VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State Blazers will host a pair of GSC foes this weekend at The Complex. On Thursday, Jan. 18, Valdosta State will be hosting the Shorter Hawks at 8 p.m. to kick off the weekend slate. Then on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 4 p.m., the Blazers will be hosting the Lee Flames for the Hall of Fame Game that afternoon. Tickets for the brunch can be purchased above.
 
Valdosta State is happy to be back home, having lost four in a row and seven of their last eight. VSU is coming off a weekend trip to Alabama, where the Blazers fell to Alabama Huntsville 85-59 on Jan. 11 before dropping the next game against West Alabama on Saturday afternoon, 71-55. VSU is currently 6-10 on the season, with a 3-9 record in Gulf South Conference play. When the Blazers are in Titletown, they hold a 4-3 record for the season.
 
This season, the Blazers are averaging 76.3 points per contest, good for eighth in the GSC. As a team, Valdosta State is second in the conference in free throws made with 257 total. They are knocking them down at a .649 clip. Individually, junior Caden Boser is leading VSU in scoring, averaging 14.5 points a night in 15 games started. The Eau Claire, Wis. native is shooting .483 from the floor and .384 from three on a team leading 28 makes from long range. Senior Lee Flenor is having a stellar season in his first full season in Titletown, averaging a league-leading 8.0 rebounds a night. The Miami, Fla. product is averaging 9.6 points per contest on .517 from the field.
 
The Blazers will be hosting Shorter on Thursday night. The Hawks are entering this game with a 3-13 record overall, with a 1-11 mark in the GSC. Head coach Mike Helfer's squad is 19-6 against the Hawks all-time, including 8-4 at The Complex. VSU and SU squared off earlier this season in Rome, Ga. on Nov. 27, where Valdosta State came out on top, 78-62. The Blazer bench lit it up, scoring 50 points with graduate student JC Clausi leading the way for VSU, scoring a season-high 18 points on 7-9 from the floor and 4-5 from beyond the arc. Senior Mike Isler and graduate student LaTrell also did damage off the bench, scoring 12 and 11 points against the Hawks. Valdosta State dominated the glass, outrebounding Shorter 37-22 in Rome. As a team, Shorter is averaging 75.6 points per contest on .463 from the floor and .369 from behind the arc. Individually, the Hawks are led in scoring by junior Gary Clay, Jr. The Chicago native is averaging 14.5 points a game on .447 from the floor, .375 from three, and .753 from the charity stripe.
 
On Saturday, Jan. 20, Valdosta State will be hosting the Lee University Flames for an action-packed Saturday. This will be the 27^th annual Hall of Fame Game, as VSU will be recognizing the newly admitted 2024 Hall of Fame members. The tip off between the Flames and the Blazers will be at approximately 4 p.m. Helfer is 9-10 against the Flames all-time, including a 6-4 record at home. The Blazers dropped the first matchup of the season in Cleveland, Tenn. on Nov. 25, by a score of 87-73. The offense got off to a slow start, heading into the break down 14 as VSU shot .355 from the field compared to LU's .486 clip from the floor. For the game, Boser led the Blazers in scoring and rebounding, dropping 21 points and 10 rebound for his only double-double on the season while shooting 7-11 from the floor, 3-5 from three, and 4-5 from the charity stripe. As a team, the Flames will be entering this matchup with a 9-5 overall record and a 7-5 GSC record pending their matchup at West Florida on Thursday. LU is averaging 81.0 points a night, good for fourth in the conference. They are repping a scoring margin of 10.1, second in the GSC. The Flames have great playmakers, as they average 18.29 assists as a team per contest, which is eighth nationally and tops in the conference. Individually, Lee is led by playmaking graduate student Beyuan Hendricks, who is putting up 16.4 points a night on .457 from the floor and .364 from three. Hendricks is also ranked nationally in assists, ranking first in the GSC is assists per game at 6.1, which is also ranked seventh in the country.
 
Up next, the Blazers will travel to Mississippi to take on Delta State on Thursday, Jan. 25 at 8:30 p.m. ET before taking on Mississippi College on Saturday, Jan. 27 at 5 p.m. ET.