Men’s Basketball Season Preview: The Script is Flipped in 2016-17

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Preview schedule
Oct. 24 - Overview
Oct. 28 - Juniors
Oct. 31 - Sophomores and Freshmen
Nov. 2 - Schedule

STATESBORO, Ga. – College coaches have been saying it for years – the good thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores. In the case of the Georgia Southern men's basketball program, that growth has likely been accelerated because of the amount of time Eagle freshmen spent on the court last season.

Georgia Southern was the youngest team in the country last season, starting three sophomores and two freshmen, and yet, the Eagles managed to hover around .500 all year and won 10 Sun Belt games to finish fifth in the league standings.

Freshmen and redshirt freshmen who are back accounted for 40 percent of the Eagles' minutes played, and Georgia Southern returns all five starters, eight of the nine players who were in the rotation and 94 percent of its scoring and rebounding.

Below is the third in a four-part series previewing the 2016-17 season.

Sophomores
Redshirt sophomores Shawn O'Connell and Aubrey McRae along with true sophomores Tookie Brown, Ike Smith, Montae Glenn and transfer Jared Hamilton make up the six-man sophomore class. The group is sophomore in name only as they combined to average over 81 minutes a game last season. Hamilton, who will sit out this season due to NCAA transfer rules, played almost 30 minutes a game at Jacksonville State last year.

Brown was named Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and first-team All-Sun Belt after ranking eighth among freshmen in NCAA Division I scoring. He ranked in the top-10 in the Sun Belt in scoring (4th, 17.8 ppg), assists (7th, 3.4 apg), steals (2nd, 1.7), free-throw percentage (7th, .811) and assist/turnover ratio (6th, 1.5).

"Tookie had a great freshman year, and once he understood the confidence I had in him and how aggressive I wanted him to play, he took it and ran with it," said Byington. "Now, he's more vocal, and he's actually gotten stronger. I want him to increase his leadership and be a vocal leader and not just the guy out there making a lot of plays but also helping the other guys. He can also be better defensively, and I think he will really improve in every one of those areas."

Smith teamed with Brown to make up the third-highest freshmen scoring duo in the country and averaged 11.7 points and 4.8 rebounds. He scored in double figures in 21 games and scored over 20 points three times.

"Ike is another guy who is just different now in a positive way," said Byington. "He's been through it, he's a year older and the sky is the limit for Ike. He's shooting better, he's stronger and faster - he wins the races in our conditioning - and I think he is ready to take a big jump."

O'Connell played in 31 games and made four starts and averaged three points and 3.3 rebounds in 14.2 minutes a game. He shot 55 percent from the field and 65 percent from the free-throw line and was first off the bench in 18 contests.

"Shawn has had as good of summer and offseason as anyone on the team," said Byington. "He's playing with more confidence. We really worked on his skill set on the perimeter to where he's going to be able to play both post positions, and when he is on the perimeter, he will be able to play like a guard - pass, dribble and shoot - which is how we like the guys to be able to do it."

Montae Glenn played in 25 games and started eight, but an injury sidelined him for six contests and set him back just as he was making major strides. He averaged 4.5 points and 3.7 rebounds and shot 59 percent from the field and 75 percent from the free-throw line.

"Montae has changed his body, which is going to change his game," said Byington. "He had a couple of nagging injuries slow him down a little bit, but now that he's healthy, his body fat is down, he's stronger, he's in better condition and he's much faster. He was our best back-to-the-basket guy last year, but I think now, he is going to be able to do more and be able to give maximum effort for longer periods of time. He is a smart basketball player and knows how to play."

McRae played in 12 games, was counted on in some pretty significant moments of the season and saw his playing time increase as the campaign wore on.

"Aubrey has been working on decision making and ball handling, and he has done a great job of getting stronger and a great job of being a leader," said Byington. "He's capable of making shots, and I love guys who can make shots. With him, it's learning the process of the game so we did offseason film studies and figured out how he can really help the team."

Hamilton will be an invaluable member of the scout team as he sits out this season. He averaged nine points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 29.5 minutes a game as a freshman at Jacksonville State. He started all 30 games he played in and reached double figures in 13 contests.

"Jared has really bought into the skill development, the strength training and he is going to have a huge impact for us next year," said Byington. "He is versatile and one of our most athletic guys, and playing against the other guys and being put in tough situations this year will help him grow."

The freshman
Quan Jackson signed last November out of Tallahassee, Fla., where he led Godby High School to the 2015 5A state title and was named first-team all-state as a senior after averaging 18 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 3.8 steals.

"Quan has already come a long way because he's going against some veteran guards every day in practice, which is going to make him better," said Byington. "When he's going against Mike Hughes and Devonte Boykins he's got no choice but to kind of catch up to them, so he's learning how hard he's got to go in college and he's getting better and better every day. It's hard to put a role expectation on him at this point because he's going to have an upward progression, and he will be a different guy by the time we get to January and February."

The Eagles host Lees-McRae in an exhibition game in Hanner Fieldhouse Nov. 3, before opening the season at NC State Nov. 11.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. Fans can purchase tickets to Georgia Southern Athletics events by calling 1-800-GSU-WINS or by visiting GSEagles.com.

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Devonte Boykins

Tookie Brown

Montae Glenn

Jared Hamilton

Mike Hughes

Quan Jackson

Aubrey McRae

Shawn O'Connell

Ike Smith