Georgia State gave an absolute dominant performance over Arkansas-Little Rock, winning 99-73 to extend their winning streak to nine Saturday at the Sports Arena.
The winning streak marks the second longest in school history with the longest being 11 back in Coach Hunter’s first season at Georgia State in 2011.
“I can’t see the ceiling,” Hunter said referencing that his team has not peaked yet.
Ryan Harrow goes up for the layup adding to the Panthers quick offensive start against ULAR.
Hunter said his team’s ability to finish in each of the team’s nine straight wins is something his team has been able to improve.
Hunter said it goes back to the 75-65 overtime loss the team suffered Dec. 7 against Southern Miss.
“We didn’t finish the game,” Hunter said. “Everything now is about finishing. We even said today we want to finish the season…you want to finish strong.”
“The best thing I can say is, ‘Wow, we have not played our best basketball yet,'” Hunter said.
The Panthers acclimated themselves quickly to the Sun Belt Conference as they remain the only undefeated team in the conference at 5-0. They are now two games ahead of Arkansas-Little Rock who sits in second place.
The Panthers starting five all finished the game scoring in double figures with sophomore R.J. Hunter scoring 25 points and senior Manny Atkins scoring 22.
“We’re very talented all around the floor, and like coach said, if we actually come out there and play our game like we know how to play, every game should be like this,” Atkins said.
The Panthers went on an 11-0 run to start the game with forward Curtis Washington making back-to-back dunks to grab the first points.
Washington went 5-of-6 from the flow grabbing five rebounds and scored 13 points.
R.J. Hunter, the hero in Thursday night’s 73-72 victory over Arkansas State making a game-winning jumper with 12 seconds on the clock, was more consistent from outside the arc shooting 6-of-10 while making four consecutive threes early in the second half.
The Panthers went into the half with a 30-point cushion as they scored 59 points before halftime, the most points the Panthers have scored in the first half this season.
“We didn’t just jack up jump shots,” Hunter said. “We went inside-out, made paint touches, and in the end it just broke their will. You can’t stop us in the man and you can’t stop us in the zone.”
The Trojans went on a 13-0 run early in the second half, but never came close to narrowing the Panthers’ lead despite shooting 54 percent in the second half.
After struggling early this season, Georgia State’s defense continued to bring pressure making 14 steals and forcing 20 turnovers and turning the turnovers into 33 points.
Arkansas-Little Rock had two guys who scored double figures in the game including senior forward Will Neighbour who scored 18 and James White who scored 23. It was Neighbour’s 18 straight game scoring in double digits.
The game was Hunter’s annual “Barefoot for Bare Feet” game in which he coaches barefoot to raise awareness for the Samaritan’s Feet charity.
“My feet are absolutely killing me,” Hunter joked saying he twisted his ankle during the game by running into an official.
Hunter said each year the barefoot game is important to him and he thanked women’s basketball coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener who joined the event this year.
Hunter is 3-0 at Georgia State in games coached barefoot.
The Panthers take their winning streak back out on the road as they face Louisiana-Lafayette Jan. 25 at 5 p.m.
