Men’s Basketball Preview: Eagles Open Arkansas Trip at Little Rock

The Eagles look to end two-game skid in Jack Stephens Center.

Georgia Southern (15-7, 6-3) vs. Little Rock (5-17, 2-7) Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018 - Jack Stephens Center (5,600) – 8 p.m. ET Series: GS leads 17-15, W1 Last Meeting: 1/4/18,W 72-69 (Hanner) Radio: GS Sports Network (pregame show starts a half hour before tipoff) - WMCD 107.3 FM (Statesboro), 630 AM WBMQ (Savannah), 1370 AM WLOP (Jesup)
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Georgia Southern	Little Rock
Roster	Roster
Stats	Stats
Schedule	Schedule

Probable GS Starters:
#0 Montae Glenn
#2 Mike Hughes
#3 Ike Smith
#4 Tookie Brown
#10 Jake Allsmiller

Setting the Scene
• Georgia Southern starts its swing through The Natural State at Little Rock Thursday. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. ET.
• It's the second meeting between the teams this season. The Eagles snuck out a 72-69 home win in the first matchup as Tookie Brown made a 3-pointer as the final buzzer sounded.
• The Eagles are 6-5 in true road games and 8-6 away from home.
• GS is 3-2 in its last five, and the Eagles are fourth in the Sun Belt standings. GS is coming off a 74-59 home win over UTA Saturday.
• GS dropped out of the CollegeInsider Mid-Major top-25 for the first time since November in the Jan. 29 poll, but the Eagles are still receiving votes. Saint Mary's is ranked first, Louisiana is fourth, ETSU is fifth and Georgia State is 22nd. Missouri State, Towson and Bradley are also receiving votes.
• Little Rock is 1-4 in its last five and coming off a 72-62 setback at Coastal Carolina Saturday. The Trojans are 12th in the Sun Belt standings.

The Series
• This will be the 33rd meeting in the all-time series, which began in 1988.
• Georgia Southern leads it 17-15 but has lost three of the last four.
• The Eagles won both games in 2014-15, and those contests were the first in the series since the 1990-91 season, when both schools were members of the TAAC.
• Three of the last five games have been decided by three points or less.
• The Eagles are 6-9 against the Trojans on the road and have lost their last two.is giving up just 69.3 points per game, holding opponents to just 42.8 percent shooting from the floor. The Trojans have held 15 of their 22 opponents (and seven of nine Sun Belt foes) under their season average in points, keeping foes 10 points under their scoring average on seven different occasions.

Team Storylines
• Eleven of GS's 22 games have been decided by six points or less, and the Eagles are 6-5. Nine have been one-possession games, and the Eagles are 5-4.
• Georgia Southern ranks 14th in the nation in offensive rebounds, and Montae Glenn ranks fourth in the country. The Eagles are second in the SBC in rebounding and first in offensive rebounds, and their rebound average of 39.8 is the highest since the 2004-05 season and a 5.1 rebound per game improvement from last year (34.7).
• GS is averaging 75.6 points a game, and the Eagles have scored over 80 points six times, over 90 three times and over 100 twice. GS ranks fifth in the SBC in scoring and second in scoring margin.
• The Eagles have been without leading scorers and first-team Preseason All-Sun Belt selections Ike Smith or Tookie Brown for six games this season.
• Georgia Southern ranks third in the SBC in fewest turnovers, second in turnover margin and fourth in turnovers forced.
• Georgia Southern's top-3 seasons in 3-pointers made and attempted have all come during Mark Byington's tenure. GS has made 10-plus triples in a game eight times this season.
• Mark Byington is coaching in his 163rd career game today and his 152nd at Georgia Southern. He is nine wins shy of 100 for his career, and his 51 wins in his first three seasons at Georgia Southern were 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 59-13 in games when leading at half and 70-7 when leading with five minutes to go.
• GS reached double-digit wins before the new year for the first time in school history. The Eagles' 10th victory of the season was an 86-80 decision at Troy Dec. 30.
• The Eagles will be wearing green shoelaces for the rest of the season to promote Mental Health Awareness.
• During the month of February, the Eagles will participate in the Coaches vs. Cancer 3-Point Challenge. The conference and its member schools encourage fans, corporate partners and media to join the excitement by joining your favorite team to help raise funds for the American Cancer Society. The winner of the Sun Belt Conference's challenge will be crowned the league's 3-Point Champion, and all participating schools are entered into the national contest for a chance to earn the national 3-Point College Champion honor.
• Entering the 2017-18 campaign, GS joined UTA and Louisiana as the only three teams to reach double digit wins in conference play in each of the last three seasons and has the third most victories (36) against league competition during that time.
• Since joining the Sun Belt in 2014, 33 Georgia Southern games against Sun Belt schools have been decided by five points or less, and the Eagles are 21-12.
• The Eagles are 29-6 in Sun Belt games when leading at halftime. GS is 32-2 when leading with five minutes to go.
• GS has a combined record of 39-19 in Sun Belt games played in January and February since joining the league in 2014-15.
• GS went 9-4 in non-conference games. The last time the Eagles won nine non-conference games was in the 2005-06 season.
• Georgia Southern played six straight contests on the road in December and posted a 3-3 record. The last time the Eagles played six straight true road games was December of 1963, and the Eagles were 1-5 that year.
• The Eagles capped the non-conference portion of their schedule with four straight games on the road, a trip that encompassed 14 days, 11 cities and 7,500 miles. The Eagles played at George Mason (Dec. 12), CSU Bakersfield (Dec. 16), Kennesaw State (Dec. 19) and ETSU (Dec. 22) and went 2-2.
• The Eagles have opened Sun Belt Conference play on the road in three of their four years in the league.
• The Eagles' 85-83 victory at Wake Forest was their first over an ACC opponent since topping Virginia Tech 83-78 on the road in 2012. Byington was an assistant coach for the Hokies at the time.
• Georgia Southern's 120 points against Bluefield State were the most in a game since 1974.
• GS started 5-0 for the first time since the 1991-92 season.
• The Eagles' 74-51 win at George Mason Dec. 12 was the Eagles' largest margin of victory on the road since an 86-61 win at Furman in 2006.
• GS returned the Sun Belt's top two scorers in juniors Ike Smith (19.6 ppg) and Tookie Brown (17.1 ppg). The 2017 first-team All-Sun Belt selections are the fourth-highest scoring returning duo in the country. They were the third-highest freshman scoring duo in the country in 2015-16 (1-Rice's Marcus Evans and Marquez Letcher-Ellis, 2- FSU's Dwayne Bacon and Malik Beasley).

Next Up
• The Eagles finish their two-game swing at Arkansas State Saturday in First National Bank Arena. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN3.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides current information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, which is fully responsive across all mobile devices. Information on Eagle athletics can also be found through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics and Instagram.com/GSAthletics. To purchase tickets to Georgia Southern athletics events, visit GSEagles.com/tickets.

In order to expedite entry and provide a safe environment for all patrons and participants, Georgia Southern Athletics has implemented a Clear Bag Policy for all ticketed sporting events, effective Aug. 1, 2017. Fans can find the complete policy as well as an FAQ section at GSEagles.com/ClearBag.

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Players Mentioned

#10 Jake Allsmiller: G; 6' 5"; Senior

#4 Tookie Brown: G; 5' 11"; Junior

#0 Montae Glenn: F; 6' 8"; Junior

#2 Mike Hughes: G; 6' 3"; Senior

#3 Ike Smith: G; 6' 4"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#10 Jake Allsmiller
: 6' 5"; Senior
: G

#4 Tookie Brown
: 5' 11"; Junior
: G

#0 Montae Glenn
: 6' 8"; Junior
: F

#2 Mike Hughes
: 6' 3"; Senior
: G

#3 Ike Smith
: 6' 4"; Junior
: G

Georgia Southern University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Players Mentioned