Games 507-508: First half of Arkansas trip

508 - Georgia State at Arkansas State
February 1 at First National Bank Arena in Jonesboro, AR
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Some good:

* Five in double figures, led by D'Marcus Simonds' 21-point, nine-rebound, six-assist effort to extend GSU's winning streak to eight games.
* Shot 55% (29-of-52) and held Arkansas State to 36% (22-of-61) in the 77-66 victory. The Panthers are seventh nationally in field goal percentage defense.
* The teams top-two post defenders - Jordan Session and Malik Benlevi - combined for five blocked shots. GSU is top-40 nationally in that category.

Some not so good:

* Arkansas State had 21 offensive rebounds. 21! This has become a problem. In the Panthers' last five games their opponents have grabbed 21, 18, 18, 12 & 21 offensive rebounds (average of 18). Arkansas State only turned that into 17 second-chance points, but the Red Wolves aren't very good. Better teams will punish you for allowing that many second chances and two of GSU's next three games come against two of the top-4 Sun Belt teams in Georgia Southern and the league's top rebounding team, Lafayette.

* Reserve guard Isaiah Williams had a nice night - 10 points, 2-of-3 from three-point range and three assists - but the other three players who saw time off the bench (guard Kane Williams and forwards Jordan Tyson and Josh Linder) combined for two points and six fouls in 21 total minutes. GSU coach Ron Hunter has basically went with a six-man rotation for nearly all of the conference season (Williams plus the usual five starters), and I've heard Hunter say in press conferences he's going to go with those main players to try and win a league title. I like the top-6 guys, they're as good as any top-6 in the Sun Belt, and yes, the bench is extremely young - four freshman, one sophomore and the redshirt-junior, Tyson. I just worry a bit about the lack of depth.

507 - Georgia State women at Arkansas State
February 1 at First National Bank Arena in Jonesboro, AR
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The GSU women fell to 0-10 on the road (average margin of defeat is 20 points) and 1-9 in league play, 76-63 in the first game of the night.

You can't win many games when you turn the ball over 17 times and only hand out nine assists. And it's tough to win on the road against a pretty good team when you shoot 3-of-17 from three-point range overall and 31% from the field in the second half. GSU was down just 55-53 through three quarters.

Point guard Madison Newby had an extremely uneven game for the visitors, finishing with a game-high 15 points (though on just 4-of-14 shooting), four assists (but six turnovers) and five steals.

Arkansas State, which had four in double figures led by Akasha Westbrook and Lycia Peevy (11 points each), moved to 6-4 in the Sun Belt. Those four losses were by a combined 26 points.