D’Marcus Simonds leads Georgia State to their fourth consecutive conference win, defeating Appalachian State 83-72. The Panthers didn’t rely on their 3-point shooting this game, making only three 3-pointers, but somehow they managed to put up over 80 points thanks to their control of the paint. Despite Appalachian State’s Tyrell Johnson scoring 22 points, the Panthers locked down the rest of the team forcing them to shoot 39 percent from the field. The Panthers are now 12-7 (5-2) and third in the conference.
Five things we learned from Georgia State’s fourth consecutive conference win:
1. Simonds the man in charge: Simonds is the catalyst for the Panthers as his teammates feed off his energy and his ability to create turnovers. Simonds got the team rolling with five steals and showed off his crazy handles as he dodged numerous defenders to get to the basket coming up with 25 points, all coming from the paint. Perhaps the best stat of the night is the fact that he only had one turnover all game, despite attempting 16 shots. He was 62 percent from the field.
“He has something that I always said some guys have that it,” coach Ron Hunter said about Simonds. “He reminds me so much of George Hill who I’ve coached and went on to play for the Jazz. He’s just getting better and better and getting more comfortable in figuring it out. He just has that instinct. He’s a good player and glad we have him.”
2. Panthers go hard in the paint: Last game, the Panthers made 15 3-pointers, but this game was the complete opposite as they dominated the paint by scoring 56 points compared with Appalachian State's 18. Controlling the paint was clearly the game plan for this game as they only 14 shots from the 3-point line compared with 33 attempts last game. They also got to the foul line with 16 free-throw attempts. This game showed the diversity of this team being able to score from the 3-point line in some games, but also knowing when to take it to the paint as they did tonight.
“The other night I was worried because we made 15 3’s,” Hunter said about the game plan. “So all of sudden we start jackin’ shots up a little early and they weren’t going. So, we just talked about driving the basketball. And that’s Simonds game if you can’t guard him off the dribble you’re in trouble. When we drive it we’re pretty good. We were still able to score 80-something points without hitting 3’s. I love the balance that we have.”
3. Panthers win the turnover margin: Turnovers are the difference maker in most games, and the Panthers won that battle forcing 17 turnovers. Majority of the turnovers were steals as they had 11 of those and forced Appalachian State to make six mental errors that cost them this game. The Panthers scored 17 points off the turnovers.
“This is the fourth straight game we’ve held our opponent to under 40 percent shooting, and that’s what we want to do,” Hunter said about his team’s defense. “And 28 percent from the 3-point line. Our defense didn’t get a lot of credit, but you look at our field-goal-percentage defense and our 3-point-percentage defense even for the year its pretty good. And that’s something we pride ourselves with.”
4. Bench dominates again: Perhaps the best attribute of this team is their depth. The Panthers had at least 20 points from their bench in back-to-back games. Isaiah Dennis lead the bench with nine points followed up by Jeff Thomas with six points. Dennis has had regular success against Appalachian State, and had a career high last season against them, scoring 18. The bench also scored the only points from the 3-point line this game, with three. The Panthers finished with 25 points off the bench.
5. Fouls and free throws costly: The Panthers should have sealed this game a long time ago after having a 20-point lead, but committing 19 fouls and allowed Appalachian State to hang around in this game. Appalachian State went 21-24 from the free-throw line tonight. Despite getting to the free-throw line themselves, the Panthers only made 60 percent of their free throws. These are mental errors that the Panthers cannot make going down the stretch into February and March.
“We gotta stop fouling,” Hunter said. “We were so concerned about their 3-point shooting that we really wanted to lock in on that. I didn’t think our inside guys did a good enough job on their post people.”
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