Downtown vs. Midtown Round 2: Panthers Face Yellow Jackets Tuesday Night

ATLANTA-After facing each other in an opening night classic last season, the Georgia State men's basketball team will close out this season's non-conference portion of the schedule traveling just across town to face in-city foe Georgia Tech at McCamish Pavilion on Tuesday night at 9 p.m.

Georgia State (6-4) took Round 1 of a three-game series with Georgia Tech (5-5) last season with an impressive 123-120 four-overtime game that lasted more than three hours and went past midnight and into Thanksgiving morning. It marked the Panthers first-ever win over an ACC opponent as both teams set numerous school records. The series will conclude in the new GSU Convocation Center next season.

Among the many storylines on Tuesday night will be head coach Rob Lanier looking for his 100^th career win. His first two-season winning percentage is the best of any coach in their first two years at Georgia State. Two of his assistants, Cliff Warren and Chris Kreider, also have previous ties to the Yellow Jackets, while Jarvis Hayes played at Georgia and faced Georgia Tech on multiple occassions.

Following a 23-point performance on Saturday going 7-of-8 from 3-point range, senior Corey Allen leads the Panthers averaging 16.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He is shooting 44.2 percent from 3-point range.

Senior Justin Roberts is adding 14.4 points and shooting just under 50 percent from the floor, while fellow senior Kane Williams is adding 12.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per contest.

Roberts and Allen are both now within 175 points of becoming the 24^th and 25^th 1,000-point career scorers in GSU program history.

Williams became the program's all-time wins leader last week and is now just 21 points shy of sixth place on the Georgia State career scoring list with 1,354 points. He already has more free throw attempts than any other player in program history, is second in free throws made, and just two appearances shy of playing in more games than any other player in program history.

After missing last season due to an injury Nelson Phillips has returned strong and is averaging 10.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. The redshirt-junior is shooting 51.4 percent from the floor and 46.2 percent from 3-point range.

Broadcast Information

Radio: WRAS-FM 88.5; PbP: Dave Cohen, Color: Lamont McIntosh
Television: Bally Sports Southeast; PbP: Bob Rathbun, Color: Brian Oliver

Game Notes

Despite the close proximity of the two schools (less than 3 miles), this will mark just the second time since 2008 that Georgia State and Georgia Tech meet on the basketball court.
In an opening night classic, Georgia State topped Georgia Tech last season 123-120 in a four-overtime game that lasted until Thanksgiving Day morning. It was a school-record 123 points scored as four Panthers (for the first time in program history) finished with 20 or more points.
Last year's win was the first-ever over an ACC opponent. This marks the second game of a three-game series that will conclude in the new GSU Convocation Center next season.
Georgia State assitant coaches Cliff Warren and Chris Kreider both worked at Georgia Tech under Paul Hewitt. Warren was on the Tech staff from 2000-05 before becoming the head coach at Jacksonville while Kreider was a graduate assistant from 2007-09.
This will be the Panthers fourth of four matchups with an in-state opponent in non-conference play. Georgia State is currently 2-1 in those games.
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.
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.
GSU earned the top spot in the annual Sun Belt Conference Preseason Poll as selected by the coaches.
Seniors Corey Allen (1st Team), Kane Williams (Second Team) and Eliel Nsoseme (Second Team) were all selected to the All-Sun Belt Preseason Teams before the start of the season.
Kane Williams broke Terrence Brandon's school record of 531 career free throw attempts last year and now has 599. He is second all-time with 435 made free throws, trailing only R.J. Hunter's school record of 448.
Williams is current in 7th on GSU's all-time scoring list with 1,354 career points. He is currently 21 points behind Chavelo Holmes for sixth and is 465 points behind R.J. Hunter's school record of 1,819.
Corey Allen has 1,725 career points scored which is among the top 30 career active scorers in the country. He has scored 874 of those points at GSU. He just missed a triple-double with 11 points, 13 rebounds, and 8 assists against Voorhees.
Senior Justin Roberts now has 973 career points including 844 in a Panther uniform. He and Allen are looking to become the 24th and 25th 1,000-point scorers in program history.
Georgia State has won 56-straight games dating back to 1999 when scoring 90 or more points.
Georgia State is ranked No. 33 in the country with 9.5 steals per game and No. 24 with a +4.6 turnover margin.
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 close out the non-conference portion of the schedule traveling just across town to play Georgia Tech on Tuesday at 9 p.m. The game can be seen on Bally Sports South and heard on WRAS-FM 88.5.

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