STATESBORO, Ga. - The college basketball season is officially upon us, and both the Georgia Southern men's and women's basketball programs were in the spotlight at the third annual Hoops Tipoff Breakfast on Wednesday morning at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Eagle fans, boosters and local businessmen and businesswomen had breakfast on the Hanner Fieldhouse arena floor and heard from head women's basketball coach Kip Drown, women's basketball senior Trellanie English-Lurry, head men's basketball coach Mark Byington and men's basketball senior Jake Allsmiller.
Coming off of a 9-9 Sun Belt Conference season in 2016-17, Coach Drown's team is a young squad, with nine of the 14 players on the roster either sophomores or freshmen. Coach Drown believes that despite the youth, the team will surprise a lot of people in 2017-18.
"One of the things we talk to our players about is the word synergy," Coach Drown said. "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. As a group, as 14 players, we're going to be able to take this team to a higher level. This is really my kind of team; they're very unselfish, a very good passing team. The thing that's stood out to me as we've gone through these first weeks of practice is that is this a very competitive team, they really get after it. This team is really going to grow."
The men's team went 18-15 overall and 11-7 in the Sun Belt Conference a year ago and returns 94% of the offense and all five starters from the squad, and Coach Byington is excited to see what his senior-laden team can do this season.
"This is a little bit unique for us," Coach Byington said. "The last couple of years, we haven't had seniors. Two years ago, we were the youngest team in the country, and did quite well, turned things on at the end of the year, but we were young. Same deal last year. Right now, you're seeing the culmination of this team; starting at the ground level of my first recruiting class four years ago, of what we want to build, the type of guys we want to get here, the type of team we want to be."
Season tickets, which are good for both men's and women's home games, start as low as $90, and fans can save over $200 by purchasing season tickets. For basketball ticket information, visit GSEagles.com/tickets.
Both teams will play closed scrimmages on Saturday, but fans will get a first taste of action next week as each team hosts exhibition contests at Hanner. The women host Fort Valley State on Tuesday, October 31st at 6:30 p.m., while the men host Georgia College on Wednesday, November 1st, at 7 p.m. Admission is free to the exhibition contests next week.
The 2017-18 regular season opens up for both squads on Friday, November 10th, with the women playing at North Carolina A&T at 5 p.m. and the men playing at Wake Forest at 7:30 p.m.
