BOONE, N.C. - Wrapping up their 2025-26 home schedule, the App State men's basketball team will look to bounce back from two straight losses when it hosts the Georgia Southern Eagles on Saturday at the Holmes Center. Saturday is Senior Day for App State, and the Mountaineers will honor their three seniors prior to the game. Saturday is also a Black Out, and fans are encouraged to wear black to the game. Tipoff from Boone is scheduled for 1 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
App State will honor its three seniors,
Kasen Jennings,
Alonzo Dodd and
Jalen Tot, before the game on Saturday and celebrate the contributions the three of them have made to the team in their careers. Jennings enters Saturday as App State's leading scorer, averaging 15.4 points per game, while Dodd is close behind him at 13.8. Dodd also leads the team in assists with 121. Tot has been the Mountaineers' best shooter this season, as he enters Saturday as the team leader in 3-point field goals with 72 and is second in 3-point field-goal percentage at 34 percent.
Saturday's game marks the Mountaineers' final home game of the season. The Mountaineers own a 10-4 record at home this year, and will look to end its home schedule with 11 home wins, which would tie the 2021-22 season for the second-most home wins in the Kerns era.
Entering Saturday, the Mountaineers have won 35 of their last 43 games played at the Holmes Center, which is good for an 81.4 percent winning percentage. App State has won four of its last five home games entering Saturday, with two of them coming by double figures. Since 2023-24, the Mountaineers have posted 25 wins by at least 10 points at home.
The Matchup
- Who: App State vs. Georgia Southern
- Where: Holmes Convocation Center // Boone, N.C.
- When: Saturday, Feb. 21 // 1 p.m.
Tune In
- Watch: Watch (ESPN+) | David Jackson (PxP), John Reisterer (Color), Bob Dillner (Sideline)
- Listen: FLAGSHIP 97.3 (North Wilkesboro), 950 AM/92.7 FM (Greensboro), 790 AM/93.7 FM (Johnson City) | Matt Present (PxP)
- Live Stats: appstatesports.com
Last Time Out
With just 40 seconds to play in regulation and App State trailing by three, Jennings buried a step-back 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie the score at 92, which sent the home crowd into a brief frenzy. On the other end, Marshall's Landen Joseph calmly stepped into a pull-up jumper from the right elbow to send the Thundering Herd ahead by two with 12 seconds to go.
Looking to either tie the score or take the lead, Tot raced into the lane and nearly missed an and-one chance, but stepped to the line for a pair of free throws to try and tie the game. Tot made the first one, but missed the second one, and Marshall grabbed the rebound and ran out the clock to clinch a crucial 94-93 win in Boone on Thursday.
The Mountaineers led by as many as 16 points in the first half and led by double-digits for much of the first half and into the second half. But Marshall started to creep back into the game after the first media timeout of the second half with a 16-7 run to cut a once 13-point App State lead into a four-point lead with 12:34 to play. Despite several attempts to pull away, App State couldn't shake the Herd's offense, and they eventually took the lead with 3:28 to play. Marshall outscored App State by 12 points in the second half.
Scouting the Mountaineers
App State enters play on Saturday with an 18-11 record and a 10-6 record in Sun Belt play, which places it in a tie for third place in the league standings. App State enters play against the Eagles having won seven of its last nine games, and 14 of their last 20 games dating back to Dec. 3. App State is one of only four teams in the Sun Belt Conference with 10 or more Sun Belt wins, while also being one of five Sun Belt teams with at least 18 wins overall this season.
The Mountaineers continue to be one of the best defensive teams in the Sun Belt Conference and the country entering Saturday as they pace the league in scoring defense, allowing 65.3 points a game, which is 4.6 points ahead of the next closest team (South Alabama - 69.9). App State has finished in the country's top 50 in scoring defense each of the past four seasons, and enters play on Saturday with the 16th-best scoring defense nationally. App State is looking to finish with a top-20 scoring defense for the second straight season (finished 12th last season).
Offensive rebounding has become a major emphasis for App State this season, as it enters Saturday as the Sun Belt's third-ranked team in offensive rebounding (12.1 per game). App State has grabbed at least 10 offensive rebounds in 13 of its last 15 games entering Saturday, which includes each of its last five contests. The Mountaineers see two players ranked in the top 10 in the Sun Belt in offensive rebounding in Wilson (third - 2.9 per game) and
Michael Marcus Jr. (T-fourth - 2.7 per game). App State hasn't seen two or more players finish in the top 10 in the league in offensive rebounding in the Kerns era.
The Mountaineers are led by a trio of double-digit scorers entering Saturday in Jennings (15.4), Dodd (13.8) and Wilson (10.4). Jennings enters Saturday having posted two 30-point games over his last six outings after tallying 31 at Georgia Southern on Feb. 11, while Dodd has scored at least 18 points in five straight games. Additionally, Marcus Jr. provided a spark on Feb.11 at Georgia Southern with a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double, which was his second 20-point, 10-rebound double-double of the year. He trails only Jennings (eight) and Dodd (six) for the team lead in 20-point games this season.
Scouting the Eagles
Georgia Southern enters Saturday's conference clash in Boone with a 15-13 record and a 7-8 mark in conference play. The Eagles enter play in a tie for eighth place in the standings after losing a close battle to Georgia State on Thursday. Georgia Southern enters Saturday's contest having lost four of its last five contests.
The Eagles play at one of the fastest paces in the country, as entering Saturday, they rank 36th in adjusted tempo and 39th in average possession length, according to KenPom. Georgia Southern gets a shot off just 16 seconds into the shot clock on its offensive possessions.
Defensively, Georgia Southern is one of the best teams in the Sun Belt at forcing turnovers, as it leads the league in turnovers forced per game at 13.7 per contest. The Eagles have turned their opponents over 10 or more times in all but two games entering Saturday.
Series History
App State and Georgia Southern are slated to match up with one another for the second and final time of the regular season on Saturday after meeting just 10 days ago in Statesboro. App State took home an 81-65 victory over the Eagles in that matchup, which marked the first game between the two teams that wasn't decided by five points or fewer since Jan. 25, 2024.
Jennings provided a phenomenal game against the Eagles in that contest with 31 points, his second 30-point game of the season.
App State owns the overall edge in the series entering Saturday at 39-28 and has won five of the last six games against the Eagles.
Next Up
App State will cap off its regular-season schedule with a trip to San Marcos, Texas, next Friday to play the Texas State Bobcats. Friday's game will be Texas State's last regular-season contest as a member of the Sun Belt Conference, as the team will move to the PAC-12 starting next season. Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT), and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
