VALDOSTA, Ga.- The Valdosta State men's basketball team returns to the road at rival West Georgia Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at The Coliseum in Carrollton, Ga. The Blazers dropped a 72-56 home game to Mississippi College a week ago Thursday and throttled Delta State 93-44 last Saturday.
The Blazers enter at 14-8 overall and 10-6 in Gulf South Conference play, while West Georgia sits at 13-5 overall and are 12-4 in league play. West Georgia hoisted a seven-game winning streak that was snapped on Wednesday, when the Wolves were upset by West Florida, 79-75, in Pensacola, Fla.
Fans can access links to live stats, audio/video streaming, ticket information and more at vstateblazer.com on the men's basketball schedule page. The game also will be broadcast on the radio in Valdosta on 92.1 WDDQ FM and www.talk921.com with Spencer Van Horn having the call.
The Blazers currently are sixth in the league standings with a 10-6 mark as West Alabama, Lee and West Georgia all are tied atop the standings each with a 12-4 record in league play. Alabama Huntsville and Union are tied for fourth, followed by the Blazers. VSU holds a two-game lead on Auburn Montgomery (8-8), while Mississippi College, West Florida and Montevallo all are tied for eighth.
The Red Clay Rivalry Series is a key storyline and motivator for both teams heading into the matchup on Saturday. The Blazer basketball team will be fighting to win the game on Saturday to earn half a point in the rivalry while the Wolves will be fighting to earn a full point after earning a half for defeating VSU in December. UWG currently leads VSU in the Red Clay Rivalry series, 4-2. Both basketball matchups for the men and women on Saturday are key for the Blazers as wins by both teams would make the rivalry 4-3 still in favor of UWG. Aside from the games on Saturday, this season's rivalry will conclude with baseball and softball matchups in March as well as women's tennis and men's golf in April. VSU won the inaugural Red Clay Rivalry Series in 2021-22, 7-4.
In the first matchup between the Blazers and Wolves on Dec. 1, 2022, UWG posted an 88-76 victory. The matchup remained a close affair throughout the main stretch of the contest with VSU trailing 65-63 with 7:43 remaining. From there the Wolves were able to pull away, going on an 8-0 run within a 100-second span behind an "and one" from Jalen Sasser, a shot from deep courtesy of Camron Donatlan and a goaltending call on the Blazers for a 73-63 lead with 6:03 remaining. From there, the Blazers continued to fight, cutting into the Wolves' lead, but the deficit was too much to overcome and UWG ended up leaving Titletown with the 88-76 win.
This season, the Blazers lead the GSC in scoring offensively, scoring 85.5 points per game for 15th nationally. VSU is also first in the GSC in team field goal percentage shooting 48.8 percent for 30th nationally, while it is fourth in three-point percentage in the GSC, shooting 36.4 percent. VSU is second in the GSC in a turnover margin at a 3.68 clip for 23rd nationally, while it is first in the GSC and 39th nationally in turnovers forced per game at a 16.18 clip.
Individually, Blazer senior Jacolbey Owens is tenth in the GSC in scoring averaging 15.5 points per game while also being second in assists per game averaging at a 5.7 clip for 14th nationally. Owens recently reached 1,000 career points in the 93-44 win over Delta State last Saturday. Redshirt senior Cam Hamilton is second in the GSC for steals per game at 1.9 steals per game for 48th nationally. Senior Mohamed Fofana is third in the GSC in field goal percentage shooting 117 of 207 (.565) for the season. Blazer graduate student Maurice Gordon is fifth in the GSC in blocks averaging 1.2 per game while junior Jay Rucker is sixth with 1.1 blocks per game. Head coach Mike Helfer is in his 18th season at the helm of the Blazers and is 345-170 at VSU, while he is in his 26th season of coaching overall and is 531-253 all-time.
West Georgia enters the week winners of seven of its last ten and is under the direction of head coach Dave Moore, who is in his fifth year as the head coach of the program. Moore is 68-57 at West Georgia and is 6-6 against VSU. The Blazers currently hold the advantage recently in the all-time matchup with the Wolves with VSU winning 16 of the last 29. However, UWG currently owns a four-game winning streak against the Blazers.
For UWG, Michael Zabetakis leads the Wolves in scoring and is fifth in the conference, averaging 18.1 points per game as well as leading the team in assists, averaging 3.9 per game for fourth in the conference. Zabetakis is also fourth in the league in steals per game at a 1.7 clip just behind Hamilton at 1.9 and Owens at 1.8. Sasser leads the team in rebounds at 5.9 a game as well as blocks at 1.1 per game.
Following the matchup on Saturday, the Blazers will return back to the road to face Christian Brothers on Thursday, Feb. 2, at 8 p.m. ET, and Union on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 5 p.m. ET.
