The University of Southern Indiana men’s basketball team was 1-0 going into Thanksgiving Break. When students returned back to campus from break, the Eagles bumped up to 4-0.

USI’s first game of the break was against Berea College Tuesday night. The Eagles came away with a 40 point victory over the Mountaineers. The loss dropped Berea College to 0 and 8 on the season.


With the victory, USI head coach Rodney Watson tallied his 50th win with the Eagles. Watson was able to accomplish the feat in just 59 games as the leading man for USI. Watson’s 59 games surpassed previous record holder Bruce Pearl, who won 50 games in 61 tries.

The Eagles were led in scoring by junior guard Melvyn Little with 22 points. Other key contributors in the scoring column were junior guard Travis Jones, who had 16 points and sophomore forward Taylor Wischmeier with 12.

The next game for the Eagles was on Friday night. USI tipped of the second game of the Bill Joergens Memorial Classic against Malone University.

The real story of the game was the offensive output from sophomore forward Taylor Wischmeier. Wischmeier scored a career high 19 points in an 83-47 rout of the Pioneers.

“I was getting good looks and the guards were really creating and getting me the ball,” Wischmeier said. “I was really hitting my shots.”

Wischmeier ended the game by going 9 of 12 from the field and added one free throw. Senior guard Brandon Hogg chipped in with 15 points.

The final game of the tournament was the biggest test for the Eagles of the young season. USI needed an overtime session to defeat Indiana University Southeast 80-74.

The game ended regulation play with a 64 to 64 tie between the two teams. The Eagles were able to squeeze past the Grenadiers in overtime with two free throws from sophomore forward Taylor Wischmeier to give the Eagles the final 80-74 advantage.

Senior forward Brandon Hogg paced the Eagles with 26 points, 12 of which came in the overtime period. Sophomore guard Lawrence Thomas was right behind Hogg scoring a career high 25 points to help provide a solid one-two punch for the Eagles.

USI, who was ranked 12th in the NCAA Division II coaches poll moved up seven spots to No. 5 after its strong performance over the weekend.

The Eagles start GLVC play this week, when the team travels on Thursday to Lewis University and then on Saturday to University of Wisconsin-Parkside.