Games 662-663: Two on Thursday

663 - Old Dominion at Florida Atlantic
January 10 at FAU Arena in Boca Raton, FL
ESPN +

Color commentator Mike Gillian on ODU guard Justice Kithcart:

"he's like a roller coaster - when he's up, he's up, when he's down, he's down."

662 - Louisiana at Georgia State
January 10 at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, GA
ESPN +

Let's quickly move past the free-throw shooting, which was horrid (14-for-24), and look at the second-half field goal shooting, which was incredible.

GSU hit 19-of-28 from the field in the second half (67%) and moved to 3-0 in Sun Belt play with an 89-76 win.

D'Marcus Simonds had 14 of his team-high 21 points in the second half and Devin Mitchell scored all 13 of his after halftime as the Panthers won for the sixth consecutive time against its league rival despite 36 points from JaKeenan Gant.

Gant, who was 14-of-21 from the field, is a really impressive player and I'm just glad no one else really helped him out. Justin Miller and Jerekius Davis combined for 24 points, but on just 8-of-22 shooting and Miller fouled out with just over five minutes to play. Non-Gant shooters were just 13-of-45 for the visitors.

GSU (12-4), winners of five straight overall, got great contributions from Jeff Thomas (17 points, 5-of-9 on threes) and Malik Benlevi (15 points, 6-of-8 FG).

Thomas was huge early, scoring 11 points, including three 3-pointers within the first eight minutes, while Benlevi was, once again his team's most consistent player and finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. The defending league champions are 3-0 in conference play for the first time since the 2013-14 team won its first 10 on the way to a regular season championship.