The Eagles won a big game against rival App. State with an incredible ESPN Top Ten play by Mike Hughes.

The Eagles were down by three points with less than 10 seconds left. Hughes inbounded the ball to Tookie Brown who raced up the court. Brown passed the ball to Hughes who made the buzzer beater three from deep while getting fouled. He sank the free throw, giving the Eagles the win. Hughes finished the game with 19 points, 3 assists and 2 blocks while Brown led all Eagle scorers with 34 points and 3 assists. 

The video of Hughes’s game-tying shot was picked up by several major sports networks. ESPN, CBSSPORTS, NCAA.com, FOXSPORTS1 and Sports Illustrated among others ran the video. The shot itself landed at number 2 on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays.

After the win, the Eagles moved up to the eighth spot in the conference standings putting them in a position to be in the Sun Belt tournament. Only the top eight teams in the Sun Belt are able to play in the tournament and the Eagles are playing not only for a spot in the tournament, but the best seeding possible.

Georgia Southern has had an up and down season as they try to gain both identity and experience for their young players but have been steadily gaining momentum in the last couple of weeks. The next step the Eagles need to take is to find a way to steal a few games they are not favored in. If the Eagles can manage that and head into the tournament with some momentum, they have the potential to make a surprising run in the tournament as a dark horse.

The Eagles next game on Thursday night will be away from home against Arkansas Little-Rock, the top team in the conference as of now with a 17-2 overall record and a 7-1 conference record. This will be a tough challenge for the Eagles as the Trojans are undefeated at home so far this season. 

The Eagles will have to play lights out offensively while also forcing turnovers to disrupt the Trojan offense. Arkansas Little-Rock ranks seventh in the conference in points per game offensively and the Eagles rank third, so defense will likely determine the outcome of the game.