As a sophomore, Sims had a career day on Feb. 2, 2009, lighting up the scoreboard for a then career high 29 points in ASU’s 95-82 win, and since then, he’s turned into the Southern Conference’s leading scorer at 19.1 points per contest.
“We’re going to have to find a way to take him out of the game,” said GSU coach Charlton Young. “(He scores) 24 points per game in the conference, 19 overall, and they have some other kids – Isaac Butts I really like. He’s from Milledgeville and I wish he had on a Georgia Southern jersey. But the key to the game is Donald Sims, and we’ve really got to find a way to cut his production in half.”
Butts, a center, also had a career high in both points and rebounds his last time at Hanner (17 points, 19 rebounds).
The Mountaineers (10-7, 4-2) are on a hot streak, answering a three-game losing streak with three-consecutive wins, including a 78-68 win at Davidson on Jan. 9.
Meanwhile, the Eagles (4-15, 1-5) answered an 81-76 win at home over Western Carolina with back-to-back road losses to Wofford and Furman, extending the road losing streak to 20 dating back to last season.
“I really felt like after the Western Carolina game, we would make a push,” Young said. “It’s tough to win on the road in this league. It’s been a long time since Georgia Southern basketball has won on the road, and that’s something psychologically we have to get over. On the same token, it’s good that we finally have a four-game home stand where we can defend our court and hopefully get on a roll.”
Young will try a new starting five against ASU. Guards Willie Powers, Antonio Hanson and Johntavious Rucker will still get the nod, but Tyler Troupe and Cameron Baskerville will be replaced by Colby Wohlleb and Rory Spencer in the lineup.
Troupe and Baskerville will continue to get minutes.
“I’m really proud of how hard both of those guys have played, but they just haven’t been able to put the ball in the basket for us,” said Young. “I think if we give them a chance to watch the game and come off the bench, that will help them some early.”
The bottom line for the Eagles has been lack of scoring. Powers, the team’s scoring leader, averaged just 7.5 points on the road trip, and the team was outscored 140-102 in the last two games.
Georgia Southern tries to turn it around tonight against ASU at 7 p.m.
Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9408.
Post a Comment
