Men's Basketball | 12/14/2016 9:51:00 PM

Georgia Southern (5-5) at FIU (3-7)
Thursday, Dec. 15 - FIU Arena (5,000) – Miami, Fla. - 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: GS leads 3-0
Last Meeting: 11/24/14, W 78-72 (Hanner)
Probable Starters:
#2 Mike Hughes
#3 Ike Smith
#4 Tookie Brown
#10 Jake Allsmiller
#14 Coye Simmons

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

FIU Information:
[Stats] [Roster] [Schedule]

Setting the Scene
• Georgia Southern continues its four-game road trip at Florida International Thursday.
• Georgia Southern's current roadie covers 4,120 miles of travel as the Eagles go from Minnesota to Ft. Myers to Miami to South Carolina and back home.
• GS is 3-2 in its last five and coming off a 72-59 win at Florida Gulf Coast Tuesday.
• The current road trip caps a stretch in which the Eagles play 10 of their first 12 games away from home. Three of those games were in Savannah (two in Savannah Invite and one at Savannah State), and the Eagles won all three.
• GS is 2-4 on the road this season.   
• 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.
• Florida International has lost its last three and is coming off an 82-63 loss at Florida Gulf Coast Sunday.
• FIU was picked 11th of 14 teams in Conference USA in the Preseason Coaches Poll.
• The Panthers are 3-0 at home this season, and their remaining non-conference games are all at home, starting with the Eagles.

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 Bullock 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 - Georgia Southern ranks 62nd nationally and first in the Sun Belt in fewest turnovers and ranks 22nd nationally in first in the SBC in turnovers per game. The Eagles have logged single-digit turnovers in three games. 

The Series vs. FIU
• This is the fourth meeting between GS and FIU, and the Eagles have won the previous three.
• GS is 1-0 at FIU and won the last meeting 78-72 Feb. 1, 1992.
• GS won the last meeting in the series 78-72 in Hanner Fieldhouse Nov. 24, 2014.
• Jelani Hewitt led all scorers with 33 points, and Georgia Southern hit 31-of-41 from the charity stripe in that game.
• Trailing 70-61, FIU scored nine straight points to make the score 72-70 with 1:26 remaining. Adrian Diaz scored five points to start the run, and Tashawn Desir stole a pass and fed Marco Porcher Jimenez for a 3-ball in transition to cap the stretch.
• Curtis Diamond went to the basket on the Eagles' next possession, was fouled and knocked down 1-of-2 from the line. Porcher Jimenez had his 3-point try from the wing rim out on the Panthers' trip down the floor. Hewitt got the rebound with 31.3 seconds left, and the Panthers were forced to foul. The Eagles nailed 5-of-6 from the line to seal the win.
• Hewitt was 8-of-14 from the field and 14-of-15 from the free-throw line. Diamond scored 11 points, and Trent Wiedeman collected 11 points and eight boards. Mike Hughes finished with nine points and a game-high 11 boards.

More Team Storylines
• Last year, Georgia Southern set new school records with 3-pointers made (282) and attempted (834) in a season. GS ranks fifth in the SBC in threes per game (8.4) this season, and the Eagles have made 10 or more threes three times.
• 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 played three contests in Savannah (55 miles East) during that time and won all three.
• Mark Byington is coaching in his 118th career game today and his 107th 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 38-6 in games when leading at half and 48-3 when leading with five minutes to go, but two of those losses in each category have some 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 75.0 this year and scored over 80 four times.
• 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 24-7 in Hanner Fieldhouse in its last 31 contests there and 31-13 under Mark Byington.
• Georgia Southern used 11 different combinations of starting lineups last year. GS has used four this season.
• The Eagles are 17-1 in Sun Belt games when leading at halftime.

Next Up
• Georgia Southern caps the four-game road trip at Winthrop Dec. 20.
• Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. in Winthrop Coliseum.

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.