Southern Miss Hits the Road for Thursday Tilt at Georgia State

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss (11-9, 5-3 Sun Belt) men's basketball heads to Georgia State (7-12, 4-3 Sun Belt) for its third-straight road game on Thursday night. The Golden Eagles are slated to tip-off against the Panthers at 6 p.m. CT inside the GSU Convocation Center.

Game 21: Southern Miss (11-9, 5-3 Sun Belt) at Georgia State (7-12, 4-3 Sun Belt)
Thursday, January 22 at 6 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: Southern Miss Radio Network
GSU Convocation Center (7,300)

Fans can listen on the Southern Miss Radio Network, Southern Miss Game Day App, or their local Southern Miss Network affiliate to hear John Cox on the call. The game will air on ESPN+ with Dave Cohen (pxp) and Rodney Turner (color).

NEWS AND NOTES
- Southern Miss is off to a 5-3 start in league play after starting 5-1. The Golden Eagles have lost two straight road games against Troy and Texas State
- Southern Miss picked up two wins in its first Sun Belt road trip, which is its best start in league play on the road in over 10 seasons
- Tylik Weeks leads the league in scoring at 17.9 points per game, while Djahi Binet is coming off a double-double in each of the last three games
- Southern Miss won its Sun Belt opener against Louisiana, 62-54, in a low-scoring affair. Israel Hart dropped a season-best 17 points in the win
- Weeks posted his first career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds against Ole Miss — the rebound total was a career best
- Weeks was named the Sun Belt Player of the Week as he took home MVP honors at the Pensacola Invitational
- Outside of an 11-point deficit at the half against North Florida, Southern Miss dominated the Pensacola Invitational and took home its second MTE title under Jay Ladner
- Weeks scored 37 points in the win over North Florida, which was the 11th-most in program history and the second-most by any Sun Belt player since the 2022-23 season
- Southern Miss fell on the road at South Carolina on Nov. 9 as the Gamecocks used a three-point barrage to finish the comeback in overtime. Weeks dropped a career-high 20 points, while Taveras scored 25 and Israel Hart had 17
- The 2025-26 season marks the 106th season of Southern Miss basketball and the 61st season inside Reed Green Coliseum
- Southern Miss was voted 12th in the preseason poll after finishing in 12th last season in the league standings

ABOUT THE OPPONENT
- Georgia State has won two of its last three games after picking up back-to-back wins over Marshall and ULM. The Panthers cruised to a 77-57 win over the Warhawks on the road last Saturday
- Iowa State transfer Jelani Hamilton leads the Panthers in scoring at 17.8 points per game and is coming of a 17-point game against ULM. He also added nine rebounds and eight assists in the win
- Micah Tucker is second in scoring, averaging 12.6 points per game, while Joah Chappelle leads Georgia State in rebounding at 5.9 rebounds per game
- Georgia State ranks first in the Sun Belt in free throw percentage (78.3) and ninth nationally in that category. Tucker's 87 percent clip from the free throw line leads the league
- The Panthers average 8.9 three-pointers per game and made 16 from deep against ULM. They made 17 in games against Columbia (SC) and Coastal Carolina
- Georgia State is 4-2 at the Convocation Center and has only played six home games this season. More so, the Panthers have only played two Sun Belt games at home

SERIES HISTORY
- Thursday's meeting is the 15th all-time. Only two of the meetings have been since Southern Miss joined the Sun Belt in 2022
- Southern Miss has won the last two meetings, including a 79-71 win in Atlanta on Feb. 4, 2023. The win was part of a nine-game winning streak en route to a regular-season title
- Southern Miss is 3-2 on the road against Georgia State. The Golden Eagles' first road win over the Panthers was in 1975

Charity Stripe Livin'
- Southern Miss has made a living at the free-throw line this season, making at least 20 free throws in six games. The last time Southern Miss made at least 20 free throws was during the 2013-14 season, when it happened in 24 games
- A season-high 27 free throws were made in the win at Radford, while the Golden Eagles had 32 attempts in that game
- The 27 freebies were the most by a Jay Ladner-coached Southern Miss team. The top four of the Ladner era are all from this season

HOME SWEET REED GREEN
- Southern Miss is 41-10 at The Greenhouse since the start of the 2022-23 season
- Southern Miss moved to 69-12 in home openers dating back to the 1956-56 season when the Golden Eagles fell to Louisiana Tech
- The Golden Eagles are now 7-0 in home openers under Jay Ladner, while six of those have been double-digit wins

ON THIS DAY
Date: January 22
- Southern Miss is 8-14 on January 22, dating back to a 42-33 win over Southeastern Louisiana in 1947. The last January 22 game was in 2022, which was a 74-60 loss at Middle Tennessee. Southern Miss' all-time leading scorer Nick Revon had 31 points at Evansville in 1953. In 1959, the Golden Eagles attempted 48 free throws, which is the fifth-most in a single game in program history

THE VETERAN OF THE COUNTRY
- Curt Lewis enters the season as one of the oldest players in Division I basketball. The Louisville, Ky., product was born on May 19, 1999
- Below is a list of the oldest players in the country

Ramel Bethea, Green Bay - July 27, 1996
Nginyu Ngala, Kansas - April 3, 1999
Curt Lewis, Southern Miss - May 19, 1999
Ibrahim Olajuwon, FIU - May 26, 1999
Hunter Erickson, Hawaii - September 14, 1999
Bouna Kebe, Delaware - December 24, 1999

LOADED NON-CON SLATE
- Southern Miss had a loaded non-conference slate that includes only five home games
- Notable stops on the road included South Carolina, Miami (Fla.), Radford, and LSU. The Golden Eagles also played Ole Miss at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum
- Other non-conference games were Buffalo, Tougaloo, Grambling (two times), William Carey, North Florida, UT Martin/Prairie View A&M, and Kent State the second MAC-SBC Challenge in February

Single-game and season tickets are available via southernmiss.com/tickets, calling 1-800-844-TICK, or by visiting the Pat Ferlise Ticket Office during normal business hours.

Fans can follow @SouthernMissMBB on social media to get the latest Golden Eagle news.

Southern Miss Hits the Road for Thursday Tilt at Georgia State

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Players Mentioned

Djahi Binet

Curt Lewis

Tylik Weeks

University of Southern Mississippi Athletics