ATLANTA-- After competing on the road in game one of the SBC-MAC Challenge, Georgia State closes out year three of the challenge hosting Northern Illinois on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 2:00 p.m. 

THE SERIES: 
The Panthers and Huskies are meeting for only the second time in program history. A series that started back in 2023, NIU took the first win on Panthers territory . Georgia State looks to protect their home-court and gain a win against the Huskies to even the series.  

TOP STORYLINES: 
Georgia State is 4-1 in SBC-MAC action after going undefeated for the first two years of the scheduling alliance. 

The Panthers have had a strong showing on home court, securing six wins overall and three in Sun Belt action, including victories against Marshall, Southern Miss and Arkansas State on home territory.

Two Panthers have beaten career-highs in points scored in the last three games, both records that were previously held for at least a year. Jelani Hamilton notched a Sun Belt-high 38 points in the Panthers upset over Arkansas State (Jan. 24) and Malachi Brown led the team with 25 points at Louisiana (Jan. 29). 

Coming into conference play ranking 13th in the Sun Belt, Georgia State racked up wins in seven of its last 11 games to take over the No. 6 spot in the Sun Belt.  

The Panthers' hit the road for their last road swing on Feb. 12-14 before ending the season at home. Georgia State will stay at home to finish the season with four-straight contests, tipping off with a rivalry contest against Georgia Southern on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 8:00 p.m. before capping off the regular season hosting James Madison (Feb. 21), Coastal Carolina (Feb. 24) and Old Dominion (Feb. 27).

LEADING THE PACK: 

Jelani Hamilton leads the Panthers in two scoring categories, averaging 18.1 ppg while  shooting 38.6 percent (91-for-236) from the floor, and 90.4 percent (123-136) at the free-throw line. He is second on the Panthers leaderboard in three-point scoring, averaging 34.5 percent (39-for-113) from 3-point range. 

Hamilton scored a career-high 38 points against Arkansas State, tying for the the best single-game performance by any Sun Belt men's basketball player this season (tied with Chaze Harris, South Alabama). 

Despite missing five contests due to an injury early in the season, Hamilton leads the Panthers in total points (344). He has hit double-digit points in 13 straight games and 16 of 19 games played.  

Malachi Brown leads the team in three-point scoring, knocking down 47 treys and connecting at a 37.0 percent clip. 

He scored a career-high 25 points against Louisiana (Jan. 29). 

Brown recorded a career-first points/rebounds double-double against Southern Miss (Jan. 22), posting 12 points and 10 rebounds. 

Trey Scott III is shooting 34.6 percent from three-point range and is averaging 5.8 points per game.

Scott scored a career-high 22 points at Coastal Carolina (Jan. 3), going a perfect 4-for-4 from three-point range.

THE STANDOUT FRESHMAN: 

Freshman Micah Tucker ranks second on the team in scoring at 12.4 ppg while also being second in minutes played (30.4 pg)for the Panthers.  

Tucker has reached double figures in 16 games, including a career-high 24 points against Columbia College (Dec. 28).   

 

ABOUT THE SUN BELT-MAC CHALLENGE: 

A scheduling alliance in men's and women's basketball, the MAC-SBC Challenge closes out its third season on Feb 7. Year three of the series opened on Monday, November 3 with 13 Sun Belt Conference (SBC) women's basketball programs hosting Mid-American Conference (MAC) teams and 13 Sun Belt men's basketball teams visiting MAC opponents.

Georgia State is 4-1 in the SBC-MAC Challenge. 

The Sun Belt and MAC men played to a series split in 2024-25 with the SBC claiming an 8-4 record in November home games, before the MAC accomplished the same feat on its home courts in February. 

The Sun Belt captured the inaugural MAC-SBC Challenge titles on the men's and women's fronts, respectively, in 2023-24.

The MAC-SBC Challenge began during the 2023-24 season at the recommendation of the Sun Belt's strategic planning committees for men's and women's basketball. Scheduling assistance is provided by Ordinal Sports Group. In addition to relevant NET data, geography and frequency of past contests is considered in determining the matchups. 


UP NEXT: 

The Panthers travel to Virginia for their last road swing of the season to face James Madison (Feb. 12) and Old Dominion (Feb. 14) before closing out the season with four conference matchups.