Road Trip Continues at Georgia State on Tuesday

Tuesday, December 3

Atlanta, Ga.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Georgia State

Wes Slajchert men's basketball action versus Thomas College

Senior captain James Foye

Photo by: Brian Foley

Road Trip Continues at Georgia State on Tuesday

12/2/2019 11:05:00 AM | Men's Basketball

GSU Sports Arena ESPN+Live Stats Twitter Updates Dartmouth Notes Georgia State Notes

Dartmouth meeting the Panthers for the first time

By: Rick Bender

DARTMOUTH (5-2)
at GEORGIA STATE (4-3)
Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019 | 7 PM | ESPN+
GSU Sports Arena (3,854) | Atlanta, Ga.

• Dartmouth continues a five-game road swing with its first-ever game against Georgia State, which also happens to be the first time the Panthers have hosted an Ivy League school.
• Last time out, the Big Green fell behind by 19 at Bowling Green before closing the gap to three, only to falter in a 76-69 defeat in their first game in 11 days due to fall finals.
• Aaryn Rai led Dartmouth with a season-high 20 points while matching a personal best with four 3-pointers. He also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and now leads the Green at 6.9 per game.
• Taurus Samuels came off the bench for the first time this season and delivered 15 points — all in the second half.
• Dishing out five assists, tying a career high, was James Foye, who also contributed a season-high 13 points thanks to a trio of triples.
• The Big Green rained down 13 trifectas for the second straight game while attempting 34, a total surpassed only five times in Dartmouth history.
• Dartmouth's leading scorer, Chris Knight, was held to eight points in 19 minutes before fouling out.
• Bowling Green committed just seven fouls (compared to 20 on the Big Green), the fewest by an opponent in over eight years.
• The Falcons are also the first team this season to shoot better than 31 percent from behind the arc.

Series vs. Georgia State
• As noted above, this is the first time Dartmouth will play the Panthers on the hardwood.
• This is the fourth and final time the Big Green will play a 2019-20 opponent for the very first time; Dartmouth is 3-0 in those games (FGCU, Merrimack and Thomas College).
• This is also just the second game the Big Green have played in the state of Georgia; they defeated Mercer five years ago on Dec. 16, 2014, 67-51.
• Finally, this is only the second game for Dartmouth against a Sun Belt Conference team, having lost to Arkansas State back in 2000, 67-49.

Scouting the Panthers
• Since dropping three straight on the road to the likes of Charleston, Duke and Georgetown, Georgia State has won three in a row, the last an 81-78 decision over Charlotte at home.
• The Panthers are an aggressive team that likes to get up and down the court, averaging over 80 points and close to 10 steals a game.
• Georgia State has been one of the most accurate shooting teams from distance this season at 41.2 percent, 14th in the nation.
• Four of the five starters average double figures, led by Corey Allen at 15.7 ppg with 12 treys.
• Kane Williams makes the offense go as the point guard has produced 13.7 ppg while dishing out 4.3 assists a night.
• Justin Roberts has gotten it done at both ends of the court, tallying 12.1 ppg with 4.3 rpg and a team-high 17 steals.
• Rebounding is a team efffort led by Damon Wilson at 5.1 boards per game while adding 11.6 ppg thanks in part to his 9-of-11 accuracy behind the arc.
• The defense has been stifling, holding opponents to 37.8 percent shooting and a woeful 24.8 percent from downtown, ninth lowest in the country.
• Georgia State is under new management this year with the hiring of Rob Lanier (St. Bonaventure '90). He was the associate head coach at Tennessee the past four years and has four years of head coaching experience from his days at Siena (2001-05) where he posted a record of 58-70.

Road Trip Starts with Loss at BGSU
Dartmouth was a little slow out of the gate at Bowling Green after 11 days off between games due to fall finals. The host Falcons jumped out to a 32-13 lead after 11 minutes before the Big Green found their bearings and closed the gap to within three on several occasions before falling by seven, 76-69. BGSU scored the most points and 3-pointers (11) against Dartmouth this season.

Amping up the Free Throw Defense
In 16 of the last 19 seasons, Dartmouth opponents have shot at least 70 percent at the foul line over the course of the season and no lower than 66 percent. Perhaps the Big Green are more intimidating this year, because for whatever reason, the opposition has struggled at the charity stripe so far this year at 54.0 percent.

Rai-ght On Target
So many Rai puns, so little time. Aaryn Rai posted the highest-scoring game by a Big Green player so far this season with his 20 points in the 76-69 loss at Bowling Green. The junior hit 8-of-11 from the floor, boosting his season accuracy to a team-best 58.7 percent, and 4-of-7 from distance, one more make than he had all year. But the 6-6 forward has also been active on the boards, grabbing eight in the game and improving his season average to 6.9, fifth in the Ivy League.

Double-Digit 3-Pointers in 3 Straight
With the 3-point line moving out to the international distance of 22-feet 1.75-inches this season, Dartmouth needed time to warm up to the shot. Through four games, the Big Green were just 25-of-89 (.281) from behind the arc. But in the last three games, they have had at least 11 triples while canning them at a 44.6 percent clip. The last time Dartmouth hit 10 or more threes in three consecutive games was last year when it pulled off the feat four times. But the 26 treys in the last two contests are well short of the school record of 37 set last year.

Samuels Prefers Starting
For the first time this season, Dartmouth changed its starting lineup when it took the court at Bowling Green with Taurus Samuels coming off the bench and Trevon Ary-Turner starting in his place. After being held scoreless in the opening stanza, Samuels started the second half on the court and did not disappoint, scoring 15 points to nearly bring the Big Green all the way back from a 19-point deficit. Twice he hit 3-pointers that closed the gap to three in the final five minutes of the game.

Getting Defensive
Last year, the opposition shot 46.0 percent from the floor and averaged over 70 points a game. This year, Dartmouth has really clamped down thus far, holding opponents to 38.2 percent shooting and just 60.7 points a night, the lowest figure in the Ivy League. In four of the first seven games, opponents shot no better than 34.0 percent, and twice the Big Green did not allow even 50 points.