Rivalry Renewed: Panthers Face Louisiana Thursday Night

ATLANTA-Arguably the two top teams in the Sun Belt Conference over the last 10 years will renew their rivalry on Thursday night as the Georgia State men's basketball team travels to Lafayette, La., to face Louisiana in the Cajundome at 8 p.m. ET.

Although not meeting during the regular season last year, Georgia State (6-9, 0-4 Sun Belt) squared off against Louisiana (9-8, 4-3 Sun Belt) in the conference tournament semifinals. It marked the fourth time in the last eight years the two schools have met in the tournament with the Panthers winning three of those four matchups.

Overall, Georgia State has won eight of the last 10 in the series, however, the Ragin' Cajuns have taken the last two matchups in the Cajundome.

Senior Corey Allen leads the Panthers averaging 15.0 points and 4.3 rebounds per game with a team-high 32 3-pointers. The All-Sun Belt Preseason First Team member is also first on the team in steals and second on the team in assists.

Senior Kane Williams, who moved into fifth place on Georgia State's all-time scoring list earlier this month, is now the all-time wins leader, free throws made and free throws attempted leader in program history. He is averaging 11.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

Senior Justin Roberts is adding 12.3 points per game and shooting 77.1 percent from the free throw line. Roberts scored his 1,000^th career point last Thursday night. He is now one of three Panthers in the starting line-up with at least 1,000 points for his career.

Roberts and Allen are both now within 150 points of becoming the 24^th and 25^th 1,000-point career scorers in GSU program history. Both started their careers at other schools before transferring to GSU.

Since returning from injury, senior Eliel Nsoseme has been heating up while averaging 10.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. He recorded his first double-double of the season with 19 points and 15 rebounds against Coastal Carolina on Saturday. Last year he became just the seventh Panther to average a double-double for the season.

Broadcast Information

Radio: WRAS-FM 88.5; PbP: Dave Cohen,
Television: ESPN+; PbP: Dan McDonald, Color: Eric Mouton

Game Notes
• Georgia State and Louisiana, arguably the top two teams in the Sun Belt Conference the last eight years, will meet for the first of two regularly scheduled games on Thursday night.
• Last year the two teams did not meet during the regular season (COVID-19) but did meet in the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals. It marked the 4th time the two schools met in the tournament since 2014.
• Georgia State won last year's meeting in Pensacola and has won eight of the last 10 games in the series, however, the Panthers have lost two-straight meetings in Lafayette.
• GSU has combined to go 17-8 in the state of Louisiana since rejoining the league in 2013-14.
• GSU has won 98 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 in eight seasons.
• Georgia State has a 47-20 (.701) record in the month of January since the start of the 2013-14 season.
• HC Rob Lanier is closing in on 100 wins for his career (99). He also spent four years as the head coach at Siena.
• GSU is looking to snap its five-game losing streak which is the program's longest since the 2012-13 season.
• 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.
• Kane Williams broke Terrence Brandon's school record of 531 career free throw attempts last year and now has 608. He broke R.J. Hunter's school record of 448 made free throws on Jan. 20 and now has 453 made free throws attempts.
• Williams is current in 5th on GSU's all-time scoring list with 1,403 career points. He is currently 76 points behind Terrence Brandon for fourth and is 416 points behind R.J. Hunter's school record of 1,819.
• Corey Allen has 1,793 career points scored which is among the top 30 career active scorers in the country. He has scored 942 of those points at GSU.
• Senior Justin Roberts now has 1,015 career points including 886 in a Panther uniform after surpassing 1,000 career points last Thursday against Appalachian State. He and Allen are looking to become the 24th and 25th 1,000-point scorers in program history.
• The Panthers tied a school-record with 21 steals in the win over Brewton-Parker on opening night. Georgia State also allowed just 10 first half points, a school record and tied for the fewest in the NCAA this year.
• Georgia State is ranked 15th in the country is turnovers forced (17.60) and sixth in turnover margin at +5.5. The Panthers also rank No. 22 with 9.2 steals per game. which is first in the Sun Belt Conference.
• The Panthers rank No. 19 in the nation in fewest turnovers (181) and 11th in fewest fouls (232).
• Freshman Ja'Heim Hudson is ranked No. 70 in the country averaging 2.85 offensive rebounds per contest, while senior Corey Allen is ranked No. 37 in the NCAA averaging 2.00 steals per game.
• Georgia State has won 56-straight games dating back to 1999 when scoring 90 or more points.
• 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 Thursday, Georgia State will remain on the road to face ULM in Monroe on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. The game will air live on ESPN+ and the GSU Mobile App.

Print Friendly Version