The Francis Marion University men's and women's basketball teams will play their 2021 home openers on Saturday (Jan. 9) when the Patriots battle Peach Belt Conference opponent Georgia Southwestern State University.

The women's game will tip-off at 1:30 p.m. in the Smith University Center with the men's game following 45 minutes after the conclusion of the women's contest.

Attendance at FMU home basketball games will be limited to 250 individuals.  Attendees will include only season ticket holders and player/staff family members identified on a pre-game pass list.  Masks will be required in the Smith University Center and social distancing will be observed.  No general admission game-day tickets will be sold.

This decision was made after reviewing current NCAA protocols and CDC guidance.

Fans will still be able to watch the Patriots as FMU will stream its home games at https://pbcsportsnetwork.com/fmupatriots/ . Francis Marion will also offer live stats of each home
game at https://fmupatriots.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary (men) and https://fmupatriots.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary (women).

The Patriot women are 0-2 following road losses to Anderson University and Flagler College, while GSW is 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the PBC.  FMU leads the all-time series 16-5.

Senior All-PBC selection Kiana Adderton leads the FMU women with 17.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. Francis Marion is 39-8 all-time in home openers, including 4-1 under head coach Jeri Porter.

The FMU men dropped their season-opener to Georgia College on Thursday, while the Hurricanes are 3-0 and 1-0 this year.  The all-time men's series is deadlocked at 10-10.

Junior Langston Gaither led the Patriot men with 20 points and six rebounds on Thursday. Francis Marion is 12-2 in home openers under head coach Gary Edwards, and 32-18 all-time in the first home contest of the year.