Men's Basketball Begins Homestand Monday vs. UNC Greensboro
2/3/2008 5:11:00 AM | Men's Basketball
STATESBORO, Ga. --- The Eagles enter the homestretch of the 2007-08 season with six of their next eight games at home and start a three-game homestand with UNC Greensboro Monday night.
GSU comes into the week 14-8 overall and 7-5 in the Southern Conference and just wrapped up a stretch of four games in eight days, posting a 2-2 record.
The team wrapped up that brutal run Thursday with a 96-91 loss at Chattanooga, giving them the weekend off to prepare for the Spartans.
“It's rare to have a Saturday off but we definitely need it,” said head coach Jeff Price. “We played four games in eight days and I know we're looking forward to three straight home games. We have to show up and play but it'll be nice to be back on our court.”
UNC Greensboro (13-6, 6-3) are third in the SoCon North and have won four straight and 10 of 12.
“Hopefully our guys will understand that this is a game that somewhat we feel like we've got to get, one because they've already beaten us once and two because it's getting later in the conference season and we're playing for byes,” Price said. “They're a good team that's playing really well right now.”
While playing on their home floor usually means a win for Georgia Southern, that was not the case on Jan. 24 against Wofford where a nine-point halftime lead evaporated into a seven-point loss. But the team rebounded with a win over Furman and have lost just once in seven games at Hanner Fieldhouse.
“Hopefully we've learned our lesson,” said Price. “You have to take experiences like the Wofford game at home and learn from it. If we learn from it, we'll be OK. We talk so much about being on the road and now we have six of our last eight at home. In this conference you better play hard every game and show up. Just because we're on our home court doesn't mean we can come out and stand around. We need to come out and be intense and take the fight to everybody we play.”
The Eagles' post players will have their hands full with 2006-07 SoCon Player of the Year Kyle Hines who leads the league in rebounding (9.5 rpg) and is second in scoring (18.9 ppg). But the player who had the biggest impact in UNCG's 79-67 win last month was Kevin Oleksiak who led all players with 29 points on 5-for-11 3-point shooting and 10-for-12 at the free throw line.
“They have probably the best player in the conference in Kyle Hines. We did a good job on him last time but their guard Oleksiak had 29 points, so we certainly need to focus on him. He shoots the ball really well and he's been playing very well and has become more of a go-to guy. We need to be aware of that.
“(Hines) had 15 points, which for him is a low game, but Oleksiak stepped up and got some open shots and really hurt us on the perimeter.”
GSU senior Dwayne Foreman, who scored a career-high 23 points Thursday at UTC, needs two assists to become the school's all-time leader. He will surpass Charlton Young (1989-93) with his 531st dish.
Averaging 20.3 points since Jan. 3 is senior Louis Graham, who also notched a new personal-best scoring total Thursday with 27 points. In those nine games he has six 20-point performances, including two in a row.
GSU comes into the week 14-8 overall and 7-5 in the Southern Conference and just wrapped up a stretch of four games in eight days, posting a 2-2 record.
The team wrapped up that brutal run Thursday with a 96-91 loss at Chattanooga, giving them the weekend off to prepare for the Spartans.
“It's rare to have a Saturday off but we definitely need it,” said head coach Jeff Price. “We played four games in eight days and I know we're looking forward to three straight home games. We have to show up and play but it'll be nice to be back on our court.”
UNC Greensboro (13-6, 6-3) are third in the SoCon North and have won four straight and 10 of 12.
“Hopefully our guys will understand that this is a game that somewhat we feel like we've got to get, one because they've already beaten us once and two because it's getting later in the conference season and we're playing for byes,” Price said. “They're a good team that's playing really well right now.”
While playing on their home floor usually means a win for Georgia Southern, that was not the case on Jan. 24 against Wofford where a nine-point halftime lead evaporated into a seven-point loss. But the team rebounded with a win over Furman and have lost just once in seven games at Hanner Fieldhouse.
“Hopefully we've learned our lesson,” said Price. “You have to take experiences like the Wofford game at home and learn from it. If we learn from it, we'll be OK. We talk so much about being on the road and now we have six of our last eight at home. In this conference you better play hard every game and show up. Just because we're on our home court doesn't mean we can come out and stand around. We need to come out and be intense and take the fight to everybody we play.”
The Eagles' post players will have their hands full with 2006-07 SoCon Player of the Year Kyle Hines who leads the league in rebounding (9.5 rpg) and is second in scoring (18.9 ppg). But the player who had the biggest impact in UNCG's 79-67 win last month was Kevin Oleksiak who led all players with 29 points on 5-for-11 3-point shooting and 10-for-12 at the free throw line.
“They have probably the best player in the conference in Kyle Hines. We did a good job on him last time but their guard Oleksiak had 29 points, so we certainly need to focus on him. He shoots the ball really well and he's been playing very well and has become more of a go-to guy. We need to be aware of that.
“(Hines) had 15 points, which for him is a low game, but Oleksiak stepped up and got some open shots and really hurt us on the perimeter.”
GSU senior Dwayne Foreman, who scored a career-high 23 points Thursday at UTC, needs two assists to become the school's all-time leader. He will surpass Charlton Young (1989-93) with his 531st dish.
Averaging 20.3 points since Jan. 3 is senior Louis Graham, who also notched a new personal-best scoring total Thursday with 27 points. In those nine games he has six 20-point performances, including two in a row.
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