Men's Basketball | 12/8/2016 9:28:00 AM

Georgia Southern (4-4) at Minnesota (8-1)
Friday, Dec. 9 - Williams Arena (14,625) – Minneapolis, Minn. - 9 p.m. ET
TV: Big Ten Network
 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
#2 Mike Hughes
#3 Ike Smith
#4 Tookie Brown
#11 Shawn O'Connell

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

Minnesota Information:
[Stats] [Roster] [Schedule]

Setting the Scene
• Georgia Southern opens a four-game road trip at Minnesota Friday. The roadie will cover 4,120 miles of travel as the Eagles go from Minnesota to Miami to South Carolina and back home.
• Georgia Southern has never defeated a Big Ten opponent. The Eagles' last contest against a Big Ten team was at Illinois in the 2014 season opener, where GS fell 80-71.
• Friday's game will be the first Georgia Southern men's basketball game in the state of Minnesota. 
• GS has won three of its last four and is coming off an 85-82 loss to Florida Gulf Coast at home Sunday.
• 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.   
• 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.
• Minnesota received a vote in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll for the second straight week and topped NJIT 74-68 Tuesday at home. 
• The Golden Gophers' lone loss came at Florida State Nov. 28 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. It was one of two games away from home for Minnesota. 
• The Golden Gophers are 7-0 at home this season.
• Minnesota ranks ninth in the country in field goal percentage defense and third in blocked shots. Reggie Lynch is fifth in the country in blocked shots per game (3.75).

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 27th nationally and leads the Sun Belt in fewest turnovers and ranks 16th nationally in first in the SBC in turnovers per game. The Eagles have logged single-digit turnovers in three games.

More Team Storylines
• Last year, Georgia Southern set new school records with 3-pointers made (282) and attempted (834) in a season. GS ranks second in the SBC in threes per game (8.5) this season, and the Eagles have made 10 or more 3s 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 116th career game today and his 105th 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 47-3 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 78.6 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 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 three this season.
• The Eagles are 17-1 in Sun Belt games when leading 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.