GEORGIA STATE (1-1) in the CAPITOL CHALLENGE at the GSU Convocation Center
vs. NIU (2-1): Friday, Nov. 17  |  2 p.m.
vs. Little Rock (1-1): Sunday, Nov. 19  |  2 p.m.

TV: ESPN+
TICKETS: GeorgiaStateSports.com/TIX

The Georgia State men's basketball team plays its home opener with a Friday matinee, hosting Northern Illinois at 2 p.m. at the GSU Convocation Center in the first game of the Capitol Challenge.

The Capitol Challenge continues through Sunday, when Georgia State hosts Little Rock Sunday at 2 p.m. In between, NIU and Little Rock will meet Saturday at 2 p.m.

THE TIPOFF
> Lucas Taylor poured in a career-high 27 points and Dwon Odom added 12 points and five rebounds in the Panthers' 77-70 win at Western Michigan last Saturday in the first leg of the inaugural Sun Belt-MAC Challenge. 

> After his 27-point performance, in which he went 9-for-14 from the field with four 3-pointers, Taylor leads the Panthers at 19.5 points per game, along with 3.5 rebounds. The Wake Forest transfer added 12 points in the season opener.

> Georgia State opened the season with an 89-87 loss at Belmont in which graduate transfers Jay'Den Turner and Leslie Nkereuwem combined for 23 points on 11-for-14 shooting with 15 rebounds and five steals. The balanced attack saw seven players score nine or more points, including four in double-figures, and the Panthers committed just seven turnovers.

> Turner, the transfer from Queens, recorded a double-double in his GSU debut vs. Belmont with 12 points and 11 rebounds along with two assists and three steals. He leads the Panthers at 9.0 rebounds per game.

> Longwood transfer Leslie Nkereuwem has scored in double figures in both games, including 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting with four rebounds and two steals in the opener. He is averaging 12.0 ppg and 3.5 rpg. 

> Preseason All-Sun Belt guard Dwon Odom, the Panthers' top returning scorer, has been coming off the bench with 10.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. 

> Sophomore big man Edward Nnamoko scored a career-high nine points and grabbed five rebounds in just 14 minutes at Belmont.

SERIES NOTES: Georgia State and Northern Illinois are meeting for the first time. This is the Panthers' second straight game against a MAC foe following last week's 77-70 win at Western Michigan.

> Georgia State and Little Rock are familiar foes after being in two different conferences together, the TAAC in the 1980s and 90s and the Sun Belt Conference from 2013-14 through 2021-22.

> Little Rock leads the overall series 19-9, but Georgia State has won the last five meetings and eight of the 11 meetings during the Sun Belt era.

> When both teams were in the TAAC, the Trojans won the first 16 meetings from 1984 until Georgia State broke through and defeated UALR, as they were known then, in the 1991 TAAC Championship game. Beginning with that game, GSU has won nine of 12, including an 89-70 victory on March 3, 2020 in Atlanta in the last meeting.

> Georgia State and the Trojans are playing home-and-home in back-to-back games, with the Panthers traveling to Little Rock on Wednesday,Nov. 22.

ADDING EXPERIENCE: Head coach Jonas Hayes and his staff have rebuilt the GSU roster with addition of six transfers and two freshmen. 

> The six-pack of transfers includes experienced graduate transfers Leslie Nkereuwem (Longwood) and Jay'Den Turner (Queens). That duo combined to play in 219 games with 1,657 points and 1,124 points between them over the last four seasons. 

> Nkereuwem  averaged 8.4 points and 3.1 rebounds at Longwood in 2022-23.

> Last season at Queens, Turner led the Atlantic Sun Conference with 7.5 rebounds per game while scoring 8.4 ppg.

> Sophomore Toneari Lane averaged 10.3 points 2.4 rebounds in 34 games at Winthrop last season, while sophomore Rickey Bradley Jr. started 27 of 31 games at VMI, averaging 9.4 points and 4.8 rebounds.

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 62 percent of its games with a record of 235-146.

> Georgia State's 235 victories are more than Mercer, the next best team in the state with 227 wins during that time.

> The Panthers also easily outpace Georgia Southern (203), Georgia (193), Georgia Tech (187) and Kennesaw State (109).

> 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).

3-POINT STREAK: Georgia State has made at least one 3-point field goal in 863 straight games, dating back to the 1994-95 season. The last team to hold the Panthers without a trey was Stetson on Feb. 18, 1995. The streak is among the top 25 in the nation.

ATL MADE: The Georgia State roster features nine players from the Metro Atlanta area: Matt Davis (Alpharetta, Ga./TSF Prep); Toneari Lane (Atlanta, Ga./Grayson HS); Julian Mackey (Grayson, Ga./TSF Prep); Jamaine Mann (Hampton, Ga./Dutchtown HS); DK Manyiel (Greenforest Christian, Decatur, Ga.); Leslie Nkereuwem (Lawrenceville, Ga./Discovery HS); Dwon Odom (Alpharetta, Ga./St. Francis HS); Aaron Oh (Buford, Ga./Mill Creek HS); Brenden Tucker (Lawrenceville, Ga./Dacula HS)

> In addition, Malik Ferguson is from Grovetown HS in the Savannah area for a total of 10 Peach State products.

> Second-year head coach Jonas Hayes is an Atlanta native grew up just minutes from the Georgia State campus, playing at Douglass High School and then the University of Georgia.