Southern Miss didn’t need a black cat crossing its path or a broken mirror in the locker room to run into some bad luck on Friday the 13th. What haunted the Golden Eagles inside Strahan Arena was a road game that looked promising early, then got away from them in a hurry. It ended in an 85-65 loss to unbeaten Texas State.

If that sounds like a rerun, that’s because it was. One week earlier, Southern Miss hung with No. 18 Iowa State for the first 10 minutes in Ames. Then the Cyclones closed the first half on a 23-7 run and cruised to an 83-57 win. Friday night followed nearly the same storyline. The Golden Eagles got off to a good start, the end of the first half went sideways, and the second half turned into a long night.

The loss drops Southern Miss to 2-2. Both defeats have come by 20 or more points away from Hattiesburg. Texas State, which is playing its first season in the Pac-12 after 13 years as a Sun Belt foe, improved to 4-0. It's the first time since the 80s that the Bobcats have had this good of a start to a basketball season.

Two Road Trips with Similar Issues

Nobody should be hitting the panic button in mid-November. Both road losses came in buy games against teams that are off to strong starts with more depth and experience, and this roster is still learning how to play together. But the same problems keep showing up two road trips in, and Jay Ladner’s group will need to clean them up well before Sun Belt play rolls around.

The frustrating part for the Golden Eagles is how well things started. Southern Miss looked a lot like the team that clawed back from 15 points down to beat Jackson State 84-80 in overtime on Wednesday night. The guys were competing on both ends and built a lead that grew to seven points in the first half.

Then it unraveled. Texas State closed the half on a tear and flipped that seven-point deficit into a 44-37 halftime lead, a 14-point first-half swing. The Bobcats never let go of the rope after that. They outscored Southern Miss 41-28 in the second half and led by as many as 25.

The shooting numbers tell much of the story. Texas State made 26 of 44 shots from the field (59 percent) and 8 of 17 from 3-point range (47 percent). Southern Miss shot 21-of-51 (41 percent) and went just 3-of-19 from deep (16 percent). The Bobcats also doubled up the Golden Eagles in assists, 10-5. Shots weren’t coming easily for Southern Miss, and it showed.

Turnovers were once again the biggest culprit. Southern Miss committed 22 of them. To the Golden Eagles’ credit, their defense forced 20 turnovers and came away with eight steals. However, they couldn't make the Bobcats pay for their turnovers at the same clip. Texas State turned Southern Miss’ mistakes into 31 points. Southern Miss scored only 17 off the Bobcats’ miscues.

Add in last week’s game at Iowa State, where 18 turnovers turned into 23 Cyclone points, and that’s 40 giveaways and 54 points allowed off them in two road games. You simply aren’t going to win many games away from Reed Green Coliseum that way, no matter who you’re playing.

Then there's the defense. There were far too many breakdowns Friday night. Ronald Jessamy scored 15 points off the bench on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting in just 13 minutes. Paul Djobet knocked down 4-of-5 attempts from 3-point range for 12 points. KJ Younger added 12 more off the bench, and Texas State’s reserves outscored Southern Miss 46-25. When the other team shoots 59 percent, the issue isn’t just effort. It’s communication, and that’s something this group has to sort out quickly. There were too many times when Texas State got wide-open looks from deep or a bucket right at the rim off of a miscommunication.

Eags Must Find Way to Get More From Taveras

The biggest question coming out of the past two road trips is how to get more out of Isaac Taveras. The 6-foot-6 senior guard came back after entering the transfer portal, averaged 15.3 points per game last season and was named the Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year. Friday night, he finished with four points on 2-of-5 shooting, four rebounds, two steals and two turnovers in 16 minutes, and he was whistled for three fouls.

At Iowa State, Taveras was limited to five points before fouling out after 18 minutes. That’s nine points in 34 combined minutes across two road games for the player this offense was expected to run through. He showed against Jackson State that he can still affect a game in a positive way even when he's not scoring at a high rate, and there’s no doubting his overall talent. But if Southern Miss is going to reach its potential this season, it needs Taveras on the floor, out of foul trouble and playing with controlled aggression. Finding a way to make that happen should be near the top of the to-do list for Ladner and his staff as this early season progresses.

The Positives to Take Away

As was the case with the Iowa State loss, there were still some positives, too. Jalyke Gaines-Wyatt followed up his 28-point night against Jackson State with a team-high 17 points, going 4-of-9 from the field and 7-of-10 at the free-throw line. Anthony Igiede added 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting before he picked up his fourth foul that forced him to sit for a bit. Mike Montano gave the Golden Eagles solid minutes off the bench with eight points and five rebounds, and he went 4-of-4 at the line.

Southern Miss also won the battle on the glass, 30-25. That included a lopsided 13-3 advantage in offensive rebounds, with Chandler Watts grabbing three of them. The Golden Eagles kept giving themselves extra chances. They just didn’t do nearly enough with them.

That’s what will make this one sting a little. The talent is there, but the on-court chemistry isn't. Not yet, at least. Not consistently. And that's OK. You'd rather go through these bumps and bruises early in a season and hope the hard lessons are learned by the time the Sun Belt tournament rolls around in March.

There’s plenty of time to tighten the screws, and the fight this group has shown in spurts is real. The Golden Eagles just have to take the next step and bring that same toughness on the road, and for a full 40 minutes.

Southern Miss returns home to Reed Green Coliseum on Tuesday, Nov. 17, to take on UT Arlington at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN+. Then the Golden Eagles head to Grambling State on Nov. 19 before playing Nicholls and Valpo in the Pensacola Invitational on Nov. 21-22.

Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more Southern Miss basketball coverage throughout the season.