Panthers Host Coastal in Key Sun Belt Match-up Saturday

ATLANTA-Looking to rebound from a heartbreaking loss on Thursday, the Georgia State men's basketball team will host Coastal Carolina on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., at the GSU Sports Arena.

Georgia State (6-8, 0-3 Sun Belt) suffered a tough 61-60 loss in the final seconds to Appalachian State on Thursday night but will now have to quickly rebound squaring off against a Coastal Carolina (10-8, 2-4 Sun Belt) program also desperate for a conference win.

Despite the tough start to league play, the Panthers have been dominant in Sun Belt Conference play since returning for the 2013-14 season. Since that time, the Panthers have a won a league-best 98 regular season games, earned three regular season titles, a division title, and three runner-up finishes.

Last year Georgia State took two of three games from the Chanticleers including the one match-up in Atlanta.

Senior Corey Allen leads the Panthers averaging 15.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game with a team-high 31 3-pointers. The All-Sun Belt Preseason First Team member is also second on the team in assists and steals.

Senior Kane Williams, who moved into fifth place on Georgia State's all-time scoring list on Thursday night, became the all-time wins leader in program history last month. With one more made free throw, Williams can also become the career leader in that category in program history. He is averaging 12.0 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

Senior Justin Roberts is adding 12.9 points per game and shooting 77.1 percent from the free throw line, while shooting 44.6 percent from the floor. Roberts scored his 1,000^th career point on Thursday night. He is now one of three Panthers in the starting line-up with at least 1,000 points for his career.

Roberts and Allen are both now within 150 points of becoming the 24^th and 25^th 1,000-point career scorers in GSU program history. Both started their careers at other schools before transferring to GSU.

Center Jalen Thomas is adding 6.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, while Eliel Nsoseme is averaging 8.0 points and 7.3 rebounds in per game in his three contests back so far.

Broadcast Information

Radio: WRAS-FM 88.5; PbP: Dave Cohen, Color: LaMont McIntosh
Television: ESPN+; PbP: Dave Cohen, Color: LaMont McIntosh

Game Notes
• Georgia State and Coastal Carolina will be meeting for the first of two games this season and the 12th time overall.
• GSU has won 98 regular season Sun Belt games since the start of the 2013-14 season, the most in the league, while finishing in the top two of the final regular season conference standings six times in eight seasons.
• Georgia State has a 47-19 (.712) record in the month of January since the start of the 2013-14 season.
• Head coach Rob Lanier is closing in on 100 wins for his career (99). He also spent four years as the head coach at Siena.
• Georgia State is looking to snap its four-game losing streak which is the program's longest since 2015-16 season.
• GSU earned the top spot in the annual Sun Belt Conference Preseason Poll as selected by the coaches.
• With the win on Dec. 6, senior Kane Williams became the all-time wins leader in GSU program history moving ahead of Ryann Green and Chris Clerkley. He now has been a part of 89 wins in four-plus seasons.
• Kane Williams broke Terrence Brandon's school record of 531 career free throw attempts last year and now has 608. He is second all-time with 447 made free throws, trailing only R.J. Hunter's school record of 448.
• Williams is current in 5th on GSU's all-time scoring list with 1,395 career points after moving ahead of Devonta White on Thursday night. He is currently 84 points behind Terrence Brandon for fourth and is 424 points behind R.J. Hunter's school record of 1,819.
• Corey Allen has 1,782 career points scored which is among the top 30 career active scorers in the country. He has scored 931 of those points at GSU.
• Senior Justin Roberts now has 1,011 career points including 882 in a Panther uniform after surpassing 1,000 career points on Thursday against Appalachian State. He and Allen are looking to become the 24th and 25th 1,000-point scorers in program history.
• The Panthers tied a school-record with 21 steals in the win over Brewton-Parker on opening night. Georgia State also allowed just 10 first half points, a school record and tied for the fewest in the NCAA this year.
• Georgia State is ranked 18th in the country is turnovers forced (17.43) and 11th in turnover margin at +5.2. The Panthers also rank No. 31 with 8.9 steals per game.
• The Panthers also rank No. 25 in the nation in fewest turnovers (171) and 14th in fewest fouls (218).
• Junior Jalen Thomas is ranked No. 76 in the country averaging 2.77 offensive rebounds per contest, while Ja'Heim Hudson is ranked No. 92 at 2.67.
• Georgia State has won 56-straight games dating back to 1999 when scoring 90 or more points.
• Georgia State is under the leadership of third-year head coach Rob Lanier. His first two-season .648 winning percentage (35-19 record) is the best of any GSU head coach in their first two years leading the program.
• Since 2013-14, GSU has won more games (175) than any other NCAA Division I team in Georgia.

Following the game on Saturday, Georgia State will return to the road for two games starting at Louisiana on Thursday at 8 p.m. The game will air live on ESPN+ and WRAS-FM 88.5.

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