Men's Basketball Faces No. 2 Duke Friday For Nationally Televised Game

ATLANTA-Looking to earn a win over its highest-ranked opponent in school history, Georgia State will travel to Durham, N.C., to face-off with No. 2 Duke on Friday night at 7 p.m., before a nationally televised audience. It will mark the first of four-straight games as a part of the 2K Empire Classic benefiting Wounded Warrior Project.

Georgia State (1-1) owns four wins over ranked opponents in program history but is looking for their first win over an ACC program. Duke (3-0) has won 149-straight non-conference home games entering Friday night's contest which will air live on the ACC Network.

Friday's contest can be heard live on WRAS-FM 88.5 with Dave Cohen, now in his 37^th year as the Voice of the Panthers calling the action. The game will also air live on the ACC Network with Jay Alter and Cory Alexander on the call. Live statistics and live audio will be available at GeorgiaStateSports.com and on most mobile devices.

The Panthers and Blue Devils have met just once before with Duke earning a 74-55 win over Georgia State to open the 2012-13 season. Friday's match-up also marks the first ACC regular season match-up for the Panthers since that game. Georgia State's only other game since that time against an ACC opponent came at Clemson in the Postseason NIT in 2014.

Georgia State's last win over a ranked opponent came with a 57-56 win over No. 16 Baylor in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Last season the Panthers went 0-2 against ranked opponents, falling at No. 24 Kansas State and No. 9/11 Houston in the NCAA Tournament.

This will mark the eighth time in the last night years the Panthers have participated in an in-season tournament. Last year Georgia State combined to go 3-1 in the Cayman Islands Classic finishing in third-place after a win over in-state foe Georgia.

Georgia State won new head coach Rob Lanier's debut just over a week ago. Lanier is no stranger to squaring off against top ranked competition. While the Associate Head Coach at Tennessee last year he guided the Volunteers to a win over No. 1 Gonzaga.

Despite just two games into the season, multiple players have recorded person bests to open the season. Senior Damon Wilson scored a career-high 22 and sophomore Kavonte Ivery scored 13 points, trumping the nine total points he scored as a freshman, in the season opener with Brewton-Parker.

Against College of Charleston, junior Josh Linder recorded his first double-double with career-highs of 19 points and 12 rebounds, while redshirt-sophomore Justin Roberts scored a career-high 22 points.

All-Sun Belt Preseason Second Team member Kane Williams, who also earned Sun Belt Conference All-Tournament recognition last year, leads the team averaging 13.5 points per game.

Notes:

With a 3-pointer last Saturday, Georgia State has made at least one 3-pointer in 750 games dating back to Feb. 18, 1995.
Georgia State currently ranks No. 2 in the nation in offensive rebounds per game averaging 19.5 per contest. The Panthers are also No. 8 in rebound margin at +18.0 per game.
Sophomore Kavonte Ivery is currently tied for No. 1 in the country with a perfect 1.000 free throw percentage going 8-of-8 from the line.
Rob Lanier became the first Georgia State head coach since 1981-82 to win their debut with the Panthers. Seven previous coaches garnered a loss in their Georgia State debut.
Since the start of the 2013-14 season, the Panthers have won 135 games, the most of any NCAA Division 1 program in the state of Georgia.

Following Friday night's game, Georgia State will continue a stretch of five-straight games away from home on Sunday at Georgetown as a part of the 2K Empire Classic benefiting Wounded Warrior Project. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m. from Capital One Arena and can be seen live on the FS1.

Quick Notes:
•   Georgia State and No. 2 Duke will meet for just the second time. The Blue Devils won the 2012-13 regular season opener over the Panthers with a 74-55 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
•   The Panthers are looking for their first regular season win against an ACC opponent. GSU has not played a member of the ACC since a 2014 loss at Clemson in the Postseason NIT.
•   GSU has four all-time wins over teams ranked in the top 25. The last came against No. 16 Baylor in the 2015 NCAA Tournament. The last ranked opponent GSU faced was No. 9/11 Houston in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
•   Last time out Georgia State fell to College of Charleston 84-80 in Charleston on Saturday. Junior Josh Linder recorded his first career double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds, while redshirt-sophomore Justin Roberts scored a career-high 22 points.
•   With the opening night win, Rob Lanier became the first Georgia State head coach to win their debut since the 1981-82 season when Jim Jarrett won his debut. Lanier previously served as the Associate Head Coach at Tennessee.
•   The Panthers are looking to start a season 2-1 for the third season in a row.
•   Last year, Georgia State made its second-straight and third NCAA Tournament in the last five years, the best stretch in program history.
•   Since returning to the Sun Belt in 2013-14, Georgia State has finished in the top two of the final regular season conference standings five times in six seasons.
•   During that same time frame, Georgia State has won more games (135) than any other NCAA Division I team in Georgia.
•   Junior Kane Williams was selected to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Second Team. He finished last year earning Sun Belt Conference All-Tournament recognition.
•   Williams is one of just nine active juniors in the country to have won conference tournaments in each of their first two years and appeared in NCAA Tournament games.
•   22 is a Magic Number: Both senior Damon Wilson and redshirt-sophomore Justin Roberts have set career highs in the first two games by scoring 22 points. Wilson did it against Brewton-Parker, while Roberts scored 22 at College of Charleston.
•   Sophomore Kavonte Ivery finished with 13 points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes against Brewton-Parker. As a freshman Ivery scored a total of nine points and played a total of 36 minutes.

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Players Mentioned

#0 Kavonte Ivery: F; 6' 6"; Sophomore

#20 Josh Linder: F; 6' 8"; Junior

#2 Justin Roberts: G; 5' 11"; Redshirt Sophomore

#12 Kane Williams: G; 6' 3"; Junior

#1 Damon Wilson: G; 6' 5"; Redshirt Senior

Players Mentioned

#0 Kavonte Ivery
: 6' 6"; Sophomore
: F

#20 Josh Linder
: 6' 8"; Junior
: F

#2 Justin Roberts
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Sophomore
: G

#12 Kane Williams
: 6' 3"; Junior
: G

#1 Damon Wilson
: 6' 5"; Redshirt Senior
: G