Men's Basketball | 1/13/2016 2:16:00 PM

Georgia Southern (5-9, 1-3) vs. UL Lafayette (5-8, 1-3)
Thursday, Jan. 14 - Hanner Fieldhouse (4,325) – 7:30 p.m.
Live Video | Live Stats | Tickets | Season Promotions | Gameday Guide: Basketball
Radio: 103.7 WBMZ-FM (Statesboro/Metter/Swainsboro), 102.1 WZAT-FM (Savannah), 1370 WLOP-AM (Jesup)
Promotions: Fans can meet new Eagle football coach Tyson Summers after the men's game on the concourse by Section 6, and he will address the crowd at halftime of the men's contest; Blue Out (both games) – Wear Blue to the game!; Semester Tip-off (both games) – The student section will be bombarded with free t-shirts; the first 500 students receive a free rally towel, courtesy of The Hamptons; the first 100 students receive a free popcorn and drink; giveaway contest for a Georgia Southern cooler and a $50 Tech Corner gift card (total value $200).
Television: ESPN3 with Drew Fellios on the call
Series Record: GS trails 3-2, L1
Last meeting: 2/28/15, L 68-58 (away)
Probable Starters:
#2 Mike Hughes
#3 Ike Smith
#4 Tookie Brown
#10 Jake Allsmiller
#11 Shawn O'Connell

Georgia Southern Information:
[Stats] [Roster] [Schedule] [@GSAthletics_MBB] [Game Notes (PDF)]

UL Lafayette Information:
[Stats] [Roster] [Schedule] [@CajunBasketball]

Layup Line
• Georgia Southern continues a four-game homestand by hosting UL Lafayette Thursday.
• It's the first of two meetings against the Ragin' Cajuns this season. 
• Both teams enter the game with a 1-3 Sun Belt record.
• Georgia Southern is 2-3 in its last five contests and coming off a 93-88 overtime win over Troy last Saturday.
• Georgia Southern freshman Tookie Brown is ranked in the top-15 in the Sun Belt in scoring (6th, 17.1 ppg), assists (7th, 3.5 apg), free-throw percentage (15th, .773), steals (T-1, 2.2), 3-point percentage (5th, .387) and assist/turnover ratio (5th, 1.8).
• Brown has scored 20-plus points in four games and reached double figures in 13 of 14 contests.
• Georgia Southern is 24-10 under head coach Mark Byington in Hanner Fieldhouse and posted a 13-2 record in the building last season. The Eagles are 4-2 this season.
• With 11 of 12 scholarship student-athletes who are freshmen, redshirt freshmen or sophomores (92 percent), Georgia Southern has the highest percentage of underclassmen on its current roster of the 345 NCAA Division I squads. Liberty (91 percent), Ohio State (85 percent), Fairleigh Dickinson (85 percent) and Wyoming (80 percent) round out the top-5.
• Georgia Southern lost 76 percent of its scoring and 72 percent of its rebounding from last season.
• The Eagles were picked 10th in the Preseason Sun Belt Conference Coaches Poll.
• UL Lafayette is 2-3 in its last five and coming off a tough road trip to Arkansas. The Ragin' Cajuns fell 77-57 at Little Rock last Thursday and lost 71-69 at Arkansas State last Saturday.
• UL Lafayette is 0-8 on the road this year and 0-3 in league play.
• The Ragin' Cajuns were picked to win the league in the Preseason Coaches Poll, and Shawn Long was tabbed the Preseason Student-Athlete of the Year.
• The NCAAs active leader in career double-doubles, Long averages 18.5 points and 12.3 rebounds a game.
• Jay Wright, who was a preseason third-team all-league selection, averages 9.6 points a game. 

The Series
• UL Lafayette leads the all-time series, which began in the 1964-65 season, 3-2. 
• The teams had not met since 1992 before the Eagles joined the Sun Belt last season. They split last year's series with each winning at home.
• Last Meeting - 2/28/2015 - Cajundome
• Jay Wright tallied 20 points and four assists, and UL Lafayette shot 50 percent from 3-point range to post a 68-58 win over Georgia Southern.
• Jelani Hewitt tallied 17 points and seven rebounds to lead Georgia Southern, and Curtis Diamond netted 14 points. Jake Allsmiller scored nine.
• Wright was 4 of 5 from beyond the arc for UL Lafayette, while Hayward Register nailed 4 of 7 from downtown and finished with 14 points. Shawn Long added 11 points and 12 rebounds.
• The Eagles trailed by 11 points midway through the second half before Eric Ferguson put down an alley-oop dunk, and Hewitt added back-to-back buckets to cut the margin to 59-55 with 5:20 to go. Register hit a jumper for UL Lafayette, and neither team scored for the next two minutes until Allsmiller hit a triple from the corner to make the score 61-58 with 2:46 left.
• The Eagles forced a turnover, but Hewitt's 3-point try to tie the game was off the mark. Kasey Shepherd knocked down a triple from the corner on the other end to make the margin 64-58 with 1:10 to play. Wright missed a free throw, leaving the door open, but the Eagles missed three 3-point tries in the last minute, and the Ragin' Cajuns went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the last 35 seconds to seal the win.
• Last time in Hanner - 1/15/15
• Mike Hughes led four Eagles in double figures with 18 points, and Georgia Southern grabbed a share of first place in the Sun Belt Conference standings with a 78-70 victory over UL Lafayette before a sellout crowd of 4,325.
• Hughes also tallied seven rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Eagles, while Jelani Hewitt collected 17 points and three assists. Curtis Diamond finished with 12 points, and Angel Matias contributed 11 points and five rebounds.
• Shawn Long registered 18 points and eight rebounds to lead UL Lafayette, and Hayward Register netted 12 points. Brian Williams chipped in 10 points and five rebounds.
 • A pair of Hughes free throws with 22 seconds left and a defensive stop on the other end clinched it for the Eagles after UL Lafayette cut a double-digit deficit to three points with 31 seconds to go.
• Matias put the Eagles up 67-56 with a layup 3:17 remaining, but a Williams 3-pointer sparked a 14-6 UL Lafayette run and Jay Wright's free throw made the score 73-70 with 31 seconds left. The Ragin' Cajuns fouled Hughes, who made 1-of-2 from the free-throw line, and the freshman pulled down the rebound after Register's triple try was off the mark. Hughes sank two more free throws to put the game on ice.

Quick Hitters
• The Eagles are led in scoring by a pair of freshmen in Tookie Brown and Ike Smith. The last time a freshman led Georgia Southern in scoring was the 1999-2000 season, when the school's all-time scoring leader Julius Jenkins led the Eagles with 15.5 points a game. Elton Nesbitt averaged 15.7 points a game to lead the Eagles in scoring as a newcomer to the program in 2003-04, but it was his sophomore season after spending a year at Compton Community College.
• Ike Smith is one of two freshman in the league ranked in the top-20 in both points (12.2) and rebounds (5.0).
• Sophomore Mike Hughes has started 44 of 45 games in his career.
• Hughes' six steals vs. Stetson Dec. 22, were a career high and two shy of the school record. He leads the Sun Belt in steals with 2.2 a game.
•  Georgia Southern has just 13 turnovers in its last 85 minutes of game time.
• The Eagles have never lost a Sun Belt game when leading at the half (10-0).
• Since joining the Sun Belt in 2014, 11 Georgia Southern games have been decided by five points or less, and the Eagles are 7-4. 
• Georgia Southern is 12-8 in games decided by six points or less since 2014, and 3-5 games decided by three points or less.
• The Eagles are averaging 79.1 points a game this season and have scored 80-plus points in six games. Georgia Southern scored 80-plus points in just six contests last year.
• Eleven different Eagles have scored 10 or more points in a game this season.
• Devonte Boykins has been named one of 154 nominees for the NABC Allstate Insurance Good Works Team.
• Georgia Southern is 16-4 in Hanner Fieldhouse in its last 20 contests there.
• Tookie Brown was named the Sun Belt Player of the Week by College Sports Madness Dec. 28. He averaged 24 points, 4.3 assists, three rebounds and two steals in three games from Dec. 15-22. Brown shot 51 percent from field and 56 percent from 3-point range.
• Georgia Southern posted a 4-6 record in the non-conference portion of its schedule.
• Georgia Southern has used seven different combinations of starting lineups this season.
• The Eagles played their Sun Belt opener on the road for the second straight season. Georgia Southern is 0-2 in Sun Belt openers.
• Georgia Southern played its first ranked opponent since 2008 when the Eagles traveled to No. 7/6 Duke Dec. 15. Their last game against a ranked opponent was also at Duke Nov. 11, 2008.
• Georgia Southern's 21 steals against Bob Jones (11/30) was one shy of the school record set against Little Rock in 1981 and tied against The Citadel in 2004.
• After not playing an SEC opponent since a 78-75 loss to Auburn Dec. 30, 2011, the Eagles have faced two this season. Georgia Southern fell 82-72 at Ole Miss Nov. 16 and 92-62 at Auburn Nov. 20.
• Georgia Southern's 116 points in a 116-49 season-opening win over Webber International Nov. 13 were tied for the 16th most all-time and the most since a 116-73 neutral site win over UC Davis Nov. 12, 2006, which was the 2006-07 season opener.
• The Eagles' 40 3-point attempts tied for the second-the most in school history (West Georgia, 1/2/1992).

Boarding the Mothership
• Thirteen Georgia Southern games will be broadcast on the ESPN family of Networks this season.
• Games at Duke (12/15) and vs. Georgia State at home (2/23) will air on ESPN2. 
• Eight Sun Belt contests will be broadcast live on ESPN3, and the Eagles' game at USC Upstate Nov. 27 was shown on ESPN3.
• The matchups at Ole Miss and Auburn were shown on the SEC Network +.

Inside Georgia Southern Basketball is Back
• Inside Georgia Southern Basketball, presented by Gnat's Landing airs each Monday from 7-8 p.m. live from Gnat's Landing at 470 South Main Street, just across from Beautiful Eagle Creek in Statesboro.
• Men's basketball coach Mark Byington and women's basketball coach Kip Drown will sit down with the Voice of the Eagles, Danny Reed, each week throughout the remainder of the season to review the recent games and talk about upcoming contests.
• Fans can enjoy the show live from Gnat's stage, listen on the radio via affiliates (103.7 WBMZ-FM Statesboro, 102.1 WZAT-FM Savannah, 1370 WLOP-AM Jesup) or online for free at GSEagles.com. Fans can also interact live during the show by tweeting their questions to @GASouthernRadio or by joining the audience in the restaurant.

Next Up
• Georgia Southern caps its four-game homestand with a 5 p.m. contest against ULM Saturday at 5 p.m. in Hanner Fieldhouse.
• The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
• It's Frank Kearns Night, Alumni Day and Georgia Southern will recognize the GoDaddy Bowl champion football team at halftime.

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, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. For tickets to Georgia Southern athletics events, visit GSEagles.com/tickets.