No. 5 seed Georgia Southern (13-12, 7-9) vs. No. 4 seed Arkansas State (10-12, 7-8)
Sun Belt Conference Tourney First Round, Hartsell Arena, Pensacola, Florida; Friday, 6 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Georgia Southern and Arkansas State are set to do battle in the opening round of the Sun Belt tournament. Georgia Southern beat App State by eight in its last outing, while Arkansas State fell to Texas-Arlington in its most recent game, 64-56.
STEPPING UP: Arkansas State’s Norchad Omier has averaged 12 points and 11.2 rebounds while Marquis Eaton has put up 14.1 points and 5.1 assists. For the Eagles, Zack Bryant has averaged 13.9 points while Elijah McCadden has put up 10.3 points and 4.8 rebounds.
CREATING OFFENSE: Eaton has accounted for 48 percent of all Arkansas State field goals over the last five games. The senior guard has 30 field goals and 29 assists in those games.
YET TO WIN: The Eagles are 0-6 when they score 60 points or fewer and 13-6 when they exceed 60 points. The Red Wolves are 0-7 when they fail to score more than 64 points and 10-5 on the season, otherwise.
PASSING FOR POINTS: The Red Wolves have recently used assists to create baskets more often than the Eagles. Arkansas State has an assist on 44 of 72 field goals (61.1 percent) across its past three games while Georgia Southern has assists on 32 of 73 field goals (43.8 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: Arkansas State gets to the line more often than any other Sun Belt team. The Red Wolves have averaged 20.4 foul shots per game this season.
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