Today would be as good a time as any for the student to become the teacher.

Georgia Southern basketball coach Charlton Young finds himself in just that situation today, as Cliff Ellis brings his 8-2 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers to Hanner Fieldhouse for a 7 p.m. matchup.

“This is an emotional game for me, because this is my boss and mentor for seven years,” Young said about Ellis, who gave him his first coaching job at Auburn and hired him again in 2000. “He had a huge influence on my coaching career. I owe him magnitudes, and he’s a really, really good coach – probably in the top 25 or 30 in NCAA history. We need to get a win really bad. I wish I didn’t have to try to go out and win a game versus my mentor, but I have no choice.”

The Eagles (3-7) have been fighting an uphill battle all season, entering the year with Colby Wohlleb recovering from offseason surgery and Sandy Perry ineligible to play until his fall-semester grades clear.

Since the opener, forwards Cameron Baskerville and Tyler Troupe have suffered injuries, as well as guard Antoine Johnson. The Eagles most recently fell on the road to N.C. State in a 75-56 affair in which the Wolfpack shot 73 percent. That one followed back-to-back road Southern Conference games, in which the Eagles fell to College of Charleston and The Citadel.

Young equates the struggles to pushing a boulder up a mountain.

“We can’t let one game effect the other,” Young said. “We hit The Citadel – a bump in the road. We were climbing up the mountain and once again, boom, we got knocked right back down to the bottom of the mountain. We circled up after we got back from Charleston in the middle of the court in Hanner and we said, ‘Fellas, we’re at the bottom of the mountain again. Let’s start pushing.’

“We felt like we started pushing the boulder up the hill again against N.C. State. The score wasn’t indicative of that. We still struggled to shoot the ball, but we did some good tings.”

Coastal, on the other hand, rides a four-game winning streak into Hanner. The Chanticleers’ two losses came at the hands of Duke and Cal State Northridge.

They have seen their fair share of SoCon foes, defeating Charleston in the season opener and knocking off Elon 69-46.

Coastal is led by double-double machine Joseph Harris, who averages 18.7 points and 11 rebounds per game.

The contest marks the only home game for GSU in the month of December. Following tonight’s game, the Eagles hit the road for Evansville on Thursday and travel to Atlanta to renew the rivalry with Georgia State on Tuesday, Dec. 22. They return from Christmas for two more road contests – at Coastal Carolina (Dec. 29) and at Auburn (Jan. 2).

Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9408.