ATLANTA, GA. –  Georgia Southern visits in-state rival Georgia State on Saturday afternoon with the winner clinching the Sun Belt Regular Season Championship. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. as the Eagles and Panthers tussle for the second time this season, and the 55th time in series history. The Eagles lead the all-time series 40-14 and took a 58-54 win earlier this season in Statesboro.

Both Georgia Southern and Georgia State have clinched the double-bye in the upcoming Sun Belt Tournament meaning both teams will open tournament play in the semifinals on Saturday afternoon (March 14th) in the Lakefront Center in New Orleans. Tickets are now available for the tournament by contacting the Georgia Southern Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-GSU-WINS.

DATE: Saturday, March 7th, 2015
TIME: 2:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Atlanta, Ga. | Ga. State Sports Arena (3,854)
VIDEO STREAMING: GeorgiaStateSports.com (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: GeorgiaStateSports.com
TWITTER UPDATES: @GSAthletics_MBB 

SERIES HISTORY: GS Leads 40-14 (55th Meeting)
LAST MEETING: 2-5-2015 | Statesboro | Win | 58-54

GEORGIA SOUTHERN EAGLES (21-7, 14-5 Sun Belt)
Schedule/Results | Roster | Stats | Media Guide | Game Notes

GEORGIA STATE PANTHERS (21-9, 14-5 Sun Belt)
Schedule/Results | Roster | Stats | Media Guide | Game Notes

ONE GAME, ONE GOAL
Georgia Southern and Georgia State battle with the winner earning the Sun Belt Regular Season Championship, and the loser earning the No. 2 seed due to tiebreaker over ULM.

FIRST 20-WIN SEASON SINCE 2005-06
Georgia Southern earned the program's eighth 20-win season in the Division I Era and the first 20-win season since 2005-06 season with the February 26th win over Appalachian State. It is the 16th 20-win season of all-time. The school record for wins in a season came in 1965-66 when J.B. Searce's Eagles win 26 games. The most wins in the Division I Era came in 1991-92 when the Eagles won 25 games and made their last trip to the NCAA Tournament.

JELANI WINS FOUR CAREER SCHOOL RECORDS
Jelani Hewitt's assault on the Georgia Southern record book has continued  into the waning days of the season. Hewitt earned career records in  steals (252) and free throws (381) earlier this season. Against UT Arlington, Hewitt wrapped up records in three-pointers made (263) and three-pointers attempted (744).

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!

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 1,774 career points and  passed Elton Nesbitt for sixth place on February 21st. He needs 69 more points to match Kevin Anderson's (1975-79) total of 1,843 career points in fifth place.

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...............................11,070 mi.
Statesboro to Atlanta....................................175 mi.
Statesboro to New Orleans.............................519 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 43-30 career record with a 36-26 mark at Georgia Southern in his second season in Statesboro.

THE WEATHER
Saturday will be a clear spring day in the Atlanta Metro area with a high temperature of 60 degrees on tap.

UP NEXT
Georgia Southern travels to the Sun Belt Tournament where the Eagles have a double-bye into the semifinals. The quest for a Sun Belt Tournament Championship starts on Saturday, March 14th at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.

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.