Despite Georgia State suffering its worst conference loss this season, men’s basketball coach Ron Hunter said his team’s goals are still within reach.
Fresh off a 68-46 defeat at Drexel, Hunter said the team can still win 20 games, earn a first-round bye into the Colonial Athletic Association tournament and reach the postseason.
The Panthers are 14-7, 6-4 in the CAA, with nine regular-season games remaining, a much better record than many expected when Hunter took over the program in March. They are fifth in the CAA, two games behind the three teams that are tied for second place. The Panthers still get to host two of those teams, including Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday at the GSU Sports Arena.
Georgia State needs to rebuild some momentum. Since posting a school-record 11-game winning streak, the team has lost four of its past seven games. The issues were predictable: no consistent threat on offense, a lack of depth, poor free-throw shooting, and weary legs from travel.
But Hunter seems confident the team will bounce back.
“I’m finding it’s harder to maintain the expectations than it was to try to get them to win,” he said. “We will get there.”
Here’s a look at what’s remaining for the Panthers before the conference tournament begins March 2 in Richmond:
Toughest game
The Panthers’ next game will be the most difficult of the remaining contests. Georgia State defeated the Rams 55-53 earlier this season. The Panthers did it by forcing VCU to miss 43 of its 59 shots. Even with that, the Panthers barely escaped.
Hunter likes that after VCU, the toughest remaining conference games — Northeastern, Delaware and Old Dominion — will be at the Sports Arena. Those teams are a combined 19-11 in the conference.
There are only four road games remaining: at North Carolina Wilmington, Hofstra, James Madison and William and Mary. The only back-to-back games are at UNC Wilmington and at Hofstra. Those four teams are a combined 11-30 in the CAA.
“Good part of our schedule is we have more home games coming through,” Hunter said. “After Saturday, no more Drexel, VCU’s or George Mason’s. Our schedule gets considerable easier in terms of travel and teams we play.”
How to make it through
If they want to win at least six more games, which would be 20 victories, they must find some offense. Because they aren’t a great jump-shooting team, they rely on their defense to generate the offense. But the team can’t press and create turnovers if it doesn’t score. The 46 points against Drexel was the fewest it has scored this season.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to come up with something offensively,” said Hunter, who has changed his starting lineup twice in the past three games. “I’m just trying to find that next person that ... we are one person away from being what we need to be.”
Devonta White is the key, according to Hunter. At one time the team’s leading score with more than 13 points per game, he has struggled the past three weeks. The quick guard is now averaging 12.1 points per game and making only 38 percent of his shots, the lowest among the most-used starters. His scoring has dipped as the team has had found it more difficult to create fast breaks fueled by turnover-after-turnover, which they were did during an 11-game winning streak built mostly against non-conference competition.
What will be the constant?
Hunter said he likes to tell his team about his exploits as a player. His weakness? He couldn’t go left. So, he says he always went right. His point? Stick with your strengths, and his team’s strength is defense, led by center Eric Buckner. The senior, the shot-blocking hub around which the team’s various zone defenses are built, leads the CAA this season with 70 blocks, 14 more than the next best player. Buckner has averaged 11 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.
“Because of what he does defensively with his blocked shots and rebounding, he’s been our most valuable player,” Hunter said.
The Panthers are third in the CAA in scoring defense (58.6), first in field-goal percentage defense (37.6), and second in turnover margin (plus-4.24). However, they are eighth in 3-point defense (33.0), which has been a sore spot in the past three losses.
What could undo them?
Free-throw shooting is the team’s biggest weakness, so much so that, while not funny, even Hunter jokes about the issues. For the season, the Panthers are making 64.7 percent. Not being able to make more cost them a win against the Blue Hens, and may have cost them against Northeastern. They missed seven attempts in the first half against Drexel. During the past four games they are making only 56.5 percent of their free throws.
“We’re just trying to get these kids to finish up strong,” Hunter said.
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