It would be difficult to repeat the performance by the Georgia State men’s basketball team in winning the Sun Belt’s regular-season title last year. Going 17-1 is a lot to ask.
Perhaps that’s why coach Ron Hunter doesn’t include going undefeated in the conference as one of the goals for this year’s team. Instead, as the Panthers prepare to open against Louisiana-Monroe on Tuesday, he said the goal is to repeat as the top seed.
“It was the goal last year and the goal this year,” he said. “That way, you only have to play two games to get to the NCAA tournament.”
The Panthers were tabbed in the preseason as the team to beat and their performances in the non-conference games have reinforced that.
Led by R.J. Hunter, the Panthers are 7-4 having played just three home games. Their only losses have come on the road at Iowa State, Colorado State, Old Dominion and a lackluster performance on Saturday at Wisconsin-Green Bay, which are a combined 42-5 through Sunday.
“Wish I had gotten this team more opportunities to play at home,” Hunter said. “Better we get harder it’s become.”
Unsurprisingly, R.J. Hunter and Ryan Harrow have led the team offensively. The duo, both tabbed as preseason first-team selections, are combining to average 40.6 points per game, making them the third-highest scoring duo in Division I college basketball this season.
But there have been a few surprises: the squad is struggling to hit free throws (65.4 percent), something it was one of nation’s best at last year (77.8 percent.) Hunter hates to see the team give away those easy points, but also isn’t too worried about his players’ forms.
“By end of January I think those numbers will be a lot better,” Ron Hunter said.
And it has taken a while for Hunter to find a starting lineup. Kevin Ware, who transferred in from Louisville in the offseason, has moved back and forth between starting and coming off the bench. Hunter said he thinks Ware was trying too hard early in the season, but is seeing signs that he’s starting to relax. He had one of his best games with eight points, three steals and two rebounds in the 68-55 win over Southern Miss.
The last surprise has been the play of T.J. Shipes and Markus Crider, who are the team’s co-mvps, according to Hunter. One of the two has often filled in as the team’s third scorer while also handling the heavy lifting with rebounds and on defense. They are combining to score 12.9 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.
Shipes was a reserve player his first two years who didn’t average more than nine minutes per game. But he is playing so well that Hunter said he has no plans to put Curtis Washington, tabbed the starter during the preseason, back into the starting lineup.
“They’ve brought a toughness that we haven’t had,” Hunter said. “We have a chance to win the Sun Belt because of those guys.”
