Thanksgiving Day is on Thursday, Nov. 28. The Georgia State men’s basketball team presents a pretty unique dilemma for this Thanksgiving holiday since they play a game the day before. On Nov. 27, they play a home game against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte at 2 p.m.
The home game will come after a five-game road trip that includes games against Duke, Georgetown and even Prairie View A&M in Texas.
Making it home for Thanksgiving will be a complicated case for six players that do not hail from the state of Georgia. These players are Justin Roberts (Indianapolis, Indiana), Jojo Toppin (Brooklyn, New York), Corey Allen (Ypsilanti, Michigan), Joe Jones lll (Buffalo, New York), Jalen Thomas (Detroit, Michigan) and Eliel Nsoseme (Kinshasa, Congo).
Allen said that since he won’t be able to make it home in time, he will be picked up after the Charlotte game by his aunt who lives in South Carolina to go eat with her and her family.
“I love playing basketball, so it doesn’t matter to me,” Allen said. “Thanksgiving is good and all, but I love playing basketball.”
Plenty of players and coaches will be able to make it home for Thanksgiving, however. Junior guard Kane Williams, who is from Douglasville, Georgia, will have family over from Kansas, where his mother is from, and North Carolina, where his father is from.
Assistant coach Jarvis Hayes, who also lives in Georgia, plans to spend Thanksgiving with his family and friends at his home.
Everyone will have a traditional Thanksgiving Day. They will eat a big dinner, which includes turkey, collard greens, mac and cheese, sweet potato pie, cranberry, chicken, dressing and much more. They’ll also be watching sports on that day, especially professional football and basketball.
“My Atlanta Falcons plays the professional football team from Louisiana,” Hayes said. “Their name seems to always escape me!”
All of these guys consider Thanksgiving to be a time of the year for family, togetherness, food, sports and, overall, just being thankful for everything that’s in your life.
“Be thankful that we have the people that are in our lives and being able to eat at the same table and everyone being alive and well,” Williams said. “It’s just a blessing itself. Thanksgiving, we use that day to be grateful for everything we have and the people we have around us.”
