Season Preview: Men’s Basketball Upperclassmen Ready to Take the Reins
The first in a three-part men's basketball season preview.
Marc Gignac
10/30/2019
STATESBORO – Eagle basketball fans have much to be excited about as the 2019-20 season gets started next week.
Georgia Southern returns 68 percent of its scoring and 69 percent of its rebounding from a team that finished fourth in the country in field goal percentage and 15th in scoring a season ago. Numerous preseason college basketball publications have the Eagles slotted in the top-3 in their Sun Belt Conference preseason polls.
There is plenty of talent and athleticism on the roster, but uncertainty exists in the unknown. Eagle fans have gotten very comfortable knowing that four-year starters Tookie Brown and Montae Glenn would be on the court, and their graduation from the program leads to a few questions. Who will be the primary ball handler? Who will provide leadership? Who will be the vocal quarterback on defense?
The Georgia Southern upperclassmen, a group that includes a three-year starter in Ike Smith, hope to provide answers to those questions and help get the Eagles over the Sun Belt Tournament semifinal hurdle GS has stumbled on the last two years.
A good chunk of the returning scoring and rebounding production can be found in Smith, Isaiah Crawley and Quan Jackson, a trio of all-conference caliber players and the team’s captains.
Having Ike back healthy with his experience is just unbelievable for our team. Right now, he's looking like his old athletic self. He's moving on the court really well and having fun playing.
Smith received a medical redshirt after missing 23 games with an injury and enters the year ranked 13th on the school's career Division I scoring list with 1,480 points. The senior guard played in the first 10 games of the season and averaged 14.7 points and 5.7 boards for the Eagles.
“The unfortunate thing was we lost an all-conference player last year; the positive thing is we have a fifth-year senior who is going to be one of the best to play at Georgia Southern for another year,” said Georgia Southern head coach Mark Byington. “Having Ike back healthy with his experience is just unbelievable for our team. Right now, he's looking like his old athletic self. He's moving on the court really well and having fun playing.”
Load management is a hot topic around the NBA these days, and you can be certain one of the Eagles’ top priorities will be to make sure Smith is healthy in March. He led the Sun Belt in scoring, earning first-team all-conference honors, the last time he was healthy for a full season, which was the 2016-17 campaign.
“We're trying to take every precaution with him to make sure he's healthy,” said Byington. “We are doing a load management thing for practice. He doesn't need the same amount of reps that maybe a freshman needs. He's seen a lot of it before, and he's a smart player so he can pick up things on the side.”
Crawley got better and better as the 2018-19 campaign wore on and hit his peak at the end of the year. The senior forward averaged 11.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and a steal a game and shot 56.3 percent from the field, the 11th highest in a season in school history.
“Since December of last year, Isaiah has been one of the best players in the league and is going to be one of the best players in the league,” said Byington. “He's shooting the ball much better, he has legit toughness, he has a great feel for the game, and in our games in Spain, I thought he was our best player. I expect him to have a really, really good senior year.”
A 2018-19 third-team All-Sun Belt selection, Jackson is a versatile stat-sheet stuffer, and almost every preseason basketball publication has the guard on its preseason All-Sun Belt team. He averaged 14.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals while shooting 44 percent from the field, making a team high 47 3-pointers and shooting 73.6 percent from the free-throw line.
“Quan had a breakout year last year, but it wasn't unexpected by anybody around here,” said Byington. “We could all see it coming and knew he was going to have a really good year. The challenge for Quan is to try to go from an all-conference player to one of the best players in the league on one of the best teams. He has an ability to attack the rim and score and make big plays and big shots, and the next thing is for him to be really good in every area on the court. He's improved the most with his leadership, but he should be one of the best players on the court every single night.”
Simeon Carter and Trey Dawkins bring a lot of talent and athleticism to the table, and the senior bigs will look to help fill the void left by Glenn.
Carter played in 28 contests and averaged 8.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots per game, which ranked third in the Sun Belt. He shot 58.2 percent from the field, which ranks seventh in the school record books.
“I don't know if there is a more talented post player in our league than Simeon and what comes with talent is expectation,” said Byington. “You have to fulfill your talent, and there are games last year where he was unbelievable, but then there was also inconsistency. A lot is going to be put on him, and he has to be depended on and counted on and respond.”
Dawkins showed some flashes in limited playing time as he got used to the physical and mental demands of Division I basketball. He also used the last year to bulk up to handle that physicality.
“Trey has improved and went from 187 pounds last year to 200 now, and he's understanding the level of commitment that a Division I basketball player has to make,” said Byington. “Similar to Simeon, he has a lot to prove. He is extremely athletic, he's quick, he can shoot, he can block shots and he can run. So for him, it's just putting everything together in the game. Every opportunity is there for him, and he can do a lot of things.”
David-Lee Jones Jr., who played both on and off the ball last season, will assume some of the ball-handling duties and likely play both positions again this year. The senior guard played in all 33 games and averaged 7.8 points, two rebounds and 1.8 assists a contest. He shot 45 percent from the field and a team best 39.8 percent from long distance.
“I thought towards the end of the year David-Lee Jones was playing at a really high level,” said Byington. “He's been here three years, and he's started and played major minutes. There aren't going to be many things he hasn't seen. He's athletic, he's quick, he's experienced, and I'm really expecting a big year out of him.”
With Brown and Glenn now playing professionally, the Eagles will be different this year. Though the uncertainty of what that might look like may have Eagle fans on edge, there is another possibility.
They may just be better.
The Eagles open the campaign at No. 24/23 Auburn Nov. 5 on the SEC Network. Season tickets are on sale now, and tickets start at just $100. Single-game home tickets are also on sale, and all tickets can be purchased at GSEagles.com/tickets.
