Without Javan Mitchell, Southern tips off at Marquette

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- The Southern men’s basketball team couldn’t face a much more challenging way to begin its season.

The Jaguars open Friday night at Marquette, which went to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament last season, is ranked No. 17 in the country and has the nation’s second-longest homecourt winning streak at 25 games.

On top of that, Southern won’t have the services of center Javan Mitchell, who is awaiting medical clearance after being diagnosed with an enlarged heart.

“He hasn’t officially been released yet, so I don’t anticipate having him on this trip,” said coach Roman Banks, whose team plays at Middle Tennessee on Sunday before returning home.

Banks said Mitchell’s absence is significant, especially against the Golden Eagles senior forward tandem of Davante Gardner (6-foot-8, 290 pounds) and Jamil Wilson (6-7, 230).

“You’re talking about one of the guys that we have back that had experience and a person who’s very integral in what we do,” Banks said.

Southern likely will start Frank Snow (6-10, 230) in Mitchell’s place and pair him inside with junior-college transfer Calvin Godfrey (6-9, 210), who’s returning home to Milwaukee.

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