Georgia State must bounce back quickly

Georgia State must regroup quickly against South Alabama on Saturday or risk falling further behind in the Sun Belt.

The Panthers were beaten by Georgia Southern 58-54 on Thursday, missing a chance to take first place away from the Eagles. The loss combined with Louisiana-Monroe’s win, pushed Georgia State (15-8, 8-4) into third place, 1 1/2 games behind the Eagles.

“We just have to move on,” coach Ron Hunter said.

The Panthers, picked in the preseason to win the Sun Belt, have lost four conference games, three more than they did last season. Now, the race is on to just to secure one of the Sun Belt’s top two seeds in the conference tournament so that the Panthers can enjoy a bye that lasts until the semifinals.

Georgia State has eight games left to make that happen.

Hunter said the goal of every trip is to win at least half of the games, which the Panthers still have a chance to do.

Though South Alabama (7-16, 5-7) is struggling, the Panthers will have to play much better than they did against the Eagles to have a chance to win.

In playing what Hunter called their worst game in their past 10, the Panthers showed a lack of patience on offense, exemplified by R.J. Hunter’s missed 26-foot 3-pointer early in the shot clock with the score tied and 6:50 left.

Neither Hunter nor Ryan Harrow, Georgia State’s weapons on offense, could get anything going in the second half with the game on the line. Previously combining to average 40.6 points per game, they finished with 29 and needed 33 shots for those.

Hunter didn’t single out either, but said the entire team “didn’t play smart basketball at all.”

The team showed a lack of aggression on both ends.

On offense, the Panthers shot nine free throws to the Eagles’ 29, and on defense gave up 15 offensive rebounds that the Eagles turned into 14 points.

Georgia State also committed 15 turnovers, tied for second-most this season.

“We had more live-ball turnovers than we’ve had all year,” Hunter said. “We just didn’t play well.”

Still, Hunter was pleased that the defense kept his team in the game. The Panthers limited the Eagles to 28.6-percent shooting, including the team missing 19 of its 26 3-pointers.

But the defense couldn’t stop the 3-pointers during the Eagles’ crucial run that turned around the game. Trailing by nine, Georgia Southern made three 3-pointers in a 3 1/2-minute stretch to help tie the score.

“When that slipped it put too much pressure on our offense, and we were just awful today,” Hunter said.