Ron Hunter saw a few things he liked during the trip the Georgia State men’s basketball team recently completed to Costa Rica.
First, of the eight trips he has taken with groups on behalf of Samaritan’s Feet, Hunter said this was the best he has experienced because his players, assistants and others expressed no anxiety about doing what was needed to lift the spirits of the impoverished children as they gave away 5,000 pairs of free shoes.
“These guys went overboard,” he said. “They weren’t worried about anything. They just wanted to be with the kids.”
And then there was the basketball. The team played four games against teams from Costa Rica and won each of them.
Hunter hoped to use the trip to measure the progress of guard Kevin Ware and to see if more players would be able to contribute this season than last season, when the Panthers won the Sun Belt championship.
The results were positive, and Hunter received another bonus: The enigma that has been big man T.J. Shipes played consistently well.
But Ware was the biggest concern. He transferred from Louisville, where he suffered a leg injury during the 2013 NCAA tournament, earlier this year and was being penciled in to play alongside Ryan Harrow in the backcourt.
Hunter said Ware played well during the summer pick-up games and practices. Then three weeks ago Paul George of the Indiana Pacers suffered a similar leg injury while playing with the U.S. basketball team. Ware became the go-to analyst for reporters around the country who wanted to know what George was going to go through.
“He relived the injury all over again,” Hunter said.
Ware began to slow in practice, a sign that he was worried about his leg.
He didn’t play in the team’s first game in Costa Rica. In the second game, Hunter saw what he needed to see. Ware made a steal and was running down the court when he was hit by an opposing player and fell down.
Hunter said everybody stopped to watch what would happen next. Ware got up and ran down the floor.
“He needed that fall,” Hunter said. “He was OK.”
The players were off this week, and Ware couldn’t be reached for comment.
The other bonus was Shipes. He played in 48 games the past two seasons, but rarely played consistent minutes because of his inconsistencies.
Hunter said the “light switch” went on for Shipes in Costa Rica, and he may have worked his way into the starting lineup ahead of last season’s starter Curtis Washington. Hunter said Washington also played well, but Shipes brought an energy and leadership that Hunter has wanted to see.
Whoever doesn’t start will go to the bench, which isn’t a bad thing.
The team’s reserves averaged 12.7 points in 64.8 minutes per game. Shipes or Washington can join Markus Crider, Jordan Session and a trio of players fighting to win the backup job at point guard to give Hunter scoring options he didn’t have last season in winning 25 games.
Now, Hunter has a plan to keep Shipes going.
“I’m going to paint his room to look like Costa Rica,” Hunter said.
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