TICKETS: Call 866.GA.STATE or purchase on-line
Help Georgia State "Can the Rams" as the Panthers host VCU Saturday at 6 p.m. at the GSU Sports Arena. Fans who donate six cans of food can purchase a half-price ticket and receive a free, reusable grocery bag. The world-famous "Bucket Boys" will perform at halftime.
ATLANTA--Georgia State hosts Colonial Athletic Association foe VCU Saturday at 6 p.m. at the GSU Sports Arena.
All Georgia State games can be heard live on WRAS-FM 88.5.
GSU (8-10, 2-4 CAA) has dropped four straight following Wednesday's 52-49 loss at George Mason, in which the Panthers' tied the game with 29 seconds to play, only to fall on a pair of free throws with nine seconds left.
The Rams (11-4, 3-3 CAA) have won two straight under first-year head coach Shaka Smart, including an 81-68 win at Hosftra Tuesday.
"We're coming off a tough game at George Mason," said GSU head coach Rod Barnes. "I'm disappointed we didn't come away with a win, but we got back to playing our kind of basketball, both offensively and defensively. We've got some positives we can build on going into this VCU game."
Now in his third season at Georgia State, Barnes has a veteran team that features six seniors, headlined by the backcourt tandem of Joe Dukes and Trae Goldston.
Dukes, a 6-1 senior from Cuthbert, Ga., is a preseason selection to the All-Colonial Athletic Association second team after earning third-team honors a year ago. The dynamic guard averages 13.6 points per game, along with 5.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He ranks 10th in the CAA in scoring as well as fourth in steals, 15th in assists, 15th in field goal (.404) and free throw (.761) percentage and 18th in rebounding. After 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists at Mason, Dukes is averaging 14.8 ppg and 7.0 rpg in CAA games.
Goldston, the 6-0 Decatur, Ga., native, averages 11.6 ppg (18th CAA), including 2.1 treys per game (sixth CAA) and a 40-percent accuracy rate from long range (fifth CAA). But he has struggled the last three games, being held to just eight points after averaging 20.8 ppg for the previous four games, including CAA Player of the Week honors on Dec. 28. He has moved into third place in GSU history with 174 career three-pointers.
Marques Johnson, a transfer from NC State, is the Panthers' starting point guard, and the 6-5 junior averages 2.3 ppg, 1.7 rpg and 2.2 apg. He shares time at the point with Dukes and with top backup James Fields.
Fields, a 6-3 sophomore, is a strong defender who averages 3.4 ppg and 1.6 rpg.
In the post, the Panthers use a primary rotation of three seniors in 6-10 Xavier Hansbro, 6-7 Trey Hampton and 6-6 Ousman Krubally.
Hampton averages 6.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg and a team-leading 1.5 blocks per game, but he is scoring 7.8 pgg with 2.1 bpg in CAA contests.
Hansbro is third on the team in scoring at 8.9 ppg, along with 4.2 rpg. Against George Mason, his trey tied the game at 49-all with 29 seconds left.
Georgia State's top rebounder is Krubally at 5.8 pg (12th in the CAA), along with 5.6 points per game.
Promising freshman post player James Vincent, 6-10, should continue to earn more minutes as he rounds into shape after a preseason foot injury limited his practice time.
On the wing, Barnes can also turn to 6-7 senior Kevin Lott (2.0 ppg, 1.7 rpg), 6-5 sophomore Jihad Ali (3.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg), who had his best game of the season with 11 points, five rebounds and three steals last week at UNCW and then added six rebounds and three blocks at Mason, or 6-4 junior Dante Curry (2.1 ppg), who scored a season-high 10 points last week versus Drexel.
VCU, the defending CAA champion, features the league's top pro prospect in 6-10 Larry Sanders, who averages 15.9 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.1 blocked shots per game. Two other Rams score in double figures with perimeter players Bradford Burgess at 10.5 ppg and 5.3 rpg, and Joey Rodriguez at 10.2 ppg, along with a league-leading 2.3 steals per game.
THE SERIES VS. VCU
VCU holds a 16-4 lead in the series with Georgia State, including all 10 meetings since the Panthers joined the CAA in 2005-06. VCU is the only CAA school that Georgia State has not beaten in its brief history in the league. The Panthers' last win over VCU was a 99-80 decision on Dec. 22, 1998 at the GSU Sports Arena.
The teams played three times last season. After VCU won the two regular-season meetings by an average of more than 20 points, the meeting in the CAA quarterfinals was much closer, a 61-52 victory for the Rams. Joe Dukes scored a then-career high 24 points for GSU, including 11 straight in the second half to rally the Panthers from 17 points down to within seven points. But VCU went 8-for-9 from three-point range in the second half to hold off the Panthers.
In 2007-08, the he two teams played a pair of extremely close games, which VCU won by a total of just seven points. In the game at Richmond, VCU edged the Panthers, 49-47, but not before Trae Goldston's three-point attempt at the buzzer was just off the mark. In Atlanta, Eric Maynor scored 11 straight points late in the game, including the tying basket with 17 seconds left in regulation, and VCU went on to win, 65-60, in overtime.
The two schools were formerly conference brethren when Georgia State was in the Sun Belt Conference from 1976-77 through 1979-80. Th e Panthers posted a 2-5 record against VCU in that era, and the schools met again in 1980-81 and then in 1997-98 and 1998-99 before Georgia State's entrance into the CAA in 2005-06.
Georgia State head coach Rod Barnes has a 4-5 record against VCU. Barnes' Ole Miss squads defeated the Rams in 1999-00 (75-62, home), 2000-01 (88-84, OT, away), 2002-03 (82-68, home) and 2004-05 (63-62, away). Before coming to Georgia State, Barnes spent the 2006-07 season as an assistant coach at Oklahoma on the staff of Jeff Capel, who was the VCU head coach from 2002-06 before taking over the Sooners.
