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STATESBORO – Georgia Southern men’s basketball begins the 2025-26 season on Tuesday evening, traveling to Greenville, North Carolina, to face off against East Carolina. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
THE OPENING TIP
- Head coach Charlie Henry begins his third season at the helm of the Eagles, following a 17-16 campaign, an eight-game improvement from his first season. Georgia Southern was a force at home last season, posting an 11-3 record inside the Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center, including opening the building with a 93-91 overtime victory over North Florida on December 7, 2024.
- 13 newcomers debut in an Eagle uniform on Tuesday night in Greenville, North Carolina, as Dwayne Williams Jr. and Nakavieon White are the lone returners on the squad. Graduate guard Tyren Moore played for the Eagles in 2023-24, but transferred to UAB before returning to Statesboro for his final collegiate season.
- Moore reunites with head coach Charlie Henry and the Eagles after spending the 2024-25 season with UAB. Last season, Moore appeared in 37 games with the Blazers, averaging 6.4 points, 1.9 assists, and 1.2 rebounds, highlighted by a 22-point night against Arkansas State and a 16-point effort against East Carolina. The Louisville, Kentucky, native surpassed 1,000 career points against UTSA in January and was selected to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference First Team.
- Georgia Southern and East Carolina meet for the 10th time in series history and the seventh time in Greenville, North Carolina. It marks the first meeting between the two programs since 2023, when the Pirates defeated Southern, 82-64. ECU leads the all-time series 6-3 against the Eagles, as the two programs have split the previous six meetings dating back to 1977, 3-3.
- Picked to finish 10th in the Sun Belt preseason standings, Georgia Southern returns just two players from the 2024-25 squad. The Eagles will face eight of the nine programs picked ahead of them this season, including James Madison, Arkansas State, South Alabama, Troy, Old Dominion, Marshall, Appalachian State, and Louisiana, adding matchups against Georgia State, Coastal Carolina, and ULM to round out the conference slate.
- Freshman forward Pavel Ridesic makes history for the Eagles this season, after signing with Georgia Southern out of Western Reserve Academy. The 6-foot-8, 230-pound big man hails from Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, becoming the first player from Bosnia in Georgia Southern men’s basketball history. Additionally, Ridesic is one of less than 10 active Division I college basketball players to hail from the country. Ridesic also competed for his home country at the FIBA U18 level.
- The Sun Belt Conference announced its 2025-26 Preseason All-Conference teams, in addition to the preseason poll earlier this month, as two Eagles landed on their respective teams for the first time since 2020. Graduate Tyren Moore and redshirt-senior Nakavieon White became the first duo to earn preseason accolades for the Eagles since Elijah McCadden and Zack Bryant were named to the second and third teams. Moore earns the first team preseason honor, while White claimed a third team nomination.
