The Georgia State men’s basketball team isn’t in a tailspin after its third loss in four games, but few things seem to be improving as it heads to league-leading Arkansas-Little Rock (18-2, 8-1) on Saturday.
The Panthers (12-6, 5-4) were beaten by a depleted Arkansas State 75-69 in overtime on Thursday.
There were a few talking points from the game:
First, the Red Wolves used just eight players and were still able to rally against the deeper Panthers in a game that lasted longer than usual.
Second, Georgia State’s offense couldn’t take advantage of a team missing its starting point guard and lacking depth. The Panthers shot a season-low 32.8 percent against a team playing mostly man-to-man. Jeremy Hollowell, the team’s leading scorer, had 15 points but needed 12 shots. He fouled out with more than seven minutes remaining in regulation. Kevin Ware, the team’s second leading scorer, had 14 points but missed 8-of-11 shots. Since scoring a season-high 20 points on 5-of-13 shooting, he has hit 17 of 50 shots.
The offense didn’t help itself with 19 turnovers, its second-most this season. The players hit 22-of-31 free throws, but several of those misses came in the final minutes of regulation.
This after a week’s layoff.
Second, Georgia State’s freshmen had a rough night, which isn’t unexpected. After scoring 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the previous game against Appalachian State, Jeff Thomas missed 10 of his 11 shots against Arkansas State and finished with two points in a season-high 27 minutes. It continued an all-or-nothing pattern to his offense this season. He has scored at least six points in consecutive games once this season.
Fellow freshman Malik Benlevi’s issues were mostly on defense. With the Panthers leading by three in the final minute of regulation, Benlevi fouled Frederic Dure while making a layup. Benlevi was bailed out when Dure missed the potential game-tying free throw. However, the rebound went off of Georgia State and out of bounds. On the ensuing inbounds play, he and T.J. Shipes didn’t communicate on the pass from the baseline, resulting in an open layup that gave Arkansas State a one-point lead with 11 seconds left.
Third, perhaps for the first time since coach Ron Hunter took over the team, the Panthers used some man-to-man concepts on defense in an attempt to defend 3-point shots better. Opponents in the previous three games had hit 32 of the shots. After hitting just 2-of-12 in the first half, the Red Wolves hit 5-of-13 in the second half and overtime.
Now the Panthers must play Arkansas-Little Rock, the team with the best defense (58.6 points per game) and second-best 3-point shooters (37.1 percent) in the Sun Belt this season.
A loss would drop Georgia State to 5-5 in the conference with 10 games remaining. A win could move it back into second place.
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