Georgia State defeats Old Dominion

Leading 64-60, Crider grabbed a loose ball and in the same motion threw a pass down the court to Isaiah Dennis, who was fouled hard by Trey Freeman, resulting in both players leaving the game with injuries. After play resumed, Isaiah Williams made the free throws in Dennis’ place to give Georgia State a six-point lead with 29.5 seconds left. Hunter said Dennis got a few teeth knocked out, but should be fine.

"I thought that was a very impressive win for this team," Hunter said. "We're still in process of learning how to win, play with each other and the system.

“The most impressive part about this is this isn’t close to scratching how good they can be.”

Here are five observations from Saturday’s game:

Thomas is heating up. After a rough start to the season in which he missed 21 of his first 25 shots, Thomas is starting to heat up for the Panthers. He made 4 of 8 in the win against Wright State and 6 of 10 on Saturday, including 4 of 6 3-point shots.

He said he struggled early because of the comparisons with R.J. Hunter, the Boston Celtics rookie who became Georgia State’s all-time leading scorer in three seasons.

“I kind of drifted over to trying to be like R.J., but I have to be my own player at the end of the day,” he said. “I’m starting to be my own player and finding my own baskets.”

He also struggled because he didn’t get to practice with Georgia State last season after a transcript issue led to him sitting out. Hunter said it has taken Thomas a few games to find his legs and get into the flow of games.

Hunter said Thomas’ ability to make jumpers opens the court for his teammates. The Panthers made seven 3-pointers, matching their season high. They also set a season high by making 53.8 percent of their 3-pointers. Hollowell made 3 of 6. He finished with 16 points.

“They needed someone to step up, and he did and we didn’t have an answer to that,” ODU coach Jeff Jones said. “That was the difference in the game.

“Give him credit for making the shots on well-designed concepts because obviously we were concentrating on Hollowell.”

Defense. Old Dominion had few problems finding shooting spots in Georgia State's zone in the opening minutes as it built a 19-11 lead. But, as has been the case this season, the Panthers' defense tightened in the final 30 minutes by extending its zone.

Old Dominion went without a field goal for more than five minutes midway through the second half during which Georgia State built a seven-point lead.

The Monarchs, which were hitting 29.9 percent of their 3-pointers, missed 11 of 12 against the Panthers. Hunter said one of his team’s keys was to take those shots away.

Old Dominion shot 45.3 percent in the game.

“Last 30 minutes our defense was outstanding,” Hunter said.

Free throws. A 65.3-percent free-throw shooting team, the Panthers made 76.7 percent against the Monarchs, including their first nine.

Hunter said the team hasn’t spent any extra time working on improving their free-throw shooting. Kevin Ware was 6-of-6, Williams 5-of-6 and Crider 5-of-5.

Turnovers. The Panthers were much better at taking care of the ball against the Monarchs, committing only seven turnovers. It was their fewest since also committing seven in the season-opening win over Middle Georgia State.

Confidence. This was a confidence-boosting win for Georgia State as it continues its Conference USA-swing with games at Southern Miss and then at home to Middle Tennessee, which defeated Auburn on Saturday, before it opens Sun Belt Conference play at a tough Texas-Arlington on Dec. 30.

“Now we have to learn to how to win consecutive games on the road,” Hunter said.