Men's Basketball | 11/21/2016 5:11:00 PM

Georgia Southern (1-2) at Akron (2-1)
Tuesday, Nov. 22 - Rhodes Arena (5,500) – Akron, Ohio - 7 p.m.
Savannah Invitational
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
#3 Ike Smith
#4 Tookie Brown
#10 Jake Allsmiller
#11 Shawn O'Connell

Georgia Southern Information:
[Stats] [Roster] [Schedule] [Game Notes]

Akron Information:
[Stats] [Roster] [Schedule]

Setting the Scene
• Georgia Southern and Akron meet for the first time on the hardwood. 
• The contest is part of the Savannah Invitational, an in-season tournament in which each participant will play four games. This is the first year of the tournament, and organizers hope to make it an annual event.
• Georgia Southern played at the on-campus site of Mercer Sunday, meets Akron today and then plays games against Florida A&M (Nov. 25) and Radford (Nov. 26) at the Savannah Civic Center in downtown Savannah to cap the event.
• Mercer, Akron, Stetson, East Carolina, Radford, Florida A&M and Air Force all will finish the tournament by playing two games in the Savannah Civic Center Nov. 25-26.
• The contest at Akron is Georgia Southern's first game in Ohio since Dec. 14, 2010, when the Eagles lost 99-54 at Cincinnati.
• It's Georgia Southern's first game against a MAC opponent since the Eagles topped Northern Illinois 72-70 in the Drake Regency Challenge in Des Moines, Iowa, Dec. 8, 2006. That's also the last time the Eagles defeated a MAC opponent.
• The Eagles play 10 of their first 12 games away from home. Three of those games are in Savannah (two in Savannah Invite and at Savannah State Dec. 1).   
• 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.
• Georgia Southern is coming off an 80-67 loss at Mercer Sunday in its first game of the Savannah Invitational.
• Akron topped Radford 88-41 at home in its first game of the Savannah Invitational Sunday evening.
• The Zips have won two in a row since falling 90-82 at Youngstown State in the season opener and are 2-0 at home.
• Akron has won at least 21 games in 11 straight seasons under 13th-year head coach Keith Dambrot. Over the last 12 seasons, the Zips have won 279 games, most by any team in the MAC.
• The Zips own a 164-23 (.877) at James A. Rhodes Arena.
• For the fourth consecutive year, Akron was selected to win the Mid-American Conference East Division while ranking as the favorite to claim the MAC Tournament title, according to the 2016-17 MAC Preseason Men's Basketball Poll.
• The Zips finished the 2015-16 campaign as MAC Regular-Season Champions with a 26-9 overall record, including an undefeated 15-0 showing at Rhodes Arena. Akron made its eighth appearance in the MAC Tournament title game in the last 10 seasons.

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. GS made 10 at Mercer (11/20) and nine against Coastal Georgia (11/14).
• 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 picked up the 1,200th win in the history of the program, which began play in 1926-27, when they topped Coastal Georgia 92-43 Nov. 14.
• GS held Coastal Georgia to 23.1 percent shooting from the field, the lowest for an opponent since holding North Georgia to 22.7 percent in 2003.
• 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 111th career game today and his 100th 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 37-6 in games when leading at half and 45-3 when leading with five minutes to go, but two of those losses in each category have some this season.
• 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, eight against Coastal Georgia and 10 at Mercer and own a +5.0 turnover margin this season.
•  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. The Eagles are averaging 79.3 this year and scored over 80 once.
• 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.
• Georgia Southern is 23-6 in Hanner Fieldhouse in its last 29 contests there and 31-12 under Mark Byington.
• Georgia Southern used 11 different combinations of starting lineups last year. GS has used two this season.
• The Eagles are 17-1 in Sun Belt games when leading at halftime.

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