James Vincent will be honored as Georgia State’s lone senior at tonight’s game against Northeastern.
Vincent, a 6-10 center, is having the best season of his up-and-down career on Decatur Street.
He played in 26 games as a freshman, averaging 2.0 points and 2.3 rebounds per game under Rod Barnes. Those minutes increased his sophomore year when he averaged 3.0 points and 3.1 rebounds.
Those numbers in his junior year decreased because new coach Ron Hunter’s up-tempo offensive and defensive systems didn’t fit Vincent’s half-court skill set. Though his minutes decreased, his scoring (3.2) and rebounding averages (2.0) were about the same as in previous years.
Combined with the departure of numerous seniors and Vincent’s improved work ethic (a knock against him throughout his stay at Georgia State), he earned more minutes this year. He’s averaging 4.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and more than two blocks per game. He’s playing 23.4 minutes per game, more than double his best total in 2010-11.
“James could have quit a long time ago,” Hunter said. “I think he’s had his best year this year. I want to make sure I get the best out of my players and my team. I don’t know if I can get any more from James. As a coach that makes me happy and I’m happy for him.”
Vincent took a few minutes after Monday’s practice to answer a few questions:
Q: Favorite memory?
A: There’s a lot of them. Favorite I had was when I had a backside dunk on one of the other teams. It was this year. The pass came from Devonta White. He drove down the middle and threw it to me on the backside.
Q: Biggest regret?
A: You know what, I don’t have any regrets. I’ve had fun all four years that I’ve been here. I’ve played and I’ve done all that I could.
Q: Who will be here?
A: My entire family. My half-sister’s family will be here. My friends will be here. They will be on the court with me. It’s going to be a very fond memory.
I know my mom is going to cry. My brother had his senior night a few weeks ago and she did the same with him.
Q: Are you going to cry?
A: I am not a crier.
Q: You going to be able to replicate the performance you had on on Saturday (16 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks)?
A: This is my senior night, so I might as well try to do the same thing.
Key to tonight’s game
Defending the 3-point line.
It’s something Georgia State hasn’t been consistently good at all season, allowing opponents to hit 36.7 percent of their attempts. They are 11th in the 12-team CAA in that category.
Northeastern is tops in the league at hitting 3-pointers, draining 37.5 percent of the attempts.
“We can’t give up 10, 11, 12 3-pointers against these guys,” Ron Hunter said.
Milestones that could happen in tonight’s game
- R.J. Hunter needs just one point to tie Matt O'Brien's (1989-90) freshman scoring record. With that one point, it will also move him into the top 10 in a single-season in points in GSU history.
- Devonta White needs just 24 points to become the 17th Panther in GSU history to score at least 1,000.
- With a win, GSU would secure its third set of back-to-back winning seasons in school history.
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