Georgia State was blown out at home for the second time this season in a 90-69 loss to Texas-Arlington on Saturday. It was the most points allowed by Georgia State this season.
The Panthers were 35-2 at home since the start of the 2013-14 season entering Saturday, but one of those losses was 87-54 to Louisiana-Lafayette on Jan. 16.
Hunter said he has no idea why his team couldn’t do anything well but they would go to work on Monday.
Saturday’s defeat featured by many of the issues that have hampered the Panthers this season: poor rebounding, a long, decisive scoreless stretch on offense, and foul trouble to its big men.
Trailing by 21 with 7:14 left, the Panthers used a full-court press to create turnovers and cut the deficit to 12 with 5:42 left.
Here are five observations about the game:
Good tournament seed unlikely. If Georgia State (13-8, 6-6 Sun Belt), the two-time defending conference regular-season champs, was to maintain any hope of securing one of the top two seeds in the Sun Belt tournament it needed win its remaining games. The top two seeds comes with a double-bye to the semifinals, making a consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament a little bit easier. The top four seeds will receive a bye to the quarterfinals.
Now, after being swept by Texas-Arlington and with just seven conference games remaining, the Panthers are in a fight to even one of the top four seeds, which will receive a bye to the quarterfinals.
“I’m not even worried about that right now,” Hunter said.
The Panthers will play at South Alabama on Thursday.
Foul troubles. With 11 minutes left in the game, three Georgia State players had four fouls each. As a team, Georgia State had accumulated 23 fouls compared to Texas-Arlington's 14.
As a result, the Mavs had 27 free throws (hitting 21), compared to Georgia State’s 11-of-16. The Panthers were the home team.
Hunter finally lost his cool and received a technical foul with 9:52 left.
The Mavs hit 28-of-35 free throws in the game, compared to Georgia State’s 21-of-32. The Mavs finished with 23 personal fouls to Georgia State’s 28.
“Everything was bad; everything was bad all around,” Hunter said. “I’m not going to go into the officials.”
Jeremy Hollowell still struggling. The team's leading scorer continued to struggle, as he has the past five games during which he is 16-of-54 shooting.
He went 0-for-4 in the first half and Hunter elected to not start him in the second half.
He finished with six points on 2-of-7 shooting with no rebounds or assists, two turnovers and four personal fouls.
Hunter said Hollowell’s offense is affecting his defense, which is why he chose not to play him for stretches in the second half.
“He’s killing us defensively right now,” Hunter said.
Defense and rebounding poor. Neither was good for long enough stretches to keep the game close. The Mavs scored eight of their first 23 points in the free-throw lane and have seven second-chance points off eight offensive rebounds.
They smartly spaced the floor well and used quick passing to find holes either outside the zone near the 3-point line, where they were 5-of-14, or inside, from which they drew fouls and went to the free-throw line where they scored 16 points in the first half.
They finished the half with 47 points, the third-most allowed by the Panthers in a half this season.
Texas-Arlington finished hitting 10-of-28 3-pointers and outrebounding Georgia State 45-27, including 16-to-9 on offense. They had 21 second-chance points, 15 more than Georgia State, and 30 points in the free-throw lane, 12 more than the Panthers. And the Mavs were without leading scorer Kevin Hervey, who had 17 points and eight rebounds in the teams’ first meeting, but is injured.
Each Mavs starter scored at least 10 points, led by Jorge Bilbao’s 18 with 11 rebounds.
Efficiency of offense. Georgia State had a 3-on-1 fast-break opportunity in the first half. Isaiah Williams tried a behind-the-back pass that rolled out of bounds, denying the Panthers an easy two points. It was important because the Panthers were in a scoreless stretch that reached 5 1/2 minutes.
It was a scoreless streak that the Panthers could never overcome.
The Mavs went on a 14-0 run during that time to take a 27-14 lead.
Later in the half, Georgia State had a 2-on-1 and Ware was called for a charge, costing the Panthers two more points when they were trailing by 12.
Georgia State shot the ball well, but couldn’t take advantage of the easier opportunities it could have used to rally.
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