ATLANTA – Capping off a three-game road trip, the App State Men's Basketball team (16-9, 9-4 SBC) looks to extend its four-game winning streak to five games on Saturday as they take on the Georgia State Panthers (11-15, 6-7 SBC) for the second time this season. Saturday's game will mark the Mountaineers' second of four regular-season games against teams from the state of Georgia. Tipoff from the GSU Convocation is slated for 2 p.m. and the contest can be streamed on ESPN+.
Claiming an 18-point win on Thursday over Coastal Carolina, the Mountaineers secured their sixth straight season with a winning percentage of .500 or better. It's the longest stretch of play without a losing season since 1946-52. App State is four wins away from posting its second straight 20-win season, something it has not done in consecutive years since posting three straight 20-win campaigns from 1997-2000.
App State held Coastal Carolina to just 46 points on Thursday, marking its fourth game this year holding an opponent to 50 points or fewer (Jan. 18 at James Madison, Jan. 16 at Old Dominion and Nov. 29 vs. Colgate). It was also the third straight game that the App State defense has held its opponent below 60 points and the 11th instance of the season. The last time App State held four Division I opponents to 50 points or fewer was in the 1978-79 season (also four times) that culminated with a berth in the NCAA tournament. App State is 18-0 in the
Dustin Kerns era when allowing 50 points or fewer.
App State will look to build upon a 6-1 record against teams from Sun Belt East schools this season when it squares off with Georgia State on Saturday. Entering Saturday, the Mountaineers have claimed victories in 19 of their last 20 contests against Sun Belt East foes. App State saw a streak of 17 straight wins over Sun Belt East schools snap on Jan. 29 against Old Dominion. However, App State is outscoring its Sun Belt East opponents by 91 points so far this season (13 points a game).
The Matchup
- Who: App State at Georgia State
- Where: GSU Convocation Center // Atlanta, Ga.
- When: Saturday, Feb. 15 // 2 p.m.
Tune In
- Watch: Watch (ESPN+) | Dave Cohen (PxP), Lamont McIntosh (Color)
- Listen: FLAGSHIP 97.3 (North Wilkesboro), 96.3 (Winston-Salem/Greensboro), 1350/96.1 (Asheville), 1250/103.9 (Marion) | Matt Present (PxP)
- Live Stats: appstatesports.com
Last Time Out
It was a tight first 30 minutes of the contest in Conway on Thursday, but a push by App State in the second half helped it pull away from the Chanticleers for its fourth straight win. With the score at 41-39 in favor of App State with 11:29 to play, the Mountaineers outscored the Chanticleers 23-7 over the final 11 minutes to post a 64-46 win, the team's 16th win of the year.
For the second consecutive game, the Mountaineers overcame a sluggish first half with a dominant second half as App State outscored the Chanticleers by 14 in the final stanza. Over the past two games, the Mountaineers are +33 in the second half. Despite the slow start, App State led for 34 minutes in the game and led for the final 30 minutes of play.
App State had three players reach double figures against the Chanticleers in
Myles Tate,
CJ Huntley and
Alonzo Dodd. Tate struggled to shoot the basketball, going just 4-13 from the field, but as good players do, he impacted the game in other ways as he recorded his second career double-double on Thursday with 17 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. It was Tate's second career game with at least 10 rebounds with his last 10-rebound game coming on Jan. 16, 2021, against Creighton when he was a member of the Butler Bulldogs.
Scouting the Mountaineers
Owners of the Sun Belt's longest active winning streak (four games), the Mountaineers come into play in Atlanta on Saturday as one of the hottest teams in the Sun Belt Conference. Overall, the Mountaineers have won 10 of their last 12 contests, with six of those wins coming by at least 10 points. App State sits in a four-way tie for second place in the Sun Belt standings with just six games remaining and is one game back of Arkansas State in the standings. Since Jan. 4, the Mountaineers are outscoring their opponents by 115 points, good for an average of 9.6 points a game.
Stifling defense has continued to be the story for App State this season as they enter play on Saturday with the Sun Belt's best scoring defense and the nation's 10th-best scoring defense, allowing just 62.4 points a game. The Mountaineers have let just six opponents eclipse 70 points against them this season and have kept 15 of their last 17 opponents below 70 points. App State posted its 11th game of the season allowing fewer than 60 points on Thursday against Coastal Carolina, moving to 11-0 when doing so.
The Mountaineers' 3-point defense has been among the best in the country as of Saturday as they keep their opponents to just a 28 percent mark from behind the arc (166-592). App State boasts the fourth-best 3-point defense in the country as of Saturday, bested only by No. 5 Tennessee, Campbell and Liberty. The Mountaineers have let only four opponents shoot over 40 percent from behind the arc against them this season and have held 15 opponents below 30 percent from the long line entering Saturday.
Although they don't shoot a lot of threes (554 attempts), the Mountaineers boast one of the more efficient 3-point shooting percentages in the conference entering the game against the Panthers as App State is shooting the three at a 35.6 percent clip, which is good for the second-best mark in the Sun Belt Conference. Only Texas State has a better 3-point field-goal percentage. App State has won 24 straight contests when shooting at least 40 percent from 3-point land, which includes an 11-0 mark this season.
Scouting the Panthers
Georgia State enters play on Saturday on a three-game winning streak, defeating Old Dominion, Buffalo and ULM. Two of those three wins have come on their home floor. Over the Panthers' last two home games, they are outscoring their opponents by 55 points and have eclipsed 95 points in both contests.
The Panthers have shot at least 60 percent in each of their past two games at the GSU Convocation Center, which includes a 65.5 percent night against Old Dominion on Thursday. Because of this recent outburst, Georgia State sits in third place in the Sun Belt in team field-goal percentage at 44.8 percent. Georgia State has shot at least 40 percent from the field in each of their last seven games.
Head coach Jonas Hayes also boasts a talented duo in Cesare Edwards and Toneari Lane. Edwards is coming off a career night against the Monarchs in which he scored 29 points while Lane has scored at least 10 points in 13 straight contests.
Series History
The Mountaineers and Panthers are set to meet for the second and final time of the regular season on Saturday and the 25th time all-time. App State has seen little resistance from the Panthers in recent history as it has won five straight games against Georgia State heading into play in Atlanta.
The two teams opened up the month of February with a meeting in the Holmes Center, which saw the Mountaineers claim an 80-76 win. Kerns is 9-5 in his career against Georgia State but has never lost to current Panther head coach Jonas Hayes (5-0).
App State saw four players eclipse double figures in the Feb. 1 matchup with Georgia State, but none scored more than Tate, who tallied 25 points. Huntley also tallied a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds while
Dior Conners lit up the scoreboard from 3-point land with four threes. Conners tallied 18 points against the Panthers, his second-highest scoring game of the year.
Next Up
The Mountaineers will open their final homestand of the season next Thursday with a meeting against the Georgia Southern Eagles. App State will play its next two games at the Holmes Center after play concludes Saturday. Tipoff from Boone is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and the contest can be streamed on ESPN+.
The 2024-25 men's basketball season is presented by Foscoe Companies.
