Eagles Start Road Trip at South Florida
11/21/2010 9:27:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TAMPA, Fla. - The Georgia Southern Men's Basketball Team play the first of six road games Sunday, November 21st, against South Florida. This will be the first of four games the Eagles will compete in as part of the South Padre Invitational.
THE SERIES:
Today's meeting is the third time Georgia Southern and South Florida have met. The Bulls have won the two previous meetings over the Eagles with the last meeting coming on December 3, 2005 by a score of 72-66.
EAGLES ON TV:
Georgia Southern's game against South Florida will be broadcast live by the Bright House Sports Network. JB Long will call the play-by-play with Anddrick Frazier providing color commentary. Fans outside the area can watch the game on ESPN Fullcourt.
LETS GO NATIONAL:
Freshman guard Eric Ferguson is tied 88th nationally in total scoring with 56 points over three games. Fellow classmate Jelani Hewitt's 58.3 percent behind the three-point line is tied 94th nationally. Rory Spencer's four blocks per game puts the senior in a tie for sixth. The Eagles are tied 35th nationally for points per game (84.3) and tied 53rd for overall scoring with 253. It's 50 percent from the floor puts Georgia Southern in a tie for 30th nationally in field goal percentage.GS is also tied 50th in free-throw percentage (75.3) and tied 70th in blocking average (5.0).
WHAT WE LEARNED LAST GAME:
Georgia Southern's 101-84 victory against Reinhardt marked the first time the Eagles have scored at least 100 points in a game since last year's season-opening 108-59 win over Reinhardt. The Eagles shot their best from the floor all season, shooting 65.4 percent. Georgia Southern's 50 percent from behind the arc (6-12) and its six treys made, marks a season best. The Eagles recorded another season high with 19 assists.
FRESHMEN STEPPING UP:
Freshmen Eric Ferguson and Jelani Hewitt have both been the Eagles team-high scorers through the first three games. Ferguson scored a game high 26 points against Notre Dame to begin the season while Hewitt has been Georgia Southern's leading scorer in the last two games with a career-high 28 points against Carver College and a 17-point performance against Reinhardt.
BEEN A WHILE:
While the Eagles have three first-time opponents on the schedule, there are a few who haven't been around in a while. Former TAAC rival Georgia State will return to Hanner Fieldhouse for the first time since 1996 on December 22. Both South Alabama (Dec. 18) and Eastern Kentucky (January 2) are making their first trips to Statesboro since the 1980s.
RUCKER TO MISS FIRST MONTH:
Senior guard Johntavious Rucker will miss the first month of the 2010-2011 season as he regains academic eligibility. He is expected to return as early as the Dec. 11 Georgia Southern-Brewton-Parker game. The native of Decatur, Ga., is allowed to practice with the team, but will not travel as a team member to road games. Rucker played in all 32 games last year and started 21, averaging 4.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
THE COACHES:
Eagles Head Coach Charlton "C.Y." Young, named after actor Charlton Heston, is a 1994 graduate of "THE" Georgia Southern University who started at point guard for the Eagles from 1989-1993. Introduced on April 9, 2009 as the new "CEO" of the Georgia Southern Men's Basketball program, Young guides a program on the rise.
As a player, Young was named the Trans American Athletic Conference Most Valuable Player for his performances in three Eagle victories in the 1992 TAAC tournament and he capped the championship victory over Georgia State with 20 points and eight assists, leading the Eagles to the NCAA Tournament.
A three-time All-Conference selection at point guard in two different leagues (Trans America Athletic: 1990-91, 1991-92; Southern: 1992-93), Young earned All-Tournament Team honors in both the TAAC and SoCon and still stands in the 'Top 10' in numerous Georgia Southern statistical categories.
Head coach Stan Heath is entering his 24th season of coaching, 10th as a head coach and fourth at South Florida. He has a 154-132 overall record and is 42-55 at USF. Before coming to South Florida, Heath was the head coach at Arkansas where he led the Razorback to two NCAA tournament appearances in 2007 and 2006. He also led Kent State to a NCAA tournament appearance in 2002 during his one-year stint as head coach.
SOUTH FLORIDA BULLS:
The Bulls have played three games, splitting their first two games at home with a loss to Southern Miss., 60-53, and a win against St. Francis, 74-71. South Florida comes back home to the Sun Dome after losing its first road game of the year to Central Florida, 65-59, on Thursday, Nov. 18th. Junior forward Ron Anderson, Jr. is averaging 13 points a game with a season-best 18 against UCF which gave Anderson, Jr., his second straight game in double figures. Senior forward Jarrid Famous is the Bulls leading rebounder with 6.7 rpg. Famous' season-high eight rebounds came against Southern Miss in the season opener.
BIG FIRST FOR FERGUSON:
Guard Eric Ferguson's debut Friday night produced 26 points, the most points by a freshman in a first game in Georgia Southern NCAA Division I history. The Statesboro, Ga., native went 6-11 from the field and 14-16 from the free throw line for his 26 total. Ferguson is tied for 21st nationally in scoring average and shares the spotlight with Wake Forest's J.T. Terrell as the two highest-scoring freshmen in the country.
LAST GAME:
Georgia Southern freshman Jelani Hewitt (Oakland Park, Fla.) scored 17 points to lead the Eagles to a 101-84 victory over Reinhardt Thursday night in Hanner Fieldhouse. Hewitt was one of seven players who scored in double figures as Georgia Southern shot 65.4 percent for the game and eclipsed the 100-point mark for the first time since the season-opening win against Reinhardt last November.
A 15-4 scoring run in the second half propelled the Georgia Southern to a 22-point lead, its largest of the game at 96-74, on its way to its second win of the year.
Georgia Southern shot 68 percent in the second half and held Reinhardt to a 38.9 field goal percentage in the period after Reinhardt shot 51.5 percent in the first half. In a game with little or no flow, the two teams combined for 50 fouls and, consequently, 63 free throw attempts. Georgia Southern converted 27 points on 37 trips to the charity stripe.
Eric Ferguson (Statesboro, Ga.) and Ben Drayton III (St. Marys, Ga.) each had 16 points with Rory Spencer (Atlanta, Ga.) adding 13. Cameron Baskerville (Marietta, Ga.) and Marvin Baynham (Miami, Fla.) had career best totals of 11 and 10, respectively. Tré Bussey (Lithia Springs, Ga.) also had a career-high 10 points coming off the bench. Ferguson and Baskerville combined for 11-11 shooting from the floor, helping GSU to its best single-game field goal percentage of the year
FOLLOW THE EAGLES:
Follow the Eagles on GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com or get short updates on facebook.com/GSAthletics or twitter.com/GSAthletics. For in-game scoring, visit twitter.com/GSScores or follow live stats by clicking on the "live stats" link in the schedule section at the bottom of the athletics website www.GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com.
