GEORGIA STATE (9-8, 4-2) at GEORGIA SOUTHERN (3-15, 3-3)
Saturday, Jan. 20 | 3 p.m. | Hanner Fieldhouse

WATCH: ESPN+
LISTEN: WGTJ-FM, GSU Athletics app

THE TIPOFF: After a 90-62 win last Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia State faces rival Georgia Southern for the second time in eight days Saturday in Statesboro in a 3 p.m. game.

> In the first meeting, Lucas Taylor scored a career-high 28 points. Toneari Lane added 18 points, and Dwon Odom contributed 15 points, five rebounds and eight assists. The Panthers shot 59.4 percent from the field while holding Georgia Southern to 34.3 percent and outrebounding the Eagles 44-31. The 28-point win equaled Georgia State's largest margin of victory in the series, and the Panthers have won five of the last six against Georgia Southern.

> Georgia State has won five of its last seven games but had its three-game winning streak snapped Wednesday in a 76-68 loss at App State. The Panthers are playing the second of four straight road games.

> Last Thursday in Atlanta, Toneari Lane tied his career high with 23 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with two minutes left, as Georgia State rallied from a 20-point first-half deficit for a 77-70 win over Old Dominion. 

> In Georgia State's three straight wins over South Alabama, Old Dominion and Georgia Southern, Toneari Lane averaged 20.3 points while going 14-for-33 (43 percent) from 3-point range. Lane scored 20 points at South Alabama (6-for-12 3P) and followed with 23 points (5-for-12 3P) vs. ODU and 18 vs. Georgia Southern. Earlier this season, he also scored 23 points, his career high, in each of the back-to-back wins over Little Rock.

> Jay'Den Turner leads the Panthers and ranks No. 4 in the Sun Belt with 9.4 rebounds per game, along with 10.4 points. 

> Turner has opened Sun Belt play with six straight double-figure rebounding games, including three double doubles: 13 ppts/12 rb vs. Arkansas State; 15 pts/11 rb vs. Southern Miss; 11 pts/10 rb vs. South Alabama; 9 pts/15 reb vs. Old Dominion; 5 pts/15 reb vs. Georgia Southern; and 8 pts/12 rb vs. App State.

> Dwon Odom, the Preseason All-Sun Belt guard and GSU's top returning scorer, is averaging 11.5 points, 5.4 rebounds (second on team) and 4.7 assists per game. He is third in the Sun Belt in assists and first in assist-to-turnover ratio at +2.8.

> Odom is the only Sun Belt player who is averaging at least four assists AND five rebounds per game. He has three double-figure rebounding games, and he approached a triple-double vs. Old Dominion with 14 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

> Four of the Panthers' top five scorers are transfers: Lucas Taylor (14.5), Toneari Lane (13.5), Jay'Den Turner (10.4) and Leslie Nkereuwem (8.2). Dwon Odom is third on the team at 11.5 ppg.

> Lucas Taylor is the Panthers' leading scorer at 14.5 points per game, which ranks 11th in the Sun Belt. Taylor scored a career-high 28 points against Georgia Southern. In his second game in a GSU uniform, the Wake Forest transfer scored 27 points in the 77-70 win at Western Michigan, and he added 22 points in the win at South Alabama. 

> Toneari Lane, the transfer from Winthrop, is second in the Sun Belt with 2.8 3-pointers per game and second in percentage at .329. 

> Leslie Nkereuwem has averaged 10.3 points and 7.0 rebounds in Sun Belt games while shooting 64 percent.

> Georgia State leads the Sun Belt and ranks No. 38 in Division I in free throw percentage at .756. Dwon Odom is second in the Sun Belt at .882. Lucas Taylor is second on the team at .864.

SERIES NOTES: After last Saturday's 90-62 win in Atlanta, Georgia State has won five of the last six against Georgia Southern and holds a 14-7 lead against the Eagles during the Sun Belt era, beginning in 2014-15.

> Georgia Southern leads the overall series, which goes back to 1971-72, 39-28.

> The Panthers are just 7-24 at Georgia Southern but have won three of the last four there. The Eagles won last year's game 58-52, but Georgia State won the previous three games in Statesboro.  

> The home team is 41-23 in the series, including 14-5 since 2014-15.

    
PRIDE OF THE PEACH STATE: Georgia State is the winningest Division I college basketball team in the state of Georgia since the 2011-12 season.

> Since the start of 2011-12, Georgia State has won 61 percent of its games with a record of 243-154.

> Georgia State's 243 victories are more than Mercer, the next best team in the state with 234 wins during that time. The Panthers also easily outpace Georgia Southern (205), Georgia (204), Georgia Tech (192) and Kennesaw State (120).

> Georgia State has made four NCAA Tournament appearances in the last decade; the other five Division I programs have combined for four NCAA appearances in that time (Georgia-1, Georgia Tech-1, Mercer-1, Kennesaw State-1).