Athlete (2001-2003) Michael Southall

[NewsCopy]

The last time the University of Louisiana basketball squad faced North Texas, Michael Southall hadn't played a Sun Belt Conference game in 34 months. Apparently, he wanted to make a statement. Southall had 19 points, 12 rebounds and a school-record 11 blocked shots in the Ragin' Cajuns' 86-79 loss. One week ago, the 6-foot-10 senior center used a national television forum to post a career-high 34 points, hitting 12-of-18 shots and 10-of-13 free throws, in UL's 94-81 loss at Western Kentucky. North Texas comes to the Cajundome on Thursday, and Cajun head coach Robert Lee is hoping for a similar performance from Southall. But he admits that UNT's defensive strategy may determine that. "If the rest of the teams play us the way Western played us defensively, you'll get the same result," Lee said. "Western fronted Mike without any backside help, and he got a lot of easy baskets and dunks. Most teams play us a 2-3 zone and try to keep us from pushing the ball inside." The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[RaginEsquire06]

Jags get full dose of Southall this time
USA hosts Louisiana-Lafayette and its big center, who was benched for a half in their last meeting

Thursday, February 09, 2006

By KIM SHUGART
Sports Reporter

There's little doubt that South Alabama's big victory at Louisiana-Lafayette a month ago served as a springboard for the Jaguars' rise to the top of the Sun Belt Conference's West Division.

But USA (16-5, 7-2) will face a more difficult assignment tonight at 7:05 at the Mitchell Center in trying to knock off the defending league champs than it did on Jan. 12. The toughest task is 6-foot-10, 236-pound center Michael Southall, the league's top NBA prospect.

Southall sat quietly at the end of the Louisiana-Lafayette bench in the first half against South Alabama last month because Ragin' Cajuns coach Robert Lee didn't like the big man's pregame focus. The Jaguars took advantage of Southall's absence to build a 14-point halftime lead and held on for a 61-51 win, the first of four conference road victories for USA.

"It's a bigger challenge for us than the first game because my guess is the big fella is probably going to play the first half," said South Alabama coach John Pelphrey. "He can have a huge impact on the game. In the first half when he wasn't in there, we were able to take the ball to basket. In the second half, I think we get three baskets.

"They're playing much better as a team now. They've won two straight games, so they'll come in here with some confidence. They're a team no one will want to play in the first round of the league tournament."

Southall and 6-5 senior guard Dwayne Mitchell are the top players for the Cajuns (7-14, 3-7). Southall is averaging 14.9 points and 8 rebounds a game. Mitchell, who played for Cliff Ellis at Auburn his freshman year before transferring to Louisiana-Lafayette, has even better numbers (16.8 points, 9.7 rebounds).

"Southall and Mitchell are terrific," Pelphrey said. "I think Mitchell is a NBA player. They've got some new guys, Ed Turner and Maurice Barksdale, that are blending in better. This is a huge challenge for us."

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[RaginEsquire06]

What a prediction...An overdose of Southall was lethal tonight!

[RaginEsquire06]

Center leads Ragin' Cajuns to 59-53 win over South Alabama

Friday, February 10, 2006

By KIM SHUGART
Sports Reporter

South Alabama ran into the real

Louisiana-Lafayette team on Thursday night at the Mitchell Center and couldn't handle the defending Sun Belt Conference champ.

That's because the true Ragin' Cajuns include center Michael Southall, and the Jaguars have no one on their roster who can effectively guard the

Southall played just 20 minutes in the first meeting of the season against South Alabama, which the Jags won 61-51. This time, the NBA prospect was on the floor for 35 minutes and dominated play.

The 6-foot-10 Southall scored 26 points, pulled down 8 rebounds, blocked 3 shots, had 3 steals and even dished out an assist as Louisiana-Lafayette claimed a 59-53 win in front of 2,396 fans.

Despite the loss, USA (16-6, 7-3) maintained a 2½-game lead in the Sun Belt Western Division race with five games remaining.

"Southall was terrific," Jags coach John Pelphrey said after his club's three-game winning streak was snapped. "I thought we did a pretty good job of defending him at times. Late in the game, they did a good job of getting him the ball."

Southall became a one-man scoring machine for the Cajuns (8-14, 4-7) in the second half when South Alabama wiped out a 39-24 deficit with 15 consecutive points.

After the Jaguars pulled even on Chey Christie's rebound basket with 10:48 remaining, Southall took control. He scored seven straight points -- five from the foul line -- to increase the lead to 46-39.

USA, which made just 5 of 28 attempts from 3-point range, trimmed the deficit to 46-43 on a tip-in from center Jason McGriff and two free throws from guard Stephen Cowherd at the 5:51 mark.

Rest of story:http://www.al.com/sports/mobileregis...l=3&thispage=2