GEORGIA STATE (6-6, 1-0) at SOUTHERN MISS (6-7, 0-1)
Thursday, Jan. 4  | 8 p.m. ET  |  Reed Green Coliseum

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THE TIPOFF: After opening Sun Belt Conference play with a 91-90 win over Arkansas State, Georgia State begins its first conference road trip at Southern Miss Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. The Panthers complete the road swing at South Alabama Saturday.

> Dwon Odom scored a season-high 24 points, including the deciding free throws with 7.8 seconds left, to lead the Panthers in their 91-90 win over Arkansas State. He went 8-for-12 from the field, including 8-for-8 from the line, and also contributed five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Jay'Den Turner had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Lucas Taylor scored 16 points.

> In their final pre-Christmas action, the Panthers earned a record-setting 122-45 win over Toccoa Falls on Dec. 19. With seven players scoring in double figures, Georgia State tied the school record for most points in a regulation game and broke the mark for margin of victory.

> Sophomore center Edward Nnamoko recorded career highs with 11 points and 16 rebounds for his first double-double in the win over Toccoa Falls. Toneari Lane (19), Lucas Taylor (17), Malik Ferguson (17) Julian Mackey (13), Rickey Bradley Jr. (11) and Jamaine Mann (10) also scored in double figures.

> Georgia State played seven of its 11 non-conference games on the road.

> Georgia State leads the Sun Belt and ranks No. 10 in Division in free throw percentage at .785. Dwon Odom is the Panthers' top individual at .872, which is second in the Sun Belt. In the overtime win at Little Rock, the Panthers went 22-for-22 at the free throw line in the second half and 29-for-34 in the game, and in the win over Arkansas State, the Panthers hit 23-of-28.

> Three of the Panthers' top four scorers are the transfer trio of Lucas Taylor (14.2), Toneari Lane (12.1) and Jay'Den Turner (10.7). Dwon Odom is third at 11.5 ppg.

> Lucas Taylor is the Panthers' leading scorer at 14.2 points per game, which ranks 10th in the Sun Belt. The Wake Forest transfer poured in a career-high 27 points in the 77-70 win at Western Michigan, and he has reached double figures in every game but one.

> Preseason All-Sun Belt guard Dwon Odom, the Panthers' top returning scorer, is averaging 11.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game. 

> Odom is second in the Sun Belt in assists and second in assist-to-turnover ratio at +2.6. After pulling down a career-high 10 boards at BYU, he is GSU's second-leading rebounder.

> Odom is the only Sun Belt player who is averaging at least four assists AND five rebounds per game.

> Toneari Lane, the transfer from Winthrop, is second in the Sun Belt with 2.4 3-pointers per game. 

> Lane scored a career-high 23 points in each of the back-to-back wins over Little Rock. He hit nine 3-pointers and 11-of-13 free throws in the two games while averaging 5.0 rebounds.

> Jay'Den Turner leads the Panthers and ranks No. 6 in the Sun Belt with 8.1 rebounds per game, along with 10.7 points per game. Turner scored a season-high 19 points Dec. 4 vs. Middle Georgia State, when he connected on 7-of-9 from the field, including 4-for-5 on 3-pointers. 

> In the overtime win at Little Rock, Turner had 16 points and eight rebounds, including six of GSU's 10 points in overtime. In one sequence, he hit the go-ahead 3-pointer, grabbed a steal, made a layup and then drew a charge. 

> Junior guard Julian Mackey has averaged 8.3 points over the last six games.

> Senior guard Brenden Tucker, another Preseason All-Sun Belt selection, reached the 1,000-point milestone for his career vs. Middle Georgia State. He averaged 12.9 ppg for the Panthers last season after scoring 569 points in three seasons at Charleston. 

> In the 93-90 overtime win at Little Rock (Nov. 22), the Panthers rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half after trailing 61-44 with 14 minutes to play. That is GSU's largest second-half comeback since overcoming a 22-point second-half deficit to win at Alabama in 2018-19. Toneari Lane, who scored 23 in the game, started the comeback with nine straight points on back-to-back treys and then three free throws.

SERIES NOTES: Southern Miss leads the series 7-5 after winning 79-71 in Atlanta last season in the teams' first meeting as Sun Belt Conference foes.

> GSU and Southern Miss played four straight years in a non-conference series from 2012-13 through 2015-16, with Georgia State winning three of those four. 

> Georgia State is 2-5 in Hattiesburg, but the Panthers won the last meeting there, 66-46 on Dec. 19, 2015.