Final GSU Sports Arena Game Friday Night; Panthers Host Louisiana

ATLANTA-After 49 years as the home to Georgia State basketball, the Panthers will close out the GSU Sports Arena on Friday night hosting Louisiana in the final game of the regular season for both teams at 7 p.m.

Prior to the game, Georgia State will honor its four seniors: Corey Allen, Eliel Nsoseme, Justin Roberts, and Kane Williams. On the way out, fans will receive a commemorative photo souvenir to honor the last game on Decatur Street.

Georgia State (14-10, 8-5 Sun Belt) has won six-straight games and eight of its last nine games to mount an epic comeback and clinch no worse than the No. 4 seed in the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Championship which gets underway in Pensacola, Fla., next week. The Panthers started league play 0-4.

The Panthers will welcome rival Louisiana (13-13, 8-8 Sun Belt) to Atlanta for the final game of the season. Georgia State earned a 68-64 win over the Ragin' Cajuns in Lafayette last month and will be looking for a third-straight win in the series.

Since returning from injury, senior Eliel Nsoseme has been heating up while averaging 9.0 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. He has three double-doubles in his first 12 starts back and is shooting 56.7 percent from the floor.

Senior Corey Allen leads the Panthers in scoring averaging 13.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game with a team-high 52 3-pointers. He is sixth in Georgia State history with 185 career 3-pointers.

Senior Kane Williams, who currently is in third place on Georgia State's all-time scoring list with 1,522 points, moved ahead of Rodney Hamilton on Wednesday night making his school-record 106^th career start. 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 4.1 rebounds per game while shooting 80.9 percent from the free throw line having made 61 of his last 70 attempts over the last nine games.

Senior Justin Roberts is adding 12.1 points per game and shooting 77.8 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 eight 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: Rodney Turner
Television: ESPN+; PbP: Dave Cohen, Color: Rodney Turner

Game Notes
• After 49 years as serving as the primary home to Georgia State basketball, the GSU Sports Arena will host its final game on Friday night as GSU hosts Louisiana in the second match-up this year and 23rd time overall.
• GSU is currently in 4th-place in the Sun Belt standings and has clinched a bye into the quarterfinals. A GSU win combined with a Troy loss on Friday night would move the Panthers into third place.
• Georgia State topped ULM 82-70 on Wednesday night knocking down a SBC best 12 3-pointers as four Panthers finished in double figures.
• GSU has won 6-straight games, tied for the 15th-longest winning streak in the country.
• Georgia State has also won 8 of its last 9 games with its lone loss coming by just four points.
• Georgia State has won five-straight road games which is tied for the seventh-longest streak in the country.
• GSU has won 106 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 43-25 (.633) record in the month of February since the start of the 2013-14 season.
• Three of Georgia State's Top 28 scorers all-time are currently on the team. Kane Williams is in third with 1,522 points, Corey Allen is No. 21 with 1,049 points, and Justin Roberts is 25th with 992 career points. Allen became the 24th Panther to score 1,000 career points on Feb. 10.
• Allen has 1,900 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 96 wins in four-plus seasons.
• Williams has now moved into the top 20 in Sun Belt Conference history with 475 assists. He is also in the top 5 all-time in free throws made and just four 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 685. He broke R.J. Hunter's school record of 448 made free throws on Jan. 20 and now has 508 makes.
• Jalen Thomas is 7th on GSU's all-time blocked shots list (108), more than halfway to Zavian Smith's record of 182.
• Allen has moved into sixth place on GSU's career 3-pointers list with 185.
• Georgia State is ranked 13th in the country is turnovers forced (16.92) and seventh in turnover margin at +4.7. The Panthers also rank No. 17 with 9.1 steals per game, which is first in the Sun Belt Conference. Leading the Panthers is Kane Williams who is ranked No. 109 in the NCAA averaging 1.71 steals per game.
• The Panthers rank No. 47 in the nation in fewest turnovers (294) and 25th in fewest fouls (379).
• Freshman Ja'Heim Hudson is ranked No. 136 in the country averaging 2.45 offensive rebounds per contest, which is helping GSU to 13.38 offensive rebounds per game which is ranked 10th 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 (184) than any other NCAA Division I team in Georgia.

Following the game on Friday, Georgia State will head to Pensacola, Fla., next week for the Sun Belt Conference Championship. The bracket for the championship is set to be unveiled on Friday night.

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