Men's Basketball Opens Home Season Friday vs. Reinhardt
11/13/2008 5:02:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Georgia Southern will put two long winning streaks on the line when they host Reinhardt Friday night in the team's home opener.
The Eagles won their season opener Monday against Houston but fell to host Duke Tuesday in the championship game of the Durham Regional of the 2K Sports Classic.
“Obviously I was thrilled with our win against Houston; a quality win for our program,” said head coach Jeff Price. “But in no way are we ready to play a game with the magnitude of Duke at Duke, with six new players and no time to prepare for the game. So it's hard to get a true read on our team in that situation and I'll continue to read our team as we play more games.”
Friday's opponent, Reinhardt, is a member of NAIA Division I and is one of two non-conference home games for Georgia Southern.
“We just need to continue to look to get better every time we step on the floor, whether it's practice or a game,” said Price. “I want to see improvement in areas we need to get better at. That's why we play non-conference games.”
Georgia Southern will bring a 24-game non-conference home winning streak and a 27-game home-opening win streak into Friday's tilt. The Eagles have not lost a non-conference home game since Dec. 8, 2002 against Air Force (70-56) and haven't dropped a home-opener since losing to Austin Peay (88-87 OT) in 1980.
“Any time we can play at home, it's good,” said Price. “Home scheduling is always difficult for us so we have a lot of road games and I think it's extremely important to hold home court and continue to win at home when we get those opportunities.”
GSU eked out a tough 65-63 win over Houston, who had won 24 games last season, to defeat a Conference USA opponent for the second straight season. The Eagles got a career night from Trumaine Pearson who set new personal bests of 19 points and 11 rebounds. But he picked up three fouls in the first 7:48 of the game vs. Duke which limited him to just three minutes in the opening half. He was held to four points and two rebounds.
“He has shown in our two scrimmages and the Houston game that it's important that he stays on the floor,” said Price. “He got some early calls against Duke that I thought took him out of the game both mentally and physically.”
Willie Powers, GSU's top returning scorer, is topping the current scoring charts at 15.5 points per game. After pouring in 14 against Houston in the season-opener, he tallied a team-best 17 vs. Duke, shooting a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line.
“I thought Willie played OK,” said Price. “Sometimes we need to realize that he's just a sophomore and there's a lot of room for improvement in his game. He's playing both the ?1' and ?2' (positions) and he needs to get more comfortable with that.”
The game will tip-off at approximately 7:30 p.m. following the completion of the volleyball match. The game can be seen and heard live on www.GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com. Listeners in the Statesboro area can listen to the broadcast on WMCD 107.3 FM.
The Eagles won their season opener Monday against Houston but fell to host Duke Tuesday in the championship game of the Durham Regional of the 2K Sports Classic.
“Obviously I was thrilled with our win against Houston; a quality win for our program,” said head coach Jeff Price. “But in no way are we ready to play a game with the magnitude of Duke at Duke, with six new players and no time to prepare for the game. So it's hard to get a true read on our team in that situation and I'll continue to read our team as we play more games.”
Friday's opponent, Reinhardt, is a member of NAIA Division I and is one of two non-conference home games for Georgia Southern.
“We just need to continue to look to get better every time we step on the floor, whether it's practice or a game,” said Price. “I want to see improvement in areas we need to get better at. That's why we play non-conference games.”
Georgia Southern will bring a 24-game non-conference home winning streak and a 27-game home-opening win streak into Friday's tilt. The Eagles have not lost a non-conference home game since Dec. 8, 2002 against Air Force (70-56) and haven't dropped a home-opener since losing to Austin Peay (88-87 OT) in 1980.
“Any time we can play at home, it's good,” said Price. “Home scheduling is always difficult for us so we have a lot of road games and I think it's extremely important to hold home court and continue to win at home when we get those opportunities.”
GSU eked out a tough 65-63 win over Houston, who had won 24 games last season, to defeat a Conference USA opponent for the second straight season. The Eagles got a career night from Trumaine Pearson who set new personal bests of 19 points and 11 rebounds. But he picked up three fouls in the first 7:48 of the game vs. Duke which limited him to just three minutes in the opening half. He was held to four points and two rebounds.
“He has shown in our two scrimmages and the Houston game that it's important that he stays on the floor,” said Price. “He got some early calls against Duke that I thought took him out of the game both mentally and physically.”
Willie Powers, GSU's top returning scorer, is topping the current scoring charts at 15.5 points per game. After pouring in 14 against Houston in the season-opener, he tallied a team-best 17 vs. Duke, shooting a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line.
“I thought Willie played OK,” said Price. “Sometimes we need to realize that he's just a sophomore and there's a lot of room for improvement in his game. He's playing both the ?1' and ?2' (positions) and he needs to get more comfortable with that.”
The game will tip-off at approximately 7:30 p.m. following the completion of the volleyball match. The game can be seen and heard live on www.GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com. Listeners in the Statesboro area can listen to the broadcast on WMCD 107.3 FM.
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