Men's Basketball 11/29/2020 1:58:00 PM

Men's Basketball Faces Mercer For 84th Time Monday

Panthers Have Won 18 of Last 21 Meetings

ATLANTA-Looking to start the season 3-0 for the first time in 20 years, Georgia State will travel south to face Mercer on Monday night at 7 p.m., at Hawkins Arena.

It will mark the 84^th time that Georgia State (2-0) and Mercer (2-0) meet as each school has recorded early season wins over Georgia Tech to get the season underway. The Panthers have played no other opponent as many times as they have face Mercer.

Georgia State has won 18 of the last 21 meetings in the series including a 73-61 victory in Macon last year when Corey Allen scored 16 points and went over the 1,000 career point mark. Allen is currently one of four Panthers averaging in double figures led by junior Justin Roberts scoring 24.5 points per game.

Roberts and Allen have combined to make 19 3-pointers in the first two games of the year for the Panthers who are averaging 114.0 points per contest, second-most in the nation.

Junior Eliel Nsoseme has had an immediate impact for the Panthers in his first two games averaging 20.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, while shooting 72.0 percent from the floor to go along with five blocked shots.

This will mark the first of two games with the Bears this season. Mercer will return to Atlanta on Dec. 16.

Broadcast Information

Radio: WRAS-FM 88.5/GSU App/TuneIn Radio, PbP: Dave Cohen, Color: Lamont McIntosh
Television: ESPN+
Live Stats: GeorgiaStateSports.com

Game Notes
• Georgia State and Mercer will meet on Monday night for the 84th time and the first of two times this season. The 85 meetings are the most times the Panthers have faced any one opponent.
• Georgia State has won 18 of the last 21 meetings with the Bears including a 73-61 victory at Hawkins Arena as Corey Allen scored 16 points, including the 1,000th point of his career.
• Following the pair of wins last week, Georgia State has now won 12-straight home openers and eight-straight regular season openers.
• Georgia State has scored 100 or more points in back-to-back games for the first time since the first two games of the 1991-92 season.
• Senior Kane Williams, an All-Sun Belt Preseason First Team member, enters Monday just 23 points shy of 1,000 for his career which would make him the 23rd Panther to reach the career milestone. He is 33 points shy of Chris Collier to move into 22nd on the all-time list.
• Last time out Williams became just the eighth player in program history to record 300 or more career assists.
• Georgia State's win over Georgia Tech gave the Panthers their first win ever over an ACC opponent. The Panthers set school records for points scored (123), combined points (243), fouls (37), combined fouls (65) while playing the first triple and quadruple overtime game in school history.
• Also in the win over Tech, four Panthers (Allen, Nsoseme, Roberts, and Williams) each scored 20 or more points marking the first time in program history that feat has been accomplished in a game.
• The win over Tech also gave the Panthers three wins over Power 5 programs in the last two-plus seasons. In 2018-19, Georgia State knocked off both Georgia and Alabama.
• Georgia State knocked down 16 3-pointers against Toccoa Falls on Friday, tied for the fourth-most in program history. The 37 attempts are tied for the fifth-most in program history.
• Justin Roberts, an All-Sun Belt Preseason Second Team member, went 9-of-10 from the floor against Toccoa Falls, tied for the third-best field goal percentage in a single-game in school 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 seven seasons.
• During that same time, GSU has won more games (155) than any other NCAA Division I team in Georgia.
• Georgia State is under the leadership of second-year head coach Rob Lanier. His 19 wins in his first year at the helm is the third-most by a first-year head coach in program history.
• Georgia State was selected to win the East Division of the Sun Belt Conference this year in the annual preseason poll by the coaches and media.

Following Monday night's game, Georgia State will head to North Carolina on Friday to face Charlotte at 6 p.m.

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