Men's Basketball | 11/13/2016 7:15:00 PM

Georgia Southern (0-1) vs. Coastal Georgia (1-3)
Monday, Nov. 14 - Hanner Fieldhouse (3,897) – Statesboro, Ga. - 7 p.m.
Live Audio | Live Video | Live Stats
Radio: 103.7 WBMZ-FM (Statesboro/Metter/Swainsboro), 102.1 WZAT-FM (Savannah), 1370 WLOP-AM (Jesup), 100.9 WLYU (Lyons)
Series Record: First meeting
Probable Starters:
#0 Montae Glenn
#1 Devonte Boykins
#3 Ike Smith
#4 Tookie Brown
#11 Shawn O'Connell

Georgia Southern Information:
[2015-16 Stats] [Roster] [Schedule] [Game Notes (PDF)]

Coastal Georgia Information:
[Stats] [Roster] [Schedule]

Setting the Scene
• Georgia Southern plays its home opener against Coastal Georgia.
• It's the first meeting between the two schools on the hardwood.
• Georgia Southern opened the season Friday at NC State and fell 81-79.
• Coastal Georgia has played four games already and is coming off an 85-76 loss at Edward Waters Saturday afternoon. 
• This is one of two home games in the first 12 contests of the season for the Eagles. The Mariners are playing their third-straight game on the road.
• Georgia Southern is 3-0 in home openers under coach Mark Byington. All three contests have come against non-Division I competition.
• The Eagles are 30-12 under head coach Mark Byington in Hanner Fieldhouse.
• Georgia Southern returns all five starters from last season's 14-17 squad that finished fifth in the Sun Belt with a 10-10 record.
• The Eagles were picked fourth in the Sun Belt Preseason Coaches Poll, and Tookie Brown and Mike Hughes were named preseason all-conference.
• Coastal Georgia returns just one player from last season's team - junior forward Brandon Martin. 
• The Mariners have nine freshmen on the roster.
• Coastal Georgia was picked to finish ninth in the Southern States Athletic Conference.

Three Things to Know about the Eagles
1 -  Georgia Southern returns all five starters and 11 lettermen. Ninety-four percent of the Eagles' scoring and rebounding is back in uniform, and Georgia Southern is still young. Walk-ons James Holder and Dominique Holder are the team's lone seniors.
2 -  Georgia Southern was picked fourth in the Sun Belt Preseason Coaches Poll, Tookie Brown was named preseason first-team all-league and Mike Hughes earned second-team honors.
3 - Last year, Georgia Southern set new school records with 3-pointers made (282) and attempted (834) in a season. 
• The Eagles made 10 or more triples in a contest 13 times, hitting nine from long distance on four more occasions. 
• Georgia Southern averaged 26.9 (28th nationally) attempts and 9.1 makes (27th nationally) a game. 
• Three Eagles were in the top-15 in the Sun Belt in 3-pointers made per game - Mike Hughes (4th, 2.2), Jake Allsmiller (6th, 2.1) and Tookie Brown (14th, 1.6).

More Team Storylines
• The Eagles' next win will be the 1,200th in the history of the program, which began play in 1926-27.
• The Eagles play 10 of their first 12 games away from home. The stretch ends Dec. 20 at Winthrop. GS does play three contests in Savannah (55 miles East) during that time.
• Mark Byington is coaching in his 109th career game today and his 98th at Georgia Southern. His 51 wins in his first three seasons at Georgia Southern are the best of any coach in the modern era.
• Under Mark Byington, Georgia Southern is 36-5 in games when leading at half and 44-2 when leading with five minutes to go. 
• Georgia Southern led the Sun Belt and ranked 11th in the country in turnover margin (+3.4) last season. The Eagles recorded less than 10 turnovers in 10 games and averaged 11.6 per game. GS had seven turnovers at NC State.
•  GS scored 75.9 points a game last season, the Eagles' best offensive output since averaging 77.5 points a game in 2005-06. GS scored 80-plus points in 10 games and 100-plus in three contests. 
• Since joining the Sun Belt in 2014, 19 Georgia Southern games against Sun Belt schools have been decided by five points or less, and the Eagles are 12-7.
• Eleven different Eagles scored 10 or more points in a game last season.
• Georgia Southern is 22-6 in Hanner Fieldhouse in its last 28 contests there and 30-12 under Mark Byington.
• Georgia Southern used 11 different combinations of starting lineups last year.
• The Eagles lost their first Sun Belt game after leading at halftime at Georgia State Jan. 19 (17-1).
• The Eagles' 101-100 win over Appalachian State Jan. 25 was their first win when allowing 100 points since a 112-104 triumph over Old Dominion Jan. 7, 1978. It was just the third time Georgia Southern has won a game when conceding 100 points (135-109 vs. Piedmont, 2/24/1951 and 110-106 vs. Samford, 1/20/1975). It was the first time the Eagles put up 100 points against a Division I opponent since a 116-73 victory over UC Davis Nov. 12, 2006.
• 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.

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