Upstate Concludes Road Trip Saturday at Jacksonville State, Hosts Coastal Georgia on Monday
12/15/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jacksonville State Game Notes (.pdf)
Spartanburg, S.C. – After taking a week off for exams, the USC Upstate men's basketball team is back in action twice over the next three days as the Spartans face the Jacksonville State Gamecocks and Coastal Georgia Mariners in a pair of non-conference games.
Upstate concludes its season-long eight-game road trip on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. EST against Jacksonville State before returning home for the first time in nearly a month on Monday morning when it hosts Coastal Georgia at 11 a.m. The Spartans will be holding their Education Day game on Monday against Coastal Georgia as they will be welcoming schools from Spartanburg County to the G.B. Hodge Center.
Upstate is back in action for the first time since last Saturday, Dec. 9 when it fell 84-69 at Denver. Deion Holmes recorded the 12th 20-plus scoring game of his career after leading the Spartans offensively with 24 points. Holmes connected on a career-best seven 3-pointers and was joined in double-figures by Malik Moore with 17 points and Jure Span 10. Carson Smith set a new season-high with seven rebounds to lead Upstate on defense while Isaiah Anderson tied his career-high of six.
Jacksonville State enters the weekend matchup with a 7-3 overall record after falling at Oregon State 70-69 on Tuesday evening. Malcolm Drumwright leads the Gamecocks offensively this season averaging 15.0 points per game while Christian Cunningham is pulling down a team-best 8.0 rebounds per contest. Jacksonville State is under the direction of second-year head coach Ray Harper.
Coastal Georgia currently sits at 8-5 this season and is coming off an 81-71 victory against Webber International on Dec. 9. Haylen Washington is averaging a team-high 18.3 points per game for the Mariners and Donovan Brown leads the team defensively with 8.7 rebounds per game. Coastal Georgia is led by fourth-year head coach Jesse Watkins.
The Spartans are facing the Gamecocks for the fifth time in program history with the all-time series tied 2-2. Upstate leads the series over the Mariners 1-0.
Fans can follow the action on www.upstatespartans.com via live stats. Saturday's game at Jacksonville State is being streamed on the OVC Digital Network while Monday's contest will be on WatchESPN and the ESPN app. Updates will also be posted on the Upstate men's basketball Twitter page (@UpstateMB).
The Spartans travel to Omaha, Neb. on Wednesday, Dec. 20 for a 9 p.m. EST game at Creighton.
Follow Upstate men's basketball on Facebook (UpstateAthletics), Twitter (@UpstateMB), Instagram (@upstatespartans), YouTube (USCUpstateAthletics) and text/e-mail alerts (www.upstatespartans.com/list-signup).
