Georgia State's shooting touch may have been affected by the cold temperatures outside, but its defense was enough to carry it to a 58-44 victory over Drexel at home on Monday night.
The Panthers (10-3, 2-0 CAA) overcame a horrible shooting night by forcing 25 turnovers to extend their school-record winning streak to 10 games. It's the seventh-longest active win streak this season.
The fact that it came against the Dragons, picked to win the CAA while the Panthers were chose 11th, wasn't lost on coach Ron Hunter afterward, even if he fudged on some facts to make a point.
"We respect everyone in our league, but at the end of the day we feel like we are a good basketball team," Hunter said. "We were predicted last for whatever reason, so we checkmark each game. This is the second team we've played in the league so it was the second check mark."
Just like most games during the streak, the Panthers won with defense. The Dragons averaged just 12 turnovers a game, but couldn't solve the Panthers' hyper-aggressive zone defense and presses. When Drexel was able to execute its half-court offense it rarely got clean looks, hitting 31.9 percent of its shots, while missing 15 of its 20 3-point attempts.
Of course, Georgia State wasn't much better. The Panthers connected on just 33.3 percent of their shots, missing 11 of their 12 3-point attempts. But they committed just 13 turnovers and sank 27 of their 31 free throws to win by double-digits for the eighth time.
"Making our free throws was key tonight," Hunter said. "After a 10-day layoff and playing the top team in the league, most teams don’t respond well. But these kids came back focused."
Drexel cut Georgia State's lead to seven with 10:03 remaining, but the Panthers used a 13-5 run to push it back to 50-35 with 6:36 remaining. The run started with a tough jumper in the lane by Jihad Ali and was capped by a Devonta White 3-pointer, the only one the team hit. But defense was the spark.
Leading 39-30, Eric Buckner blocked a layup by Frantz Massenat. Ali grabbed the loose ball and instinctively flung a long pass downcourt that White grabbed and put in for the layup to push the lead to 41-30.
The Panthers' defense was so tight, the Dragons had just five shot attempts during the 3 1/2-minute stretch.
"We were just focused and playing hard," said Buckner, who scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds. "Things just came to us."
The game featured two teams riding streaks built on different styles: Drexel had won its last six with a methodical offense. The Panthers' was built on a faster style of play that forces opponents into mistakes and are turned into easy baskets.
But neither Georgia State nor Drexel could effectively get the ball into the post to their best inside scorers, Buckner for Georgia State or Samme Givens for Drexel, in the first half. Trying to shoot from the outside wasn't effective either. Three-point shooters almost always had a hand in the face, usually by a defender sliding over in a switch. With 3:33 remaining in the first half, the teams had missed 12 of their 14 3-pointers – many of them badly – and were a combined 12 of 38 from the field. They finished the half 14 of 47.
"That'snot our strength and we know that," Hunter said of the Panthers' 3-point shooting. "I was proud we only took 12."
