Tulsa Basketball Adds Conference USA Sixth Man of the Year LaDavius Draine of Southern Miss
TULSA, Okla. –– Former Conference USA Sixth Man of the Year LaDavius Draine has transferred to The University of Tulsa following four seasons at Southern Miss, Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haithannounced today.Draine, a 6'4" graduate transfer, comes to Tulsa following four seasons at Southern Miss, where he was a 1,000-point career scorer. In 117 games, Draine totaled 1,133 points for a 9.7 average, grabbed 434 rebounds for a 3.7 average and ended his USM career with 220 three-pointers to rank second in Golden Eagles history.
"Ladavius is a seasoned veteran who has played in more than 100 collegiate games. He's a shooter who has made over 200 three-pointers in his career at Southern Miss," said Haith.
The long-range sharpshooter had 20 career games of four or more three-pointers, including 12 contests of five or more made treys. Draine tallied 38 games with at least three made three-pointers. He had a career-high seven triples in two contests. Draine connected on 7-of-10 treys against Tougaloo his junior season and as a sophomore he blistered the nets against UTEP making seven of just nine attempts.
Draine connected on 42-percent of his field goals, 39-percent from three-point range and 75-percent from the charity stripe during his career. He had 48 career double-figure scoring games and 11 contests of scoring 20 or more points. Draine also had six double-figure rebounding games and four double-doubles.
He tallied a career-high 28 points twice, coming against UAB and Tougaloo, both in his junior season. He grabbed a career-best 14 rebounds against Rice, also as a junior.
"We looked at our roster and adding perimeter scoring was a premium for us. We had addressed that need with the addition of Jeriah (Horne) and Sam (Griffin) and our younger guys are getting more consistent, but adding another guy who has the ability to really shoot the ball like LaDavius is something we sought out in our recruiting efforts," Haith said. "LaDavius is good rebounder and can defend, but he's a guy that can shoot the ball consistently. He's well-rounded in terms of what he brings to our team."
Last season, Draine averaged 8.5 points and 4.2 rebounds, while connecting on 42-of-121 three-pointers including four games with five made treys (South Alabama, ULM, Loyola and UTSA).
As a junior, Draine started 26 of 31 games and scored at a 12.7 clip, while grabbing 4.7 rebounds per game. He scored 20-plus points in seven games, including a career-high 28 points in road win at UAB. He found his stroke in the first two games of Battle 4 Atlantis, going 9-for-16 from deep against No. 7 Gonzaga and No. 13 Seton Hall.
Draine was named Conference USA's Co-Sixth Man of the Year as a sophomore in the 2018-19 season when he averaged 11.3 points in 23.2 minutes played. He set the school record that year for three-point field goal percentage at .464, while shooting .487 from the field.
"LaDavius is a great, great kid and brings us solid leadership. He's a good student who will be working on his MBA," added Haith.
Draine played his prep basketball at Calhoun City (Miss.) High School, where he completed his career as a three-time District 4-2A MVP and averaged 30.2 points and 11.2 rebounds per game as a senior.
