GAME NOTES: The Georgia Southern Eagles begin their final road trip of the regular season tonight, as they take on the UNCG Spartans for a Southern Conference tilt at Greensboro Coliseum.
Two nights after suffering a 53-47 home loss to Wofford, Georgia Southern rebounded in a big way this past Saturday with a 78-61 triumph over Furman. The Eagles, who are tied for third place in the SoCon South Division, will conclude their schedule at South Division leader Davidson on Saturday.
Tonight's game is Senior Night as well as the final regular-season home game for UNCG. The Spartans have dropped four of their last five contests, including Saturday's 75-71 setback at Samford. They'll finish up their schedule at Elon on Saturday.
UNCG leads the all-time series, 12-8, although Georgia Southern earned an 83-69 victory in the most recent meeting last season at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Eagles head coach C.Y. Young would certainly have liked to have seen the team that showed up last weekend a lot more often this season. After all, the Eagles' 15 3-pointers were a season-high, as were their 20 assists (on 26 field goals). GSU committed only nine turnovers, while holding Furman to 37.3- percent shooting for the game. C.J. Reed accounted for four of those treys, as he finished with 14 points to go along with eight assists. Also joining Reed in double figures were Cleon Roberts with 13 points, and Eric Ferguson and Tre Bussey with 11 apiece. On the season, Ferguson is averaging a team-best 14.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Reed is next in line with 12.9 ppg and has knocked down a team-high 56 3-pointers (.364).
For UNCG, junior guard Trevis Simpson is the top scorer in the conference, with 19.1 ppg. His 22-point showing against Samford marked the 10th time this season that Simpson scored at least 20. Fellow guard Derrell Armstrong is next in line with 14.8 ppg to go along with 4.7 rebounds, and he is coming off a 19-point effort in Saturday's loss. Kayel Locke has been a steady contributor in his freshman campaign, averaging 10.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per tilt. Another underclassman, sophomore Nicholas Paulos (8.1 ppg), is shooting at an impressive 43.8-percent clip from the perimeter (57-of-130). Last week against Chattanooga, Paulos set the school's single-game record with 10 3-pointers and needed only 12 attempts and 21 minutes of floor time to accomplish the feat. UNCG rallied back from an 18-point deficit in the second half against Samford to make it a one-point game in the final minute, but the Spartans were not able to complete the comeback.
Georgia Southern's last win at Greensboro Coliseum came during the 1999 SoCon Tournament. Both of these teams have had their fair share of problems throughout the season, although the Eagles are coming off the more impressive showing their last time out.
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