Southern Miss to Open Season Against Tougaloo

Southern Miss is scheduled to open its 2026-27 men’s basketball season Monday against Tougaloo at Reed Green Coliseum in Hattiesburg. The calendar lists tipoff for 7 p.m. CT.

The Golden Eagles went 19-16 last season and won three consecutive games at the Sun Belt Tournament in Pensacola before losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Troy. They were picked seventh in the Sun Belt preseason poll and received two first-place votes.

Senior center Isaac Taveras returns after averaging 15.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while shooting 51.5% from the field last season. Sun Belt coaches named him the conference’s preseason player of the year and selected him for the Preseason All-Sun Belt First Team.

Southern Miss has won its past 10 home openers and is 69-12 all time in those games, according to the school. Coach Jay Ladner is 7-0 in home openers with the Golden Eagles; six of those wins were by double figures.

Tougaloo is coming off a 19-10 season in which it won the HBCU Athletic Conference Western Division title and reached the conference championship game. The Bulldogs played an October scrimmage against Copiah-Lincoln Community College before their scheduled regular-season opener.

Southern Miss leads the series 3-0, with every meeting in Hattiesburg. The Golden Eagles won 101-96 in double overtime in 2016, 96-77 in 2019 and 93-57 last November. Taveras recorded 16 points and 10 rebounds in the latest meeting, the first double-double of his Southern Miss career.

Southern Miss is scheduled to travel to Ames, Iowa, on Friday, Nov. 6, to play Iowa State. The calendar lists a 7 p.m. CT tipoff.

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