WHEN: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
WHERE: EagleBank Arena, Fairfax, Va.
RECORDS: Mason (5-5), Georgia Southern (7-2)
SERIES RECORD: Mason trails, 0-1
LIVE VIDEO: A-10 Digital Network ($)
LIVE AUDIO: A-10 Digital Network
LIVE STATS: Click here
GAME NOTES: Click here (PDF)
TICKETS: Click here

TRAFFIC UPDATE: The university is expecting heavy traffic during the men's basketball game Tuesday, Dec. 12, at EagleBank Arena, and is taking steps to ensure adequate traffic flow on the Fairfax Campus during peak times. That includes opening Campus Drive from 4-11 p.m. on game days. More info
GAME OF THE WEEK: Free Patriot keychain for students with valid Mason ID

FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason University men's basketball team (5-5) hosts a talented Georgia Southern team (7-2) Tuesday night inside EagleBank Arena.

Tip-off between the Patriots and Eagles is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday's game will be streamed on the A-10 Digital Network, featuring commentary from Bill Rohland. Pre-game coverage will begin at 6:45 p.m. The video portion of the stream requires a subscription, but the audio feed is free for all listeners.

PATRIOT POINTS
• Mason is 4-1 at home this season while the Eagles are 1-1 in two road games, including a victory at Wake Forest.

• Georgia Southern enters Tuesday's game with a top-50 RPI (No. 45 as of Monday). The Eagles are the highest-ranked RPI team the Green & Gold have faced this season.

• The Patriots are coming off a 77-65 victory over NC Central on Saturday in Fairfax. Mason shot a season-best 52.7 percent and limited the Eagles to 38.6 percent, marking a low for a Mason foe this year.

• Four Mason players scored 10+ points against NCCU, while all eight scholarship players posted at least four points.

• Junior Otis Livingston II led the Patriots with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and made all three of his 3-point attempts. He's shooting a sizzling 66.7 percent (16-24) over the past two games.

• Sophomore Justin Kier added 14 points and a game-high five assists. It marked Kier's highest scoring output since the Nov. 12 game at Louisville.

• Mason held a 37-31 edge on the glass vs. NCCU and the team is now 4-2 when the Patriots win the rebounding battle.

• The Patriot bench has now posted 10+ points in three straight games after reaching the 10-point mark just once over the season's first seven games.

• The Green & Gold are now 4-1 when they shoot more than 45 percent in a game this season.

• Redshirt-freshman AJ Wilson tallied seven points, four rebounds and three blocks vs. NCCU. He leads the team and is eighth in the A-10 with 1.3 blocks per game.

• Mason is shooting 47.5 percent from the floor in home games this season compared to a 39.7 percent clip in road and neutral site contests. However Mason has a better 3-point percentage in road/neutral games (.354) than in home games (.321).

HISTORY vs. GEORGIA SOUTHERN
Tuesday's game marks the second meeting all time between George Mason and Georgia Southern in men's basketballl. In the only other meeting, the Eagles knocked off the Patriots, 76-58, on Dec. 9, 1988 as part of the Drake Classic in Des Moines, Iowa.


HISTORY vs. SUN BELT OPPONENTS
Mason is 3-3 (.500) all time against teams currently in the Sun Belt Conference. The Patriots are 3-1 against Coastal Carolina, 0-1 against Georgia Southern and 0-1 against Arkansas Little Rock. In the most recent matchup, Mason defeated the Chanticleers (72-66) on Dec. 4, 1999 in Conway, S.C.


A LOOK AT THE EAGLES (7-2, 0-0 SUN BELT)
Georgia Southern, picked to finish third in the Sun Belt, is off to a 7-2 start under fifth year head coach Mark Byington.  The Eagles won at Wake Forest (85-83) in their season opener on Nov. 10 and also own a win over Missouri State. Led by preseason First Team All-Sun Belt selections Ike Smith and Tookie Brown, Georgia Southern is second in the conference with a +15.2 scoring margin and three of the team's seven wins have been by greater than 20 points. Brown leads the team with 17.2 ppg and a .481 3-point percentage. Smith has been out of the lineup the last two games with an injury, but should he suit up he'll provide the Eagles with another player who averages double-digit points in their backcourt (14.6 ppg). Additionally, Georgia Southern as a team leads the nation in offensive rebounds per game (16.0) thanks in large part to Montae Glenn, whose 4.88 offensive rebounds per game is good for second best in the country. Georgia Southern's No. 45 ranking in college basketball's RPI is the second highest George Mason has faced so far this season.

UP NEXT
Mason remains at home to battle Big Ten foe Penn State in a marquee non-conference matchup on Sunday. The 4 p.m. contest will be televised on Stadium. It is available on Verizon Fios Channel 820 in Washington, D.C. as well as WUTB-3 and Verizon Fios Channel 820 in the Baltimore area.