Men's Basketball | 2/2/2017 3:16:00 PM

Georgia Southern (14-8, 7-2) vs ULM (7-15, 1-8)
Saturday, Feb. 4 - Hanner Fieldhouse (3,897) – Statesboro, Ga. - 5 p.m.
Television: WSAV-TV / WSAV-CW / ESPN3 (blacked out in Savannah)
Tickets | Live Video | Live Audio  | Live Stats
Promotions: Doubleheader with both the men's and women's teams and Pack the House in Pink - Join us in the fight against Breast Cancer. Make sure you wear pink to the game to show your support! Rocket Stars Show at Halftime - The tumbling and jumping gymnastics group, the Rocket Stars, will be performing at halftime of both games! Junior Eagle Club Day - All members of the Junior Eagle Club will be admitted free into the games with their membership ID. Members may also receive free popcorn at the concession stand when they present their ID.
Radio: WMCD 107.3 FM (Statesboro), 105.5 FM WIFO (Jesup), 100.9 FM WLYU (Lyons), 103.7 FM WBMZ (Metter), 900 AM WJLG (Savannah)
Series Record: GS trails 10-6, W1
Last meeting: W, 62-60, 1/16/17 (away)
Probable Starters:
#0 Montae Glenn
#2 Mike Hughes
#3 Ike Smith
#4 Tookie Brown
#10 Jake Allsmiller

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

ULM Information:
[Stats] [Roster] [Schedule]

Setting the Scene
• Georgia Southern opens a two-game homestand against ULM Saturday. 
• The game is the second end of a doubleheader with the women's team, and tipoff is set for 5 p.m. The men's game will be broadcast live on WSAV-TV and WSAV-CW in Savannah. It will also be broadcast on ESPN3 but blacked out in Savannah.
• It's the second meeting between the teams this season. Georgia Southern erased a 16-point second-half deficit to top ULM 62-60 in the first meeting Jan. 16.
• GS is 3-2 in its last five after losing its first two conference games last week. GS is 10-3 in its last 13 and coming off an 83-76 loss at Troy Monday night.
• Georgia Southern is 7-1 at home this season. The Eagles are 37-13 under head coach Mark Byington in Hanner Fieldhouse and own a 20-5 all-time record in Sun Belt games in the facility.
• The Eagles are in a three-way tie with UTA and Georgia State for first place in the Sun Belt.
• Georgia Southern features the Sun Belt's top two scorers in sophomores Ike Smith (19.4 ppg) and Tookie Brown (18.4 ppg). They were the third-highest freshman scoring duo in the country last year (1-Rice's Marcus Evans and Marquez Letcher-Ellis, 2- FSU's Dwayne Bacon and Malik Beasley).
• ULM is 1-4 in its last five and coming off a 68-52 home victory over Little Rock last Monday.
• The Warhawks are 1-9 on the road this season and searching for their first league road win.
• ULM has had two league games decided in overtime and lost two others by six points or less.

The Series vs. ULM
• ULM leads the all-time series, which began in 1976, 10-6 and has won five of the last nine.
• GS won the first meeting this season, 62-60, back on Jan. 16, at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
• The Eagles are 3-4 against ULM at home.
• All three meetings in 2014-15, Georgia Southern's first campaign in the Sun Belt, were decided by four points or less, and the Eagles won two of them, including a 44-43 decision in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Tournament.
• The teams split the season series last year with each squad winning at home.

More Team Storylines
• Georgia Southern has no seniors in its rotation and starts three sophomores and two juniors. Walk-ons James Holder and Dominique Bullock are the team's lone seniors.
• GS is averaging 79.1 points a game this season, the most since the 2004-05 campaign, when the Eagles scored at an 80.8 clip. The Eagles have scored over 80 12 times, including six straight games from 12/20-1/14, and have scored over 90 five times, including two in a row Jan. 21 and 23. It's the first time the Eagles scored 90-plus points in back-to-back Division I games since Feb. 11 and Feb. 13, 2006.
• Georgia Southern ranks 64th nationally and second in the Sun Belt in fewest turnovers and ranks 57th nationally and second in the SBC in turnovers per game. The Eagles have logged single-digit turnovers in five games and posted a season-low six vs. Troy (1/7).
• The Eagles are off to their best start in league play since the 2014-15 season. The Eagles started 7-0 in league play for the first time since the 1991-92 season. GS won its first nine games in the Trans America Athletic Conference that year. 
• GS posted an eight-game win streak from Dec. 2-Jan. 23. It's the Eagles' longest since the 2005-06 season. 
• GS is ranked 14th in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25.
• Georgia Southern's top-3 seasons in 3-pointers made and attempted have all come during Mark Byington's tenure. GS ranks second in the SBC in threes per game (9.0) this season, and the Eagles have made 10 or more threes 10 times.
• The Eagles won their first two conference road games for the first time since the 2002-03 season.
• GS is 10-3 since changing its starting lineup following an 86-49 loss at Minnesota Dec. 9.
• The Eagles have shot 50 percent or better in a half in 17 games this season, including 60 percent or better twice. The Eagles have shot 50 percent or better in both halves of a game twice (GSU, 12/31 and CCU, 1/23). The Eagles have shot 50 percent or better in five games. 
• GS ranks second in the Sun Belt in free throws. The Eagles have attempted 30-plus free throws in five games and made 20-plus free throws in six contests.
• GS has a combined record of 30-13 in Sun Belt games played in January and February since joining the league in 2014-15.
• Georgia Southern plays conference games the rest of the way on Saturdays and Mondays.
• Georgia Southern returned all five starters and 11 lettermen from last season's squad. Ninety-four percent of the Eagles' scoring and rebounding is back in uniform.
• 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.
• Mark Byington is coaching in his 130th career game today and his 119th at Georgia Southern. His 51 wins in his first three seasons at Georgia Southern are the best of any coach in the modern era. He posted a 7-4 record at College of Charleston in 2012, filling in as the interim coach for Bobby Cremins.
• Under Mark Byington, Georgia Southern is 44-8 in games when leading at half and 55-4 when leading with five minutes to go.
• Georgia Southern is 30-7 in Hanner Fieldhouse in its last 37 contests there and 37-13 under Mark Byington.
• Since joining the Sun Belt in 2014, 24 Georgia Southern games against Sun Belt schools have been decided by five points or less, and the Eagles are 17-7.
• The Eagles are 22-2 in Sun Belt games when leading at halftime. GS is 24-0 when leading with five minutes to go.
• Georgia Southern's comeback from 16 points down at ULM (1/16) is the Eagles' largest since a 17-point rally vs. UTA March 5, 2015.
• 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.
• Georgia Southern played six non-conference games against five teams that are currently in the top-100 in the NCAA RPI (Akron - 42, FGCU - 95, Minn - 24, NC State - 83, Winthrop - 98).
• 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.
• 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.
• Georgia Southern used 11 different combinations of starting lineups last year. GS has used six this season.

Next Up
• The Eagles take on Louisiana Monday in a 7 p.m. Sun Belt contest in Hanner Fieldhouse.
• Promotions for Monday: Glowstick Night - Free glowsticks for fans! Make sure you wave your glowsticks high when the lights go out for the starting lineup! Scholar Student-Athlete Recognition - Georgia Southern Student-Athletes will be recognized for their hard work in the classroom. These student-athletes earned a term GPA of 3.0 or higher in the fall 2016 semester. 

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.