Game 19 • Georgia State Panthers (12-6, 5-2) vs. South Alabama Jaguars (11-7, 4-3)
January 16, 2020 • 7 p.m. • Mitchell Center (5,520) • Mobile, Ala.

PROMOTION
White Out! Basketball t-shirts for the first 1,000 fans.

THE COACHES
South Alabama    
Richie Riley (Eastern Kentucky, 2005)
Record at USA: 28-24 (2nd year)
Overall Record: 63-52 (4th year)
Record vs. Georgia State: 0-2

Georgia State  
Rob Lanier (St. Bonaventure, 1990)
Record at GSU: 12-6 (1st year)
Overall Record: 59-70 (5th year)

LAST GAME
South Alabama rallied back to pick up a 52-43 win Saturday afternoon. Georgia State  moved into a three-way tie for first-place with a 84-62 win over ULM in Atlanta.

NEXT GAME
The Jaguars will host Georgia Southern Saturday afternoon before heading out on the road for four-straight road games. Georgia State will travel to Troy to take on the Trojans.

ON THE AIR
Radio: 99.5 FM The Jag; J.T. Crabtree (pxp)
Web: 995thejag.com/listen (audio); ESPN+ (video); J.D. Byars (pxp), Pat Greenwood (color)

RANKINGS (ratings through Jan. 14)
USA: #180 NET, #151 Sagarin
GSU: #93 NET, #97 Sagarin

THE SERIES
Series tied 15-15.

Current streak: Georgia State, 3 wins
South Alabama's last win in the series: 86-64 (12/29/17)
Last meeting: Georgia State 90, South Alabama 81 (2/15/19)
USA's last win at the Mitchell Center: 86-64 (12/29/17)
Georgia State's last win the Mitchell Center: 69-66 (1/17/19)
USA's longest winning / losing streak in series: 10 / 6

Notes: The two clubs have split the previous 30 meetings in the series … The home team has held an advantage in those meetings as both clubs hold nine series wins on its home floor … Georgia State has won 11 of the last 13 meetings with South's only two wins during that stretch coming on its home floor during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons … The winning team has won by double figures in three of the last four meetings … The series dates back to the 1975-76 season … Of the 30 series meetings, 20 have come in Sun Belt Conference play as Georgia State has served two different stints as a league member.

OPENING TIP
The two teams enter Thursday night's game with the series tied at 15-15. Georgia State has won the last three meetings and 11 of the last 13 in the series dating back to the 2012-13 season.

On Saturday, South Alabama rallied back to pick up a 52-43 victory over SBC leader Little Rock. The Jaguars shot 60 percent in the second half and out rebounded Little Rock 16-12.

The win extended South's current win streak to three as the Jags have now won five of their last six.

The victory marked just the third ever road win when scoring 52 or fewer and was the second win when being outrebounded or when trailing at half.

USA improved 10-0 when outshooting its opponent and 4-0 in that category in Sun Belt play.

The last time South scored 52 or fewer in road win was at Denver (2/20/11) in a 48-47 win.

South Alabama had just one made 3-point basket against the Trojans, which marked the first time since the 2008-09 season that South has had one or fewer in a road win.

Since the Mobile game back on Dec. 28, the Jaguars have done a lot of damage in the paint outscoring their opponents in six straight games for a combined total of 188-96. Over that stretch South is averaging 32.2 ppg and holding opponents to 16 ppg in the paint.  USA is 5-1 over that stretch.

John Pettway registered a career high six steals in his last outing. He has 13 in his last three games.

Prior to this recent stretch, Pettway had posted just three steals in his first 10 games. Since moving into the starting lineup against Mobile, Pettway has averaged 6.5 ppg and is shooting 51.6 percent from the field.

Ajayi recorded a pair of double-doubles last week to give him a team-best six for the season and nearly posted his seventh as he finished with 13 points and nine rebounds at Little Rock.

Ajayi has three double-doubles in his last five outings and the six double-doubles for Ajayi are tied for second most in the league.

Ajayi played a big part in South Alabama's second-half comeback as he was perfect from both the field (4-for-4) and from the foul line (2-of-2) while he recorded 10 of his 13 points and grabbed six board, five of which came on the defensive glass.

South Alabama is 6-0 this season when Ajayi records a double-double, and 5-0 when he scores 20-plus points.

With his 14 points against the Trojans, Chad Lott has led South in scoring seventh time this season.

Lott leads the conference in field-goal percentage (.578), while Ajayi is right behind him in second (.576).

Georgia State comes into Thursday night's game in a three-way tie for first in the SBC. The Panthers rank 1st in the league in scoring margin (+10.3), field-goal percentage defense (.384), 3-point field-goal percentage (.401), 3-point field-goal percentage defense (.263), assists (15.2) and steals (9.6), while they are second in scoring (80.2) and 3-pointers per game (8.7).

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with USAJaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at Twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics. Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give.

—USA—