Georgia State couldn’t find a way to bounce back from its crushing loss in the Sun Belt final falling in the first round of the NIT postseason tournament 78-66 to Clemson Tuesday night at the Littlejohn Coliseum to end the Panthers’ season.
The Panthers finished one of the best seasons in recent history 25-9 overall going 17-1 in Sun Belt play.
Time and time again this season, Head Coach Ron Hunter had said this was the best team he had coached in his 20 years of coaching, and he made that point one last time before heading into the offseason.
“We all walked into this thing together about two and a half, three years ago,” Hunter said with Devonta White on his right, Manny Atkins on his left talking about bringing those current seniors to Georgia State.
“We wanted to win championships and change the culture, and these guys helped me do that. And so, I am forever indebted to them.”
“It’s a tough feeling,” White said on playing his last game as a Panther. “We came up short, and I can live with that because we played as hard as we could.”
“I’m proud of these guys. We worked hard this season, and let’s keep it going. Maybe next year these boys can come out and get this win and get a championship for us,” Atkins said following his last game as a Panther.
Georgia State was looking to rebound from Sunday’s overtime loss to Louisiana-Lafayette in the Sun Belt tournament final to lose its automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
Hunter said he had no trouble motivating his team after Sunday’s game, and he said he was stunned at the number of Georgia State fans that made the trip Tuesday saying it was more than at his first home game at Georgia State.
The Panthers were faced against the fourth-best defense in the country who’s offense is led by a showstopping forward K.J. McDaniels.
McDaniels earned a double-double scoring 30 points and grabbing 14 rebounds to lead the Tigers to the second round of the NIT postseason tournament. McDaniels also had five blocks in the game.
“Our job was to have a lot of bodies around him if we could,” Hunter said on McDaniels adding the team just did not have enough time to prepare. “What I love about [McDaniels] is he doesn’t force anything. I don’t think he had a bad shot.”
The Tigers found their 3-point shot in the second half as Roper made two and Harrison one within the final six minutes to build a 13-point lead with less than three minutes to play.
With 13 fouls for the Panthers in the second half, Clemson maintained its lead off free-throws and end the Panthers’ season.
The Tigers went 17-of-20 at the free-throw line in the game. Georgia State went 13-of-14 at the line in the game, but only had five chances to get charity points in the second half as the Tigers committed only six fouls in the half.
One of those free-throws for the Tigers was off a technical foul called on Ron Hunter, his first of the season, as he was arguing a goal-tending call.
“I slapped my hands because I thought it was slapped against the board, and [the official] thought I embarrassed him,” Hunter said explaining his clapping at the official.
Hunter did not think the call hyped Clemson up but did say it may have rattled his team.
The Tigers got out to a 10-point lead on a 9-0 run that included five made free-throws off six attempts despite the Panthers finding their three early in the second half making three in the opening five minutes of the half including two from R.J. Hunter.
Hunter scored 15 points for the Panthers, and all of the Panthers’ starters finished in double figures.
McDaniels scored 17 points in the first half including an alley oop to double the Tiger’s lead to 14-7 mid-way through the half. Free-throws kept the Panthers in it allowing them to even take the lead for a short time on a 9-0 run that put them up by three.
McDaniels kept getting looks, however, with a three and a dunk off a steal from Sidy Djitte as the Tigers went on a 13-2 run of its own late in the half.
Atkins made a three in the final five seconds to cut the Tigers’ lead to 35-32 at halftime. Atkins scored 12 in the game and grabbed six rebounds.
Tuesday marked the second time in Georgia State’s history it made an appearance in the NIT postseason tournament. The Panthers’ last appearance was in 2002, but lost in the first round against Tennessee Tech.
Clemson featured the fourth-best defense in the country and the best 3-point field percentage defense in the NCAA only allowing 28 percent of threes to be made.
Clemson was coming off a 63-62 loss to Duke in the ACC tournament quarterfinals. The Panthers were coming off a 82-81 overtime loss to Louisiana-Lafayette in the Sun Belt tournament final.
Clemson returned to the NIT tournament for the 15th time in the program’s history, the most of any ACC team. The Tigers have now won its last 10 home NIT games.
The Tigers will face the winner of Illinois and Boston University game played tomorrow in the second round of the tournament later this week.
Georgia State now heads into the offseason.
