovers and it is a different basketball game.”

Take all of those things away and of course it will be a different game, but that first half highlighted just how much this team is going to struggle in the early going. Norville Carey’s decision to redshirt while the Golden Eagles face yet another postseason ban will cost USM a great deal, and it showed in the season opener.

While Carey may not be a superstar, he is the only player on this roster that has played significant minutes at this level of college basketball. If he were out there on the court, USM likely would look a lot better.

His presence inside and leadership would bring a calming influence to a young and inexperienced roster.

But just like you cannot simply just take

away points in transition and off of turnovers, you cannot just take away the best player on your team and expect to have a smooth transition.

USM trailed at the half 36-20, but USM showed small signs of life in the second half. Eddie Davis III, who led the team with 13 points, scored 10 in the second half and all of Michael Ramey’s 10 points came in the second half. The Golden Eagles were only outscored by two in the second half, 31-29, cutting back on costly mistakes, five turnovers and taking more efficient shots.

“It is such a young basketball team,” Sadler said. “Maybe the score looked a little worse than it was because I think we started to get some things moving in our direction in the second half.”

After Memphis once again dominated to start the second half, using a 18-5 run to extend their lead to 54-25, the Golden Eagles went on an impressive 15-2 run of their own. Granted, most of the Memphis regulars had already been removed from the game, it is still something positive the Golden Eagles can take away from the otherwise embarrassing showing.

It will be interesting to see what changes Sadler makes to the starting lineup moving forward as

the bench totaled 37 points, 25 more than the starters. Davis III proved his worth, adding eight rebounds to his 13 points, and Michael O’Donnell led the team in minutes played (35) and rebounds with 13, including eight on the offensive end.

None of the starters saw significant playing time as none of them played exceptionally well. Raheem Watts only played seven minutes, committing three turnovers and missing both of his shot attempts. Tim Rowe and Keljin Blevins both logged 16 minutes while Kourtlin Jackson only played 15. Khari Price led the starters with 22 minutes and three assists, but shot just 1-of-6 from the field.

Do not be surprised if either Davis III or O’Donnell replace Watts in the starting lineup when USM hosts Jackson State Tuesday. Despite an unimpressive performance, Rowe will likely stay in the starting lineup due to his size as the 6-feet, 11-inch freshman is the only player on the roster taller than 6-feet, 7-inches.

The Golden Eagles will likely look better as Jackson State is a much lesser opponent than Memphis, but with such an inexperienced roster, it is impossible to predict how USM will play. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. at Reed Green Coliseum.

Page 8 | Monday, November 16, 2015

FOOTBALL

SPORTS

USM spoils homecoming for Rice in blowout Julius Kizzee News Editor

Southern Miss (7-3, 5-1 Conference USA) throttled Rice during the Owls’ homecoming festivities, 65-10, for their fourth consecutive win.

Coming into the game, Rice had not lost a home game in November since 2007. But not only did they end that streak, the Golden Eagles set plenty of records during the onslaught.

Offensively, Southern Miss set a school record of 682 total yards of offense, as well as seven passing touchdowns as a team. The Golden Eagles’ 65 points was the most scored since scoring 70 against UAB in 2008.

Head coach Todd Monken dared the Owls to stop his squad early, going for it and converting on fourthand-one from the Rice 47-yard line just four minutes into the game.

Although that drive did not end in a touchdown, the Owls were put on notice.

Nick Mullens hit Ito Smith for the first score of the game on an impressive 28-yard catch-and-run late in the first quarter. Smith ran a wheel route out of the backfield and Mullens put the pass right on the money while the defender’s back was turned; then, Smith did the rest, making three defenders miss on his

way to the end zone.

The Golden Eagles scored 35 points in the second quarter, a school-record, as Mullens connected with Mike Thomas for two of his three touchdowns in the quarter. Defensive end Xavier Thigpen got things going, catching a shovel pass from punter Tyler Sarrazin on a fake field goal before diving into the end zone.

Thomas’ two touchdowns were from 50 and 51 yards out, showcasing his immense talent that landed him on the Biletnikoff Award Watch List. Mullens then hit D.J. Thompson on a skinny post from 13 yards out to put USM up 35-0 before Smith took a screen pass 16 yards for yet another touchdown.

Rice came out for this game seemingly ill-prepared. Numerous penalties and head-scratching coaching decisions led to the insurmountable lead that the Golden Eagles had in just the first half.

By halftime, the game was already out of hand. The Golden Eagles had 42 points and Mullens had already thrown for five touchdowns and 315 yards. Rice on the other hand, had 33 plays totaling just 56 yards.

They also fumbled the ball six times, and lost it twice to the Golden Eagles. Rice did not even complete a pass until the 4:41 mark in the second quarter.

On the fourth play of the second

Courtesy Phoo

half, Jalen Richard scored on a 60yard run, breaking a few tackles and outrunning the Owl defense. With the score 49-0, Monken turned to his backups.

Tyler Matthews finished 4-of-5 for 109 yards and a 47-yard touchdown toss to Jarell Aaron midway through the fourth quarter. He also added a touchdown run on the ground in the third period. It was the first two touchdowns of his collegiate career.

The shutout ended when Rice recovered a Richard fumble,

capitalizing with a field goal in the fourth quarter. The Owls added a late touchdown, but it had no impact.

Southern Miss held their fifth opponent in a row to under 300 total yards and notched six sacks.

Southern Miss’ success on the defensive front was warranted, seeing as Rice fielded their seventh different offensive line combination for the season.

Nick Mullens had another career game, finishing with 23-of-31 for

386 yards and five touchdowns.

His efforts on the day moved him into third place all-time on the Southern Miss career passing yards list, trailing only Brett Favre and Austin Davis.

Southern Miss now ranks first in total offense and total defense in C-USA, ranking 11th and 31st nationally in those stats as well.

Southern Miss will come back to host Old Dominion Saturday in its last home game of the season.

Kickoff is at 2:30 p.m.