In what may sound scary for the rest of the Sun Belt, Ron Hunter said his Georgia State team has yet to play its best basketball after hammering Arkansas-Little Rock 99-73 on Saturday at the GSU Sports Arena.
“We haven’t peaked yet,” said Hunter, who coached without shoes and socks in his annual effort to raise awareness for the charity Samaritan’s Feet.
R.J. Hunter scored 25 points, making 6 of 10 3-pointers, to lead Georgia State (12-6, 5-0), which remains the only team unbeaten in Sun Belt games.
Manny Atkins added 22 points as the five starters scored at least 11 points each. The Panthers improved to 7-0 at home this season and 3-0 in the “Barefoot for Bare Feet” games.
The Panthers have won nine consecutive games and are two from tying the school record set during the 2011-12 season. They will have a chance to reach that mark with games at Louisiana-Lafayette on Thursday and at Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday.
“We’re going to beat it,” Atkins said. “We’re coming for it.”
Ron Hunter said he could tell before the game that his players were ready to go for what he said is usually a tough day for him.
“I’ve always said I don’t think I coach as well in these games, so I’ve always asked the players to watch my back,” he said. “These guys were really amped up. I think the game was over in the first seven minutes.”
The game seemed likely to be more competitive. The Panthers struggled to knock off Arkansas State on Thursday, and Arkansas-Little Rock (9-9, 4-2) came in as the conference’s second-place team.
Facing the Trojans’ man-to-man defense, Georgia State jumped to an 11-0 lead. The points came off two Curtis Washington dunks and two free throws by R.J. Hunter after a technical against Arkansas-Little Rock coach Steve Shields, who thought Washington should have been called for basket interference on his first dunk. Then a 3-pointer by Atkins and another layup by Washington.
The Panthers closed the first half with a 10-0 run that featured two layups and a 3-pointer by Atkins, and another 3-pointer by Hunter, to take a 59-29 lead. It was Georgia State’s most points in a half since scoring 68 against Norfolk State on Feb. 10, 1998.
“I’ve never been up by 30 at the half before,” Ron Hunter said. “I didn’t know what to say. I had to make stuff up.”
Things kept going well for Georgia State and poorly for Arkansas-Little Rock, which was whistled for a flagrant foul and a second technical foul in the game.
Not that the Trojans had much hope, but R.J. Hunter made four consecutive 3-pointers in the second half to push Georgia State’s lead to 78-52 with less than 12 minutes remaining.
Ron Hunter said the difference in Thursday’s close win and Saturday’s blowout was that the Panthers did what they were supposed to do on offense after they got ahead quickly: They drove the ball into the free-throw lane and didn’t settle for jump shots. The Panthers outscored the taller Trojans 34-33 inside and turned the Trojans’ 20 turnovers into 33 points.
“If you are going to win a championship, you have to take care of home,” Hunter said. “We took care of home. I just really like the maturity of this basketball team.”
