Men's Basketball Faces First Place Appalachian State Saturday

ATLANTA-Looking to avenge a heartbreaking loss from last month, the Georgia State men's basketball team travel to first-place Appalachian State in Boone, N.C., on Saturday for a 4 p.m., tip-off at the Holmes Convocation Center.

Georgia State (10-10, 4-5 Sun Belt) has won four of its last five games to climb into sixth place in the conference standings and will now look to split the season series with Appalachian State (16-10, 10-3 Sun Belt) following a 61-60 loss to the Mountaineers in Atlanta last month.

Since returning from injury, senior Eliel Nsoseme has been heating up while averaging 8.7 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. He has recorded a pair of double-doubles in his first eight starts back and garnered double figure rebound totals in five of his last seven games, including an 11 rebound performance against the Mountaineers in the first game.

Senior Corey Allen leads the Panthers averaging 14.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game with a team-high 44 3-pointers. He scored his 1,000^th point in a Georgia State uniform on Thursday night and has more than 1,800 points for his career.

Senior Kane Williams, who moved into fifth place on Georgia State's all-time scoring list last month and is now within six points of fourth place, is now the all-time wins leader, free throws made, and free throws attempted leader in program history. He is averaging 12.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game while shooting 79.3 percent from the free throw line having made 22 free throws in the last two games.

Senior Justin Roberts is adding 11.8 points per game and shooting 76.5 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 61 points of becoming the 25^th 1,000-point career scorers in GSU program history after Allen became the 24th.

Broadcast Information

Radio: GSU Mobile App; PbP: Dave Cohen
Television: ESPN+

Game Notes
• Georgia State and Appalachian St. will be meeting for the second time this season and the 18th time overall.
• App State took the first game 61-60 when Justin Forrest hit a jumper with just 1.4 seconds to play.
• The two teams met in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game last year with the Mountaineers earning the win to go to the NCAA Tournament and denying the Panthers a fourth bid in seven years.
• GSU has won 102 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 39-25 (.609) record in the month of February since the start of the 2013-14 season.
• Head coach Rob Lanier earned his 100th career win on Jan. 27, at Louisiana.
• Three of Georgia State's Top 29 scorers all-time are currently on the team. Kane Williams is 5th with 1,473 points, Corey Allen is No. 24 with 1,002 points, and Justin Roberts is No. 29 with 939 career points. Allen became the 24th Panther to score 1,000 career points on Thursday night.
• Allen has 1,853 career points scored (two years at UD) which is among the top 30 career active scorers in the country.
• 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 93 wins in four-plus seasons.
• Williams has now moved into the top 20 in Sun Belt Conference history with 458 assists.
• Williams broke Terrence Brandon's school record of 531 career free throw attempts last year and now has 660. He broke R.J. Hunter's school record of 448 made free throws on Jan. 20 and now has 486 makes.
• Jalen Thomas is now No. 8 on GSU's all-time blocked shots list with 99, more than halfway to Zavian Smith's school record of 182.
• Allen has moved into 8th place on GSU's career 3-pointers list with 177.
• 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 13th in the country is turnovers forced (17.70) and sixth in turnover margin at +5.4. The Panthers also rank No. 14 with 9.4 steals per game, which is first in the Sun Belt Conference. Leading the Panthers is Nelson Phillips who is ranked No. 85 in the NCAA averaging 1.78 steals per game.
• The Panthers rank No. 28 in the nation in fewest turnovers (246) and 21st in fewest fouls (320).
• Freshman Ja'Heim Hudson is ranked No. 120 in the country averaging 2.56 offensive rebounds per contest, which is helping GSU to 13.60 offensive rebounds per game which is ranked 8th in the country.
• 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 (179) than any other NCAA Division I team in Georgia.

Following the game on Saturday, Georgia State return home to start a two-game series with in-state rival Georgia Southern on Thursday at 7 p.m. The game will air live on ESPN+ and can be heard on WRAS-FM 88.5.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

#11 Corey Allen: G; 6' 2"; Redshirt Junior

#14 Chris Clerkley: F; 6' 8"; Senior

Eliel Nsoseme: F; 6' 9"; Junior

#10 Nelson Phillips: G; 6' 4"; Sophomore

#2 Justin Roberts: G; 5' 11"; Redshirt Sophomore

#25 Jalen Thomas: F; 6' 10"; Freshman

#12 Kane Williams: G; 6' 3"; Junior

#15 Ja'Heim Hudson: F; 6' 7"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#11 Corey Allen
: 6' 2"; Redshirt Junior
: G

#14 Chris Clerkley
: 6' 8"; Senior
: F

Eliel Nsoseme
: 6' 9"; Junior
: F

#10 Nelson Phillips
: 6' 4"; Sophomore
: G

#2 Justin Roberts
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Sophomore
: G

#25 Jalen Thomas
: 6' 10"; Freshman
: F

#12 Kane Williams
: 6' 3"; Junior
: G

#15 Ja'Heim Hudson
: 6' 7"; Freshman
: F