With the new year, the Georgia Southern men's basketball team gets a new type of schedule which the team hopes will translate into more wins.

After weeks of enduring an erratic schedule, the Georgia Southern men's basketball team hopes to take advantage of a more regular playing schedule to be able to develop a rhythm.

Southern began the season early this season with a tournament at Duke on Nov. 10. Since then, there have been several occasions in which the Eagles have had six or more days between competitions.

In its most recent competition, Southern traveled to the University of Florida, where the Eagles battled back from a 19-point deficit early in the second half, but were unable to overtake the Gators who got the 88-81 win.

That was nearly two weeks ago.

GSU (3-6, 1-0 SoCon) will take on Chattanooga at home today at 5:30 p.m., following the women's game. The competition will mark the beginning of a more constant schedule of games for the men's team and Eagles hope it will also mark the end of their three-game losing streak.

"More than preparing for Chattanooga, we've been focusing on trying to have a little carry-over from the Florida game," GSU coach Jeff Price said. "We thought we did some good things there. We need to continue to rebound the ball well, take care of the ball and keep tweaking our rotations a little bit with our players."

"It messes with you a little bit," GSU guard Willie Powers said of the odd itinerary that the Eagles have faced up to this point. "Having a game here, a day off, a game there, two days off, I think we can get into a better rhythm like that."

In addition to Powers' offensive production, guards Julian Allen and Antonio Hanson are both scoring in double figures for Southern. Allen also leads the team on the boards with 6.1 rebounds per game.

The Mocs (4-8, 0-1) are led by senior guard Stephen McDowell, who is averaging 20.8 points per game — second most in the league behind Davidson's Stephen Curry.

"[McDowell] is a shooter from anywhere past halfcourt," said Powers, who leads the team in scoring with 14.2 ppg. "He can light it up and is probably one of the best 3-point shooters in our league, him and Stephen Curry, they're probably the best shooters in our league right now."

Nicchaeus Doaks is good for 14.1 ppg., along with 9.6 rebounds on average; third in the SoCon.

"They play a lot of people, they're a deep team," Price said. "But those two are certainly the ones we have to pay special attention to. I think McDowell is one of the few players in the conference that can take over a game on his own. He's one of the best players in the conference and one of the best shooters in the country."

"We've just got to know where they're at, at all times," Powers said. "We can't lose sight. With Stephen McDowell, if we lose sight, he might have three threes, and that would blow the game wide open, and we can't have that. With Doaks, we've got to find him and box him out and try to play defense on him so he can't get any touches, because when he does, it's done."

Notes: Southern's three-game losing streak is the longest nonconference skid for the team since 2000. …Kenith Ward is not expected to play due to a leg injury. Price said he had hoped Ward would be ready for today's game, but that he is now anticipated to be ready by the Eagles' Jan. 10 game at College of Charleston.... All tickets to today’s game are $1.

Natalie Sayewich can be reached at (912) 489-9413.