Men's Basketball | 1/8/2017 8:41:00 AM

Georgia Southern (9-6, 2-0) vs. South Alabama (8-7, 1-1)
Monday, Jan. 9 - Hanner Fieldhouse (3,897) – Statesboro, Ga. - 7 p.m.
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Radio: 105.5 FM WIFO (Jesup), 100.9 FM WLYU (Lyons), 103.7 FM WBMZ (Metter), 900 AM WJLG (Savannah)
Promotions:  It's the Semester Tipoff, and GS is giving away free t-shirts and free pizza to students. Plus, one lucky student will have a chance to win an adidas gear prize package (valued at $250) by sinking a half-court shot.
Series Record: GS trails 9-3, L3
Last meeting: L, 67-61, 3/10/16 (neutral)
Probable Starters:
#2 Mike Hughes
#3 Ike Smith
#4 Tookie Brown
#5 B.J. Gladden
#14 Coye Simmons

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

South Alabama Information:
[Stats] [Roster] [Schedule]

Setting the Scene
• Georgia Southern caps a four-game homestand by taking on South Alabama Monday in Hanner Fieldhouse.
• It's the Semester Tipoff, and GS is giving away free t-shirts and free pizza to students. Plus, one lucky student will have a chance to win an adidas gear prize package (valued at $250) by sinking a half court shot.
• Georgia Southern is 4-1 in its last five and coming off an 86-82 home win over Troy Saturday. This will be the Eagles' third game in the last 19 days.
• Georgia Southern is 4-1 at home this season. The Eagles are 34-13 under head coach Mark Byington in Hanner Fieldhouse and own a 17-5 all-time record in Sun Belt games in the facility.
• GS finished the non-conference portion of its schedule with a 7-6 record, its first winning record in non-conference play since 2014-15 when the Eagles went 8-3. It's just the second time in the last eight seasons that the Eagles were above .500 in non-conference games.
• South Alabama is 2-3 in its last five and coming off a 78-77 loss at Georgia State Saturday. The Panthers scored the final eight points of the game and hit what turned out to be the game-winning 3-pointer with nine seconds left.
• South Alabama is 2-4 on the road this season.
• The Jaguars were picked sixth in the Sun Belt Preseason Poll, and Ken Williams was named preseason second-team all-league.

The Series vs. South Alabama
• South Alabama leads the all-time series, which began in 1978, 9-3, and swept all three meetings with the Eagles last season, including a first round game in the Sun Belt Tournament.
• Prior to the 2014-15 season, the teams had not met since 2010 and 2011, both South Alabama victories.
• The Jaguars won four of the first five meetings from 1978-80.
• Georgia Southern swept the season series in 2014-15.

More Team Storylines
• A victory today would give GS a 3-0 start in conference play for the first time since the 2011-12 season.
• Georgia Southern ranks 58th nationally and first in the Sun Belt in fewest turnovers and ranks 24th nationally in first in the SBC in turnovers per game. The Eagles have logged single-digit turnovers in four games and posted a season-low six vs. Troy (1/7). 
• Last year, Georgia Southern set new school records with 3-pointers made (282) and attempted (834) in a season. GS ranks first in the SBC in threes per game (9.1) this season, and the Eagles have made 10 or more threes six times.
• Georgia Southern plays conference games the rest of the way on Saturdays and Mondays.
• GS has a combined record of 24-11 in Sun Belt games played in January and February since joining the league in 2014-15.
• GS is 5-1 since changing its starting lineup following an 86-49 loss at Minnesota Dec. 9.
• Georgia Southern played six non-conference games against five teams that are currently in the top-100 in the NCAA RPI (Akron - 75, FGCU - 85, Minn - 10, NC State - 26, Winthrop - 94).
• 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 played 10 of their first 12 games away from home. The stretch ended Dec. 20 at Winthrop, which also capped a four-game road trip that covered 4,120 miles of travel as the Eagles went from Minnesota to Ft. Myers to Miami to South Carolina and back home. 
• GS played three contests in Savannah this season and won all three. The Eagles defeated Florida A&M (83-72) and Radford (65-64) in the Savannah Invitational and won 94-75 at Savannah State.
• Mark Byington is coaching in his 123rd career game today and his 112th 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 40-7 in games when leading at half and 51-4 when leading with five minutes to go, but three 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 79.3 this year and scored over 80 eight times.
• Since joining the Sun Belt in 2014, 20 Georgia Southern games against Sun Belt schools have been decided by five points or less, and the Eagles are 13-7.
• Georgia Southern is 27-7 in Hanner Fieldhouse in its last 34 contests there and 34-13 under Mark Byington.
• Georgia Southern used 11 different combinations of starting lineups last year. GS has used five this season.
• The Eagles are 19-1 in Sun Belt games when leading at halftime.

Next Up
• Georgia Southern takes to the road as the Eagles travel to Louisiana for an 8:15 p.m. ET meeting Saturday.

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.