As nice as he said it would be, Ron Hunter doesn’t think his Georgia State men’s basketball team needs to win its next seven games to secure one of the top two seeds in the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
The Panthers (9-4) are in third place, 1 1/2 games behind Louisiana-Monroe (11-3) and one game behind Georgia Southern (10-3). Georgia State’s final two games before the tournament begins in New Orleans are at the Warhawks and at home against the Eagles in the finale.
“I don’t think any of the teams will win out,” Hunter said. “If we do win out, we win the league. But we don’t feel the pressure to win out to do that.”
The Panthers, the defending regular-season champs, will play at Texas State on Saturday, in a game televised on ESPN2.
The Bobcats are a reason the Panthers are in third, and not in first, as was predicted in the preseason. Texas State defeated Georgia State 77-74 in double overtime earlier this season at the GSU Sports Arena, snapping an 18-game home win streak.
It was an odd game that exemplifies Georgia State’s odd season. The Panthers seemed to have the game won until Emani Grant made the first 3-pointer of his career at the buzzer to send the game to a second overtime.
Georgia State’s defense has tightened since that loss 10 games ago. The Panthers have held each of their past three opponents to less than 30 percent shooting.
Georgia State is 2-1 during that three-game stretch, and 7-3 since the loss to Texas State, because the offense, expected to be the team’s strength with the return of player of the year R.J. Hunter and all-conference player Ryan Harrow, hasn’t been as good.
“I couldn’t be happier with how we are doing defensively,” Ron Hunter said. “But offensively, our consistency hasn’t been there.”
The offense is averaging 72.5 points on 49 percent shooting in the past 10. In the past three, though, the Panthers are averaging 64.3 points on 44.3 percent shooting.
The Panthers coughed up an eight-point lead in a loss to Georgia Southern. That loss can be pinned on a nearly five-minute stretch in the second half in which the Panthers didn’t score.
Georgia State rebounded from that to defeat South Alabama, but gave up a 12-point lead in the first half. The team built the lead back to eight with 4:20 left, but needed free throws in the final minute to secure the win. The team had two scoreless stretches lasting almost three minutes each in the first half, and scored only eight points in seven minutes before the free throws.
Hunter said the problems usually occur when the team is leading and needs someone who can keep the offense in rhythm, while at the same time start bleeding the clock.
Devonta White had that job the previous four seasons. This season, the job has been shared by R.J. Hunter, Harrow, Ryann Green and Kevin Ware, none of whom would be considered a pass-first point guard.
Hunter and Harrow are scorers who combine to average 40 points per game, fourth-most in Division I.
“When you make them do something else we are a different team,” Ron Hunter said.
Green and Ware bring energy on defense. Ware has an ability to attack the basket. He said Tuesday that he is starting to finally feel comfortable in his first season with the team after spending most of the previous three at Louisville.
Ware understands what the problem is on offense and seems ready to become part of the solution as the Panthers try to secure one of the top two seeds.
“We just rush our shots,” he said. “The formula Coach talks about (is), ‘if we can’t run, run the set.’”
