Game 362 - (7) Louisiana vs. (2) Georgia State

Sun Belt quarterfinals
March 10 at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, LA
espn3.com

As the opening tip was approaching, GSU coach Ron Hunter made a switch to his starting lineup and inserted Isaiah Williams. It has been an interesting year for the junior, whose gone from starter at the beginning of the year to bench player to sometimes not playing much at all. And as the Panthers begin their quest for a second league title in three seasons, Williams was back amongst the opening five and I thought he was the difference Friday.

Williams was one of four in double figures scoring 14 points and he handled the offense perfectly from his point guard position, leading the second-seeded Panthers to an 86-76 win and a spot in Saturday's semifinals.

The Buford, GA native averaged 14.3 points, shot better than 50% from the field and had a better-than 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in three wins over Louisiana this season.

GSU, which took the lead at the nine-minute mark of the first half & never gave it back, got a big offensive night from Jeremy Hollowell (16 points, four assists), but I thought what Hollowell did on the defensive end was an even bigger part of the win. The senior grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds, and the Panthers out-rebounded Louisiana 44-31, which is significant considering the seventh-seeded Ragin Cajuns have the nation's fifth-leading rebounder in Bryce Washington. He came in averaging 11 1/2 per night, but was a non-factor on the glass Friday, grabbing just three.

Louisiana really struggled from three-point range (5-of-29) and a lot of that had to do with Frank Bartley's individual struggles. I was in Atlanta in early-February and watched Bartley torch GSU for 31 points and seven 3-pointers as the Panthers snuck out of the building with a three-point win. Bartley was no such threat in this one, hitting just one of his 11 field goal attempts (and 1-of-8 from three), and finished with four points.

For GSU, Malik Benlevi had a great night with 15 points and several strong moves to the basket for lay-ups, Sun Belt freshman of the year D'Marcus Simonds did his usual good work (17 and 8) and the Panthers received nice contributions from bench players and former Eagle's Landing High School (McDonough, GA) teammates Isaiah Dennis and Jordan Session, who combined for 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting. It was one of GSU's finest wire-to-wire performances in a while and it came at a perfect time.