STATESBORO, GA. – Georgia Southern Men's Basketball returns to Hanner Fieldhouse on Thursday night for two-straight at home before venturing on the road again next week. The Eagles host Troy in a rematch of the Trojan's 75-70 upset win on January 17th which represented the only blemish on an 8-1 month. Tipoff of the game is at 7:30 which can be seen live on GS All-Access at GSEagles.com.

Thursday's game is an opportunity for the Eagles, who trail first place ULM by a half game, to cash in their "game in hand" over the Warhawks who are idle on Thursday. With a win, the Eagles would move into a tie for first place with the Warhawks with each team having five games remaining in the regular season.

Georgia Southern University Faculty and Staff can purchase special discounted tickets for the game by showing their University ID. General admission seats are $5 for employees and their families, while reserved seats are just $8.

On Saturday in the overtime win over UALR, the Eagles become the second team to punch their ticket for the Sun Belt Tournament in New Orleans. The Eagles beat the Mardi Gras rush and earned their trip to the Big Easy with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line. The festivities run March 11-15 at the Lakefront Arena in the Crescent City.

DATE: Thursday, February 19th, 2015
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Hanner Fieldhouse (4,235)
VIDEO STREAMING: GS All-Access (Premium)
RADIO: Georgia Southern Sports Network from Learfield Sports
Play-by-Play – Chris Blair - @CSBRadio
Analyst – AJ Henderson - @AJHenderson_SID
Metter/Swainsboro – 103.7 WMBZ-FM
Savannah/Hilton Head/Brunswick – 102.1 WZAT-FM
Jessup – 1370 WLOP-AM
Worldwide – GS All-Access (Free)
LIVE STATS: GSEagles.com
TWITTER UPDATES: @GSAthletics_MBB 

SERIES HISTORY: GS Leads 10-5 (16th Meeting)
LAST MEETING: 1-17-2015 | Away | Loss | 70-75

GEORGIA SOUTHERN EAGLES (18-5, 11-3 Sun Belt)
Schedule/Results | Roster | Stats | Media Guide | Game Notes

TROY TROJANS (9-15, 4-11 Sun Belt)
Schedule/Results | Roster | Stats | Media Guide | Game Notes

PROMOTIONS
FACULTY/STAFF APPRECIATION DAY – $5 general admission or $8 reserved tickets for Faculty/Staff and family members with ID.
SCHOLAR STUDENT-ATHLETE RECOGNITION – Student-athletes will be recognized at halftime for their accomplishments in the classroom during the fall semester.

TOURNAMENT TICKETS ON SALE NOW
All-session ticket books to this year's Sun Belt Basketball Championships March 11-15, in New Orleans are available for $99 at the Georgia Southern Ticket Office. Call 1-800-GSU-WINS!

JELANI SETS TWO SCHOOL RECORDS
Jelani Hewitt has earned a pair of career school records at Georgia Southern, winning the steals (236) and free throws (362) records.

HEWITT NEARING ANOTHER RECORD
Jelani Hewitt is nearing the school record in career three-pointers made. He has 254 career buckets from downtown and needs eight more to match Elton Nesbitt and Terry Williams' record of 262 three-pointers.

FIRST SELLOUT SINCE 2009
Georgia Southern posted its first sellout since 1-17-2009 in the UL Lafayette game. The Eagles took a 78-70 win over the Ragin' Cajuns to move into first place in the Sun Belt with the victory in front of 4,325 fans, the seventh-highest total in Hanner Fieldhouse history.

HEWITT MOVES INTO TOP-10
Jelani Hewitt continued his move up the Georgia Southern career scoring chart, moving into the top-10 in the win over South Alabama on January 10th. He has 1,698 career points and passed Matt Simpkins for seventh place on February 14th. He needs just 33 points to match Elton Nesbitt's (2003-06) total of 1,731 career points.

FEWEST POINTS ALLOWED SINCE 1987
Georgia Southern's 40-36 win over Texas State was the fewest points allowed by the Eagle defense since a 67-34 win over Savannah State on December 5th, 1987. It was the first 40-36 game in the shot clock (Division I) era, ranks in a tie for 19th lowest scoring game for both teams combined, and the lowest scoring Sun Belt game in the shot clock era. The contest is the lowest combined scoring game since January 14th, 1950 when J.B. Searce's Eagles defeated the Erskine Flying Fleet 39-36.

ALL AROUND THE WORLD
The Eagles will travel 12,283 miles in the 30 games scheduled for the 2014-15 schedule. That total is just 168 miles less than halfway around the Earth. Georgia Southern's farthest games away from home last season, played in Cancun (840 mi.), are closer than two of the Eagles' opponents at Texas State (971 mi.) and UT Arlington (893 mi.).

Season miles to date..................................9,285 mi.
2014-15 total season mileage................12,283 mi.
2013-14 total season mileage...................9.216 mi.

BLUE WHITE WEEKLY BACK FOR 2015
Blue-White Weekly, the weekly television show about Georgia Southern Athletics is back for the 2014-15 basketball seasons. Fans can watch the show on Fox-28 Savannah on Monday nights at 6 p.m. The show can also be seen on GS All-Accss at GSEagles.com each week before it airs on Monday.
 
THE COACH
Head Coach Mark Byington enters this game with a 40-28 career record with a 33-24 mark at Georgia Southern in his second season in Statesboro.

THE WEATHER
Winter's return to Statesboro will be felt on Thursday with a high of 37 under sunny skies.

UP NEXT
Georgia Southern faces South Alabama on Saturday afternoon in the Eagles' appearance on the Sun Belt Conference's ESPN3 package of games. The Eagles face the Jaguars at 7:30 p.m.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics. To purchase tickets call 1-800-GSU-WINS.