HATTIESBURG, Miss. – After two straight uninspiring preseason exhibitions, the Southern Miss men's basketball team quickly turned the page and got its 2026-27 season off to a roaring start with an 82-35 win over Tougaloo.

In front of a lively crowd at Reed Green Coliseum, the Golden Eagles jumped on the Bulldogs early and often in the opening minutes of the game and never looked back. With the win, Southern Miss improved to 1-0 on the year.

Here's everything you need to know from the Golden Eagles' encouraging season opener.

A Dominant First Half

In the first 20 minutes, the Golden Eagles didn't give the Bulldogs much room to breathe, as they took a 45-12 lead into halftime while shooting 40.5 percent overall and 33.3 percent from deep.

Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year Isaac Taveras and shooting guard Anthony Igiede led the Golden Eagles in first-half scoring with nine and eight points, respectively.

Taveras also grabbed eight rebounds, nearly giving him a first-half double-double.

Southern Miss also held a 33-20 rebounding advantage at the break and forced 13 Tougaloo turnovers.

“We were coming off a very poor performance in Houston. Everybody associated with our program was poor, starting with me," Golden Eagles head coach Jay Ladner said.

"I thought tonight, over the last three days, our effort at practice, our leadership, especially these two young men, Isaac [Taveras] and Anthony [Igiede], did a great job of leading our team. … I thought our defensive effort was much better. I was very proud of the way we started the game. I thought that we had great energy.”

Eags Keep Foot on the Gas Rest of the Way

Given how big a lead the Golden Eagles had going into the second half, Ladner and his staff were able to give several other players who might not be in the regular rotation opportunities. There was no drop-off in production, though, as Southern Miss continued to build its lead to greater heights.

When the dust settled, Taveras finished with a team-best 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor to go with nine rebounds, two assists and one steal in 22 minutes of action. Big man Cam Wallace was the Golden Eagles' second-leading scorer, posting 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting overall to go with eight rebounds and one block in 18 minutes of play.

Six Southern Miss players scored at least eight points on the night. Overall, the Golden Eagles shot 42.4 percent from the floor and 30 percent from beyond the arc. Ladner's crew finished with 45 bench points, 34 points in the paint and scored 26 points off 22 Tougaloo turnovers.

"It was good to win," Ladner said. "It was good to get that bad taste out of our mouths a little bit. But with that being said, we've got a great challenge that we're looking forward to, of course, on Friday, to go to Ames, Iowa."

Ladner May Have Found Starting Five Formula

After doing some experimenting in the two exhibition games leading up to the season opener, Ladner rolled out a brand new starting lineup on Monday night: Jalyke Gaines-Wyatt, Brandon Weston, Taveras, Igiede and Max Blank.

In the exhibitions, the Golden Eagles had two bigs in the starting lineup, which negatively affected floor spacing. Ladner said that was taken into consideration when making the change.

“Yep. And it paid off,” Ladner said of going with just one big in the starting lineup instead of two. “Anthony got off to a great start and kind of busted the game open himself. And there's going to be times that we're going to need Max Blank, who didn't play much in either one of the exhibitions. … But I thought he handled himself pretty good out there tonight. And it gives us a rim protector.

“We wanted to look at other combinations and so forth, and Anthony is a very versatile player. He's kind of like a Swiss army knife. He really probably could play the one if I wanted him to, but he certainly can play two through four. And so it gives us [versatility].”

Igiede finished with eight points on 3-of-8 shooting overall and 2-of-5 shooting from deep, but he did most of his damage on the defensive end of the floor, where he racked up four blocks and three steals in just 21 minutes of play.

Gaines-Wyatt did a good job as the Golden Eagles' floor general in his first game, posting eight points on 3-of-6 shooting and a team-high five assists. He also had two steals on the night.

Obviously, we won't know just how effective this new lineup truly is until it faces a team with more talent and size than Tougaloo had, but for a team that had a disappointing preseason, a much-needed confidence boost came on Monday night at Reed Green ... and perhaps a blueprint for what will work best going forward.

Next Up: Massive Road Test

The Golden Eagles will now hit the road to take on Iowa State on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. It will be the first of a tough non-conference stretch that Southern Miss will play in the first half of this season. We'll see if the good vibes created in the season opener can travel.

"We're just trying to focus on the next one and trying to see what we can do to come out with the win," Taveras said. "We're going to do whatever we need to do, whatever it takes. We're going to take the challenge. We're going to play hard."

Added Igiede: "Exactly what IT said. We're just ready. We're just ready to compete, ready to play, ready to win. Coach says all the time, we want to play those type of games. So that's what I'm looking forward to. I know we're all looking forward to it."

Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more Golden Eagles basketball coverage in the coming days.