Men's Basketball | 12/29/2015 5:21:00 PM

Georgia Southern (4-6, 0-0) vs. Texas State (6-3, 0-0)
Wednesday, Dec. 30 - Strahan Coliseum (7,200) – 8:30 p.m. ET
Live Video | Live Stats
Television: ESPN3 (Marc Hoening and Lance Blanks)
Radio: 103.7 WBMZ-FM (Statesboro/Metter/Swainsboro), 102.1 WZAT-FM (Savannah), 1370 WLOP-AM (Jesup)
Last meeting: 1/22/2015, W 45-43 (away)
Probable Starters:
#1 Devonte Boykins
#4 Tookie Brown
#5 Devince Boykins
#11 Shawn O'Connell
#14 Coye Simmons

Georgia Southern Information:
[Stats] [Roster] [Schedule] [@GSAthletics_MBB] [Game Notes (PDF)]

Texas State Information:
[Stats] [Roster] [Schedule] [@TXStateMBB]

Layup Line
• Georgia Southern opens Sun Belt Conference play on the road for the second straight season. The Eagles travel to Texas State for a 8:30 p.m. ET contest Wednesday, Dec. 30, and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
• It's the first of two meetings against the Bobcats this season.
• Following Saturday's Sun Belt contest at UT Arlington, the Eagles play four consecutive contests at home.
• Georgia Southern is 1-3 in its last four and is coming off a 78-58 home win over Stetson Dec. 22.
• Freshman Tookie Brown was named the Sun Belt Player of the Week by College Sports Madness. He averaged 24 points, 4.3 assists, three rebounds and two steals in three games from Dec. 15-22. Brown shot 51 percent from field and 56 percent from 3-point range.
• Georgia Southern is 1-5 on the road this season and has lost its last two on the road.
• With 11-of-12 scholarship student-athletes who are freshmen, redshirt freshmen or sophomores (92 percent), Georgia Southern has the highest percentage of underclassmen on its current roster of the 345 NCAA Division I squads. Liberty (91 percent), Ohio State (85 percent), Fairleigh Dickinson (85 percent) and Wyoming (80 percent) round out the top-5.
• Georgia Southern lost 76 percent of its scoring and 72 percent of its rebounding from last season.
• The Eagles were picked 10th in the Preseason Sun Belt Conference Coaches Poll.
• Texas State has won three of its last four games and is coming off a 92-43 home win over Howard Payne Dec. 21. The Bobcats are 4-0 at home.
• The Bobcats were tied for eighth in the Sun Belt Preseason Coaches Poll, and leading scorer Emani Gant was named first-team Preseason All-Sun Belt.

The Series
• This will be the fourth meeting in the series, which began in 1965. The teams renewed the series last season as members of the Sun Belt Conference, and both contests were settled by a combined six points.
• The Eagles' 40-36 win over Texas State (1/3/15) was the fewest points allowed since Dec. 5, 1987, when they held Savannah State to 36 points. It is the first 40-36 game in the shot clock era and ranks in a tie for 19th lowest scoring game for two teams combined and the lowest scoring Sun Belt game in the shot clock era.  The Eagles were on the losing end of a game that topped that mark in a 38-36 setback to Georgia State in the Sun Belt Championship (3/15/15).
• Last Meeting and last meeting in Strahan (1/22/15):
• Mike Hughes tipped in a Jelani Hewitt missed jumper with 1:39 to go, and the Eagles made it stand with key defensive stops down the stretch as Georgia Southern posted a 45-43 win.
• After JeMarcus Weatherspoon tied the score 43-43 on a layup with 1:58 remaining, Hewitt pulled up for a jumper that rimmed out but Hughes was there to tip in the miss. The Eagles got a defensive stop on Texas State's trip down the floor, but could not add to their lead as Hewitt's 3-point try was off the mark with 11.8 to play.
• D.J. Brown tried to drive the lane for Texas State's last shot but Curtis Diamond knocked the ball away and after a scrum, the loose ball made it all the way into the backcourt as the final horn sounded.
• Hewitt finished with 14 points and five rebounds for Georgia Southern, while Wiedeman tallied 12 points and six rebounds. Hughes contributed seven points and three rebounds.
• Weatherspoon finished with 15 points and four rebounds to lead Texas State, and Cameron Naylor collected 12 points and eight boards. Emani Gant finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.

Quick Hitters
• Georgia Southern played its first ranked opponent since 2008 when the Eagles traveled to No. 7/6 Duke Dec. 15. Their last game against a ranked opponent was also at Duke Nov. 11, 2008.
• Devonte Boykins has been named one of 154 nominees for the NABC AllState Insurance Good Works Team.
• Georgia Southern posted a 4-6 record in the non-conference portion of its schedule.
• Tookie Brown has scored 20-plus points in three games, including the last two. He is averaging 20.4 points in the last seven contests.
• Sophomore Mike Hughes has started 40 of 41 games in his career.
• Hughes' six steals vs. Stetson Dec. 22, were a career high and two shy of the school.
• The Eagles are averaging 81.9 points a game this season and have scored 80-plus points in five games, including three of their last five. Georgia Southern scored 80-plus points in just six contests last year.
• Eleven different Eagles have scored 10 or more points in a game this season.
• Georgia Southern is 16-3 in Hanner Fieldhouse in its last 19 contests there.
• Georgia Southern's 21 steals against Bob Jones (11/30) was one shy of the school record set against Little Rock in 1981 and tied against The Citadel in 2004.
• After not playing an SEC opponent since a 78-75 loss to Auburn Dec. 30, 2011, the Eagles have faced two this season. Georgia Southern fell 82-72 at Ole Miss Nov. 16 and 92-62 at Auburn Nov. 20.
• Georgia Southern's 116 points in a 116-49 season-opening win over Webber International Nov. 13 were tied for the 16th most all-time and the most since a 116-73 neutral site win over UC Davis Nov. 12, 2006, which was the 2006-07 season opener.
• The Eagles' 40 3-point attempts tied for the second-the most in school history (West Georgia, 1/2/1992).

Boarding the Mothership
• Thirteen Georgia Southern games will be broadcast on the ESPN family of Networks this season.
• Games at Duke (12/15) and vs. Georgia State at home (2/23) will air on ESPN2. 
• Eight Sun Belt contests will be broadcast live on ESPN3, and the Eagles' game at USC Upstate Nov. 27 was shown on ESPN3.
• The matchups at Ole Miss and Auburn were shown on the SEC Network +.

Next Up
• Georgia Southern travels to UT Arlington Saturday for an 8:15 p.m. ET tipoff. Following the game, Georgia Southern plays four straight home contests from Jan. 7-16.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. For tickets to Georgia Southern athletics events, visit GSEagles.com/tickets.