Georgia State coach Ron Hunter thought Vanderbilt would have to shoot at least 20 3-pointers in order for the Panthers to have a chance to win on Tuesday at Memorial Gym.
Hunter knew his team couldn’t matchup with Vanderbilt inside on Tuesday, so his plan was to pack the paint with a zone defense and force Vanderbilt to shoot from outside.
The Commodores took 21 3-pointers, so that part worked. But they made 10, including a crucial one by Milton High graduate Dai-Jon Parker with 1 minute, 6 seconds left, to drop the Panthers 86-80.
“It kept us in the game,” he said.
It did and the Panthers might have won had their shooting percentage from the 3-point line been closer to Vanderbilt’s. Instead, after hitting four of their first five, the Panthers hit just two of their next 17.
“There will be times it won’t go,” Hunter said. “But that’s part of how we play.”
Ryan Harrow scored 27 points, R.J. Hunter added 21 and Curtis Washington 13 more with nine rebounds for the Panthers (1-1), who got only three points from their bench. Rod Odom and Damian Jones scored 19 each for Vanderbilt (1-0).
In their first test of the young season, Georgia State couldn’t keep up with the Commodores’ smooth passing, which opened up passes to the post inside or 3-point shots outside.
“This was a dangerous game because that team can really score,” Vandy coach Kevin Stallings said. “You know it for months, it’s 40 minutes of zone. You sit there thinking, this could be a whacky game. But It wasn’t a whacky game. We did what we needed to do to win.”
Trailing 59-54 with less than 10 minutes remaining, Hunter made a 3-pointer to cut the Panthers’ gap to two.
Rashaad Richardson followed with a free throw for the third point from the bench. But Vandy answered with a 3-pointer by Odom and a layup by Shelby Moats to take a 64-58 lead, matching their largest margin of the game, with 8:09 left.
Hunter made three free throws, but Vandy answered with an alley-oop by Jones to push the lead back to five.
Around that time, near the 7:30 mark, Ron Hunter said he turned to one of his assistants and said he thought he has a good team because even though they weren’t shooting well, they were still in the game.
Sure enough, Harrow scored back-to-back baskets and Washington made a free throw for Georgia State to tie the score at 66 with 6:12 left.
Harrow and Devonta White, pressing together for one of the few times in the game, combined for a steal, and Odom fouled Harrow with 6:01 left. He made both free throws to give the Panthers a 68-66 lead. Hunter said he didn’t want to press more often because he knew he was going to play eight men and didn’t want to risk foul trouble. Instead, he called for presses at what he thought were crucial times.
Odom answered with a 3-pointer to give the Commodores a one-point lead. But Harrow, heating up, made another rainbow jumper to give the Panthers a 70-69 lead. Georgia State followed by forcing a turnover with 3:49 left.
Odom answered with another 3-pointer from the same spot as the previous one to give Vandy a 72-70 lead. R.J. Hunter missed a 3-pointer and missed another jumper, but grabbed his own rebound and made a short shot to tie the score.
Fuller and Hunter traded a free throw each before Jones made a turnaround jumper to give Vandy a 75-73 lead.
Harrow attempted another acrobatic shot, but this time the ball sailed over the backboard, giving the Commodores the ball with 1:31 left.
Vandy took advantage with a 3-pointer by Parker to increase the lead to 78-73. His 3-pointer came in a similar area, but from the opposite side of the free-throw lane, as the ones Odom kept draining. Hunter said that was the shot they were willing to give up.
The Panthers cut their deficit to four, but Jones was fouled on a dunk by Washington with 24.4 seconds to give the Commodores a 82-76 lead.
Still, the Panthers fought, and White cut the gap to two on two free throws with 10.7 seconds left. But Odom made two free throws to seal the win.
“Once we get into March we will be a really, really good team,” Harrow said. “It hurts to lose but it’s good to see that we can play with these types of teams.”
