The Georgia Southern Eagles haven’t met Georgia State since 1996, but for head coach Charlton Young, back in his playing days when the two GSUs met, it was usually for all the marbles. If they weren’t playing for a Trans America Athletic Conference title, they were, at the very least, playing for the title of the “real” GSU.
“I’ve definitely had this game circled on my calendar for a long time,” Young said. “A lot of great memories are associated with this game as a player. It’s a game that we should play every year – it would help both of our teams and it will also help in recruiting. We have a lot of relationships in the Atlanta area.”
Young expects to see a lot of familiar faces at the game, which tips off today at 7 p.m. at the Georgia State Sports Arena in Atlanta. Young expects to see former teammates, classmates and many Atlanta-area Georgia Southern alumni at the game, as well as some current families. Krzysztof Janiszewski, Antoine Johnson, Blake Thompson, Johntavious Rucker, Rory Spencer, Cameron Baskerville and Alex Coxworth all played prep hoops in the area.
Still, the Eagles (3-9), who are currently riding the wave of a five-game losing streak, have more important things to worry about.
“The way we’ve been playing and what we’ve been going through, I think I’ve got to be careful to make sure we just concentrate on the basics and take this game 20 minutes at a time,” Young said.
The Eagles have been decimated by injury, and are still missing an important piece of the puzzle. Johnson, a senior point guard and the team’s most accurate shooter (.483 field-goal percentage) is out with injury until his hopeful return on Jan. 6.
The lack of a full roster has caused the team to be outmanned physically through the tumultuous stretch.
“(Georgia State) will be a physical game, and physical teams have been a weakness for us,” Young said. “It’s something we need to go through as a team to get us ready to make a Southern Conference run. We lost the Charleston game because of lack of physicality, and Cameron Baskerville (who was injured for the contest) is our enforcer.”
A lot of players, like Jeb Brannen, Rucker and Colby Wohlleb, have been forced into new roles with the injuries, as well as Ben Drayton, who has seen more time at the point than Young would like.
“He’s not a point guard, he’s a scorer,” Young said of Drayton. “He’s a backup point, he’s got two more years in the program and we’re gradually going to push him to become the point, but (Johnson) is a point guard and Willie is a point guard. My vision when A.J. gets healthy is to have two point guards on the floor to help us become a flow team – push the ball and make good decisions.”
Willie Powers has been the most consistent player on the offensive side of the floor, leading the team with 14.5 points per contest. Antonio Hanson (11.2 ppg) and Drayton (10.2 ppg) are also averaging double digits.
Rory Spencer leads the team in scoring from the post, averaging 9.3.
Young hopes to see the Eagles – who are off to an 0-2 start in Southern Conference play – find their chemistry by the time the heart of the conference schedule tips off against Chattanooga on Jan. 6.
For now, Georgia Southern looks to reclaim the title of “The real GSU.”
NOTES: Open to all Eagle fans, a pre-game event at Atlanta’s Six Feet Under, hosted by the Georgia Southern Office of Alumni Relations, begins at 4:30 p.m. For more information on the event, contact GSU Alumni Relations at (912) 478-2586. … Several Eagles rank among the best of Division I in several statistical categories. Rucker is No. 20 in the country in steals per game (2.7) behind John Wall of Kentucky and Paul George of Fresno State. Spencer is No. 38 nationally with 2.4 blocked shots per game, and Hanson is No. 26 nationally with 3.2 3-pointers per contest.
Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9408.
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