Men's Basketball Travels to Elon Thursday
1/16/2008 5:10:00 AM | Men's Basketball
STATESBORO, Ga. --- The next two games will be familiar territory for the Eagles who go back out on the road to wrap up their three-game road trip, beginning with Elon on Thursday night.
Georgia Southern is 5-0 at home and 6-5 away from Hanner Fieldhouse. After the weekend GSU will have played seven out of eight games away from Statesboro.
“I just keep continuing to stress that we've got to weather the storm in January, (because) we have so many road games, but we should be used to it by now,” said head coach Jeff Price. “We've got Elon and App coming up, two very important games against teams that are at the top of the North Division. Obviously we're going to have to play well to have a chance and hopefully we'll go in with some confidence and find a way to get those games.”
The Eagles' season-high three-game losing streak was ended last Thursday against the College of Charleston and the winning continued with a 21-point victory at The Citadel. Both wins featured strong second half play. GSU rallied from a seven-point deficit at halftime against the Cougars and held the Bulldogs to just 17 points after the break.
“I think we got the monkey of our back a little bit against Charleston and I think that carried over to The Citadel,” said Price. “Hopefully we've got our confidence back to get back on that streak. It's tough to gain momentum when you're playing so many road games. I understand that it's hard to continue to go on the road and win. But hopefully we can get some more momentum going and find a way to win these games.”
Since being held to seven points at Davidson, Louis Graham has averaged 19.3 points per outing with two 20-point performances. He is ranked fourth in the SoCon in scoring average at 14.3 ppg.
Elon returns home for just the second time in the last eight games. The lone home game was a narrow 59-57 loss to Davidson where the Phoenix led 57-51 only to give up the final eight points of the contest.
“They're a good team,” said Price. “They're really experienced - their starting five is a really experienced basketball team. Davidson had to score the last eight points to win that game and they just won on the road at Furman too. This is an experienced team that plays well together. They run a motion offense, they're hard to guard and we've always had close games with them and I don't expect this to be any different.”
Pacing the Elon offense is junior Ola Atoyebi who is tied with Graham at 14.3 ppg. Accurate from both the field (59.1%, first in the SoCon) and the free throw line (83.6%, fourth SoCon), he has shot under 50 percent from the field just once in the last seven games. He also ranks third in the league in rebounding (7.0 rpg).
“He's a much improved player,” said Price. “He's really improved over the last year. He's a good rebounder and he's gotten to where he can really score inside and he's become really hard to handle down there.”
Georgia Southern is 5-0 at home and 6-5 away from Hanner Fieldhouse. After the weekend GSU will have played seven out of eight games away from Statesboro.
“I just keep continuing to stress that we've got to weather the storm in January, (because) we have so many road games, but we should be used to it by now,” said head coach Jeff Price. “We've got Elon and App coming up, two very important games against teams that are at the top of the North Division. Obviously we're going to have to play well to have a chance and hopefully we'll go in with some confidence and find a way to get those games.”
The Eagles' season-high three-game losing streak was ended last Thursday against the College of Charleston and the winning continued with a 21-point victory at The Citadel. Both wins featured strong second half play. GSU rallied from a seven-point deficit at halftime against the Cougars and held the Bulldogs to just 17 points after the break.
“I think we got the monkey of our back a little bit against Charleston and I think that carried over to The Citadel,” said Price. “Hopefully we've got our confidence back to get back on that streak. It's tough to gain momentum when you're playing so many road games. I understand that it's hard to continue to go on the road and win. But hopefully we can get some more momentum going and find a way to win these games.”
Since being held to seven points at Davidson, Louis Graham has averaged 19.3 points per outing with two 20-point performances. He is ranked fourth in the SoCon in scoring average at 14.3 ppg.
Elon returns home for just the second time in the last eight games. The lone home game was a narrow 59-57 loss to Davidson where the Phoenix led 57-51 only to give up the final eight points of the contest.
“They're a good team,” said Price. “They're really experienced - their starting five is a really experienced basketball team. Davidson had to score the last eight points to win that game and they just won on the road at Furman too. This is an experienced team that plays well together. They run a motion offense, they're hard to guard and we've always had close games with them and I don't expect this to be any different.”
Pacing the Elon offense is junior Ola Atoyebi who is tied with Graham at 14.3 ppg. Accurate from both the field (59.1%, first in the SoCon) and the free throw line (83.6%, fourth SoCon), he has shot under 50 percent from the field just once in the last seven games. He also ranks third in the league in rebounding (7.0 rpg).
“He's a much improved player,” said Price. “He's really improved over the last year. He's a good rebounder and he's gotten to where he can really score inside and he's become really hard to handle down there.”
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