Men's Basketball | 1/5/2017 4:06:00 PM

Georgia Southern (8-6, 1-0) vs. Troy (8-7, 0-1)
Saturday, Jan. 7 - Hanner Fieldhouse (3,897) – Statesboro, Ga. - 5 p.m.
Buy Tickets | Live Audio | Live Stats
Television: WSAV-TV and WSAV-CW
Radio: 105.5 FM WIFO (Jesup), 100.9 FM WLYU (Lyons), 103.7 FM WBMZ (Metter), 900 AM WJLG (Savannah)
Promotions: It's Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day. Georgia Southern Faculty and Staff can purchase discount $5 general admission tickets for the whole family (up to 4 members). Plus, the concession stand will be offering $5 combos, including hot dog, chips and a fountain drink.
Series Record: Southern leads 12-6, W2
Last meeting: W, 77-71, 2/11/16 (away)
Probable Starters:
#2 Mike Hughes
#3 Ike Smith
#4 Tookie Brown
#10 Jake Allsmiller
#14 Coye Simmons

Georgia Southern Information:
[Stats] [Roster] [Schedule] [Game Notes]

Troy Information:
[Stats] [Roster] [Schedule]

Setting the Scene
• Georgia Southern continues a four-game homestand by taking on Troy Saturday in Hanner Fieldhouse.
• The game is the second end of a doubleheader with the women's team, and tipoff is set for 5 p.m. The men's game will be broadcast live on WSAV-TV and WSAV-CW in Savannah.
• It's Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day. Georgia Southern Faculty and Staff can purchase discount $5 general admission tickets for the whole family (up to 4 members). Plus, the concession stand will be offering $5 combos, including hot dog, chips and a fountain drink.
• Georgia Southern is 4-1 in its last five and coming off an 88-65 win over Georgia State Dec. 31 in Hanner Fieldhouse The Eagles have played just one game in the last 15 days.
• Georgia Southern is 3-1 at home this season. The Eagles are 33-13 under head coach Mark Byington in Hanner Fieldhouse and own a 16-5 all-time record in Sun Belt games in the facility.
• GS finished the non-conference portion of its schedule with a 7-6 record, its first winning record in non-conference play since 2014-15 when the Eagles went 8-3. It's just the second time in the last eight seasons that the Eagles were above .500 in non-conference games.
• Troy is 2-3 in its last five and opened conference play Monday by falling 76-75 on the road to South Alabama.
• Troy is 1-6 on the road this season.
• The Trojans were picked ninth in the Sun Belt Preseason Poll. Wesley Person was named preseason second-team all-league, while Jordon Varnado earned third-team all-conference honors. Person is the son of Wesley Person Sr. and nephew of Chuck Person, both standouts at Auburn who went on to have successful NBA careers.
• Troy posted eight non-conference wins, its most since the 2002-03 season.

The Series vs. Troy
• Georgia Southern leads the all-time series, which began in 1932, 12-6 and has won the last two.
• GS is 4-1 at home and 2-2 since joining the Sun Belt.
• Each of the last five meetings have been decided by six points or less.
• Eight of the Eagles' wins were recorded before 1964 as the teams played 13 times between 1932 and 1964.
• The series was renewed in 1991 with the Eagles earning a 102-94 home win.

More Team Storylines
• Last year, Georgia Southern set new school records with 3-pointers made (282) and attempted (834) in a season. GS ranks first in the SBC in threes per game (9.1) this season, and the Eagles have made 10 or more threes six times.
• Georgia Southern plays conference games the rest of the way on Saturdays and Mondays.
• GS has a combined record of 23-11 in Sun Belt games played in January and February.
• GS is 4-1 since changing its starting lineup following an 86-49 loss at Minnesota Dec. 9.
• Georgia Southern played six non-conference games against five teams that are currently in the top-100 in the NCAA RPI (Akron - 75, FGCU - 85, Minn - 10, NC State - 26, Winthrop - 94).
• The Eagles picked up the 1,200th win in the history of the program, which began play in 1926-27, when they topped Coastal Georgia 92-43 Nov. 14.
• GS held Coastal Georgia to 23.1 percent shooting from the field, the lowest for an opponent since holding North Georgia to 22.7 percent in 2003.
• The Eagles played 10 of their first 12 games away from home. The stretch ended Dec. 20 at Winthrop, which also capped a four-game road trip that covered 4,120 miles of travel as the Eagles went from Minnesota to Ft. Myers to Miami to South Carolina and back home. 
• GS played three contests in Savannah this season and won all three. The Eagles defeated Florida A&M (83-72) and Radford (65-64) in the Savannah Invitational and won 94-75 at Savannah State.
• Mark Byington is coaching in his 122nd career game today and his 111th at Georgia Southern. His 51 wins in his first three seasons at Georgia Southern are the best of any coach in the modern era.
• Under Mark Byington, Georgia Southern is 39-7 in games when leading at half and 50-4 when leading with five minutes to go, but three of those losses in each category have some this season.
•  GS scored 75.9 points a game last season, the Eagles' best offensive output since averaging 77.5 points a game in 2005-06. GS scored 80-plus points in 10 games and 100-plus in three contests. The Eagles are averaging 78.8 this year and scored over 80 seven times.
• Since joining the Sun Belt in 2014, 19 Georgia Southern games against Sun Belt schools have been decided by five points or less, and the Eagles are 12-7.
• Georgia Southern is 26-7 in Hanner Fieldhouse in its last 33 contests there and 33-13 under Mark Byington.
• Georgia Southern used 11 different combinations of starting lineups last year. GS has used four this season.
• The Eagles are 18-1 in Sun Belt games when leading at halftime.

Next Up
• Georgia Southern caps a four-game homestand by facing South Alabama Monday at 7 p.m. in Hanner Fieldhouse.
• It's the Semester Tip-Off, and GS is giving away free t-shirts and free pizza to students. Plus, one lucky student will have a chance to win an adidas gear prize package (valued at $250) by sinking a half court shot.

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.