#StateNotSouthern Round 1 Set for Thursday Night

ATLANTA-Winners of five of the last six games, the Georgia State men's basketball team will return home on Thursday night to face in-state rival Georgia Southern at 7 p.m., at the GSU Sports Arena.

Fans are encouraged to arrive early as the game is expected to sell-out. Atlanta Braves mascot Blooper will be in attendance before and during the game taking photos and taking part in on court contests.

Georgia State (11-10, 5-5 Sun Belt) has quickly become one of the best defensive teams in the country and after an 0-4 start to league play, have quickly climbed into sixth place in the league standings. The Panthers have four regular season games to play and are looking to finish in the top four of the conference standings to secure a bye into the quarterfinals in Pensacola, Fla., in just over two weeks.

Georgia Southern (11-12, 4-8 Sun Belt) has lost three straight games following a three-game winning streak. The Panthers have topped the Eagles in five of the last seven matchups including the lone game played in Atlanta last season.

Since returning from injury, senior Eliel Nsoseme has been heating up while averaging 8.5 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. He has recorded a pair of double-doubles in his first nine starts back and garnered double figure rebound totals in six of his last eight games, including a 12 rebound performance against Appalachian State on Saturday.

Senior Corey Allen leads the Panthers averaging 13.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game with a team-high 46 3-pointers. He is eighth in Georgia State history with 179 career 3-pointers.

Senior Kane Williams, who moved into fourth place on Georgia State's all-time scoring list on Saturday is now just 30 points shy of Rodney Hamilton for third place. Williams is already the all-time wins leader, free throws made, and free throws attempted leader in program history. He is averaging 12.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game while shooting 80.2 percent from the free throw line having made 44 of his last 50 attempts over the last six games.

Senior Justin Roberts is adding 11.8 points per game and shooting 76.3 percent from the free throw line. Along with Williams and Allen, he is one of three Panthers in the starting line-up with at least 1,000 points for his career.

Roberts is now just 50 points of becoming the 25^th 1,000-point career scorers in GSU program history after Allen became the 24th.

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 Georgia Southern will be meeting for the first of two-straight games and the 63rd time overall. The Panthers have only faced one other opponents more times - Mercer.
• The Panthers have won three-straight games and five of six after topping first place Appalachian State 58-49 on Saturday afternoon in Boone.
• Georgia State has held its last two opponents to a combined 99 points. The last time GSU held back-to-back opponents combined to under 100 points - Georgia Southern (3/15/15) and Baylor (3/19/15). The Panthers accomplished that feat two other times during the 2014-15 season which ended in the NCAA Tournament.
• The last time the Panthers held two straight opponents under 50 points was the 2011-12 season when Georgia State held William & Mary to 34, then FIU to just 47.
• Georgia State has won four-straight road games which is tied for the 13th-longest streak in the country.
• GSU has won 103 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.
• Georgia State has a 40-25 (.615) record in the month of February since the start of the 2013-14 season.
• Head coach Rob Lanier earned his 100th career win on Jan. 27, at Louisiana.
• Three of Georgia State's Top 29 scorers all-time are currently on the team. Kane Williams is 4th with 1,485 points, Corey Allen is tied for No. 23 with 1,012 points, and Justin Roberts is No. 28 with 950 career points. Allen became the 24th Panther to score 1,000 career points last Thursday night.
• Allen has 1,863 career points scored (two years at UD) which is among the top 30 career active scorers in the country. He is also among the top 15 active 3-point shooters.
• Kane Williams is one of just two players in Sun Belt Conference history to combine for 1,500 points, 450 rebounds, 450 assists, and 200 steals. The other is former UT Arlington star Erick Neal.
• With the win on Dec. 6, senior 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 94 wins in four-plus seasons.
• Williams has now moved into the top 20 in Sun Belt Conference history with 458 assists. He is also in the top 5 all-time in free throws made and just 10 free throw attempts shy of the top 5.
• Williams broke Terrence Brandon's school record of 531 career free throw attempts last year and now has 665. He broke R.J. Hunter's school record of 448 made free throws on Jan. 20 and now has 491 makes.
• Williams has knocked down 44 of his last 50 free throw attempts over the last six games.
• Jalen Thomas is now tied for 7th on GSU's all-time blocked shots list with 101, more than halfway to Zavian Smith's school record of 182.
• Allen has moved into 8th place on GSU's career 3-pointers list with 179.
• Georgia State is ranked 13th in the country is turnovers forced (17.57) and sixth in turnover margin at +5.3. The Panthers also rank No. 10 with 9.4 steals per game, which is first in the Sun Belt Conference. Leading the Panthers is Nelson Phillips who is ranked No. 81 in the NCAA averaging 1.79 steals per game.
• The Panthers rank No. 31 in the nation in fewest turnovers (258) and 18th in fewest fouls (338).
• Freshman Ja'Heim Hudson is ranked No. 135 in the country averaging 2.47 offensive rebounds per contest, which is helping GSU to 13.48 offensive rebounds per game which is ranked 9th in the country.
• GSU has won 56-straight games dating back to 1999 when scoring 90 or more points.
• Since 2013-14, GSU has won more games (180) than any other NCAA Division I team in Georgia.

Following the game on Thursday, Georgia State will head to Statesboro for the second game with in-state rival Georgia Southern on Saturday at 3 p.m. The game will air live on ESPN+ and can be heard on the GSU Mobile App.

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