GAME NOTES: Having won just once in their last 13 outings, the Southern Miss Golden Eagles will have to hit the road to take on the UAB Blazers Saturday at Bartow Arena in Conference USA action.

Since an overtime victory back on Jan. 24 against North Texas, Southern Miss has dropped three consecutive decisions to fall to 6-15 overall, with a dismal 1-9 mark in league play. The Golden Eagles were in action Thursday night, where they dropped a 61-51 contest to Middle Tennessee on the road.

UAB is trending in the other direction. The Blazers are only two games above .500 this season, but hold an 8-2 mark against Conference USA competition after easily taking down Louisiana Tech at home Thursday, 80-60. At Bartow Arena this season, the Blazers are 9-4.

UAB owns the all-time series advantage between these two conference rivals, 25-18. The Blazers extended their lead over the Golden Eagles with a 63-56 head-to-head win in Hattiesburg earlier this season.

Middle Tennessee wasted no time against Southern Miss on Thursday night, as the Blue Raiders were allowed to connect on 47.8 percent of their shots from the floor in the first half to gain a 33-23 lead by the time the teams headed for the locker rooms at halftime. In the end, the Golden Eagles were outscored by 10 points at the free-throw line in Murfreesboro. Chip Armelin led the charge with 21 points to pace Southern Miss, adding in six rebounds, four assists and six turnovers. Norville Carey contributed 18 points and six boards of his own in the losing effort.

Second-leading scorer Matt Bingaya didn't see the floor Thursday night, but doesn't appear on the injury/exempt list for the Golden Eagles. Bingaya averages 13.8 ppg this season, second only to Armelin's 14.8 ppg. Carey rounds out a trio of double-digit scorers for the Golden Eagles this season at 11.1 ppg. Southern Miss ranks dead last in the Conference USA ranks in terms of scoring offense, netting a mere 60.3 ppg this season on 43.9 percent shooting. The team's defense hasn't done its part either, allowing opponents to score 68.6 ppg.

Although Louisiana Tech was on the road, the league leaders seemed to have a competitive advantage over UAB heading into Thursday night's clash. But the Blazers extinguished those notions pretty quick, as the hosts made sure the Bulldogs only held a lead for just over two and a half minutes throughout the contest, running away with the victory in the end. Nick Norton led the way with 16 points for the Blazers, while Hakeem Baxter tallied a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Tosin Mehinti and Chris Cokley each netted 12 points with seven rebounds, and Robert Brown collected 11 points to round out a host of double-digit scorers for the Blazers in the home win.

Despite the fact only Brown averages a scoring figure in double digits this season (13.3 ppg), UAB still has managed to put together a solid scoring effort each night, netting 67.8 ppg on 42.9 percent shooting from the floor. It's the team's defense that has been a bit shaky this season, allowing opponents to score 68.0 ppg, with a 34 percent shooting mark from 3-point range. William Lee's 4.9 rpg tops the squad, followed closely though by Mehinti's 4.7 rpg and Cokley's 4.2 boards per outing. Norton has dished out a team-best 85 assists (3.9 apg ranks third in the Conference USA rankings).

After a huge win over the typically upbeat and hard-to-topple Bulldogs, the Blazers should be surging with confidence as they get set to take on one of the worst teams in the league.