Games 797-805

797 - Lafayette at Rutgers

December 22 at Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, NJ
ESPNU

798 - Georgia State at Appalachian State

January 2, 2020 at Holmes Convocation Center in Boone, NC

espn+

799 - Georgia State at Arkansas State

January 6 at Convocation Center in Jonesboro, AR

espn+

800 - Louisiana-Monroe at Georgia State

January 11 at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, GA

espn3.com

801 - Georgia State at South Alabama

January 16 at Mitchell Center in Mobile, AL

espn3.com

802 - Georgia State at Georgia Southern

January 25 at Hanner Fieldhouse in Statesboro, GA

espn+

 

803 - Georgia State at Louisiana-Monroe

February 8 at Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe, LA

espn3.com

 

804 - Vanderbilt at Mississippi State

February 8 at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, MS

SEC Network

Reggie Perry and Nick Weatherspoon Miss St: 46 points, 15-19 shooting

 

805 - Appalachian State at Georgia State

February 13 at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, GA

espn+

Game 796 - UT Arlington at Georgia State

December 19 at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, GA
espn3.com

Nice way to start Sun Belt Conference play as the Panthers had four in double figures in an 83-77 win.

Damon Wilson, the team's lone senior, led the way with a career-high 22 points, while adding his usual complimentary statistics as well (six rebounds and two assists, two blocks and two steals). The GSU backcourt, which is the clear strength of the team, was excellent tonight with Kane Williams adding 17 points and five assists and Justin Roberts chipping in with 15 points, six assists and five steals.

Another guard and the Panthers' leading scorer, Corey Allen, had a brutal fall on his back in the first half and only played 11 minutes. It'd be tough to lose Allen for any amount of time, though again, if any area of the team can afford an injury, it's the backcourt.

Jalen Thomas, a freshman who is part of young frontcourt (along with fellow freshman Joe Jones) that could help in a big way this season, had 11 points and five blocked shots.

That's six straight wins for GSU, which hasn't lost since falling at Georgetown on November 17.

Games 790-791: Saturday pair

791 - Bethune-Cookman at Jacksonville
December 7 at Swisher Gymnasium in Jacksonville, FL
espn3.com

The hosts led by 17 at the break and thanks to the trio of David Bell (22 and 15, 8-of-11 from the field), DeAnthony McCallum (13 and 11) and Destin Barnes (19 points on 5-of-8 three-point shooting) had no trouble against their in-state rivals.

In an 82-60 loss, Bethune-Cookman got more scoring from its bench than it did its starters (33-27), which is almost never a good thing.

790 - Georgia State at Mercer
December 7 at Hawkins Arena in Macon, GA
ESPN+

Game 789 - Georgia State women at Furman

December 5 at Timmons Arena in Greenville, SC
espn3.com

It's hard to win when you shoot 10% (2-of-20) from three-point range and 32% (24-of-73) overall as the Panthers never led in a 62-55 loss on Thursday.

GSU actually cut a 20-point deficit to 58-55 with 19 seconds left, but couldn't get any closer.

Tierra Hodges, who I watched play a couple times at Alcovy High School in Covington, GA, led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting, while Milicia Manojlovic added 19 points.

Clemson transfer Taylor Hosendove had a huge game on the glass - 18 rebounds, including 14(!) on the offensive end (GSU had 23 as a team, but that had a lot to do with its struggles shooting the ball) - and poured in a team-high 20 points.

Game 784 - Charlotte at Georgia State

November 27 at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, GA
ESPN+

Game 778 - Georgia State at Georgetown

November 17 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC
Fox Sports 1

Let's just move on from this weekend - fell at Duke 74-63 despite being tied at 40-40 with about 17 minutes to go and holding the No. 2 team in the nation to 34%/25%/58% shooting on Friday, followed two days later by a 91-83 loss to the Hoyas despite leading by as much as seven in the second half and still at 54-53 with just under 12 minutes to go - as quickly as possible.

It's the first three-game losing streak for GSU since February, 2017, which speaks both to the quality of the program now, and also how nauseating the first two weeks of this current season have been.

Games 759-760: First round continues

760 - (16) Iona vs. (1) North Carolina
NCAA Tournament first round
March 22 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH
CBS

759 - (14) Georgia State vs. (3) Houston
NCAA Tournament first round
March 23 at BOK Center in Tulsa, OK
TBS

A single-elimination tournament can be quite cruel.

GSU (24-10) had its worst shooting performance at the worst time as Houston ran away in the second half and won 84-55.

The Panthers, in the tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history, hit a season-low 30% from the field and after setting a school-record for three-point field goals, made just six of their 23 attempts from behind the arc against a really good Houston defense.

In their final collegiate games, Devin Mitchell scored 12 points, including a pair of threes, Jeff Thomas had just five points on 2-of-10 shooting, Jordan Tyson grabbed five rebounds in 15 minutes and Sun Belt Tournament MVP Malik Benlevi was never a factor and finished with as many personal fouls (4) as points and rebounds.

In what could've been his final game at the college level, junior D'Marcus Simonds led the way with 18 points. We'll see if Simonds declares for the NBA Draft or returns for his senior season.

Houston's Corey Davis led all scorers with 26 points, including seven 3-pointers. GSU couldn't stop Davis in the first half, and really not much of anything throughout the night. Houston (32-3) shot 51% from the field in each half and had an absurd 51-27 rebounding advantage that felt like 151-27.

Game 755: Back-to-back

(2) UT Arlington vs. (1) Georgia State

Sun Belt championship

March 17 at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, LA

ESPN2

Georgia State made program history on Sunday.

The top seed used a stifling defense once again to win convincingly, 73-64 and capture the Sun Belt title for the second consecutive season.

The Panthers, who held UT Arlington to 35% shooting a day after limiting fourth-seeded Texas State to 21% in the semifinals, have reached the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time. All five starters scored in double figures, led by tournament MVP Malik Benlevi, who was fantastic in two games.

Benlevi, one of four seniors who will play in the tournament for the second time later this week, finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds in the final and averaged 15.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in the two games in New Orleans. Benlevi clearly wants nothing to do with his collegiate career coming to an end, and neither do his teammates:

- Damon Wilson continued his late-season surge as the redshirt-junior scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting and was the catalyst at the top of GSU's zone defense, harassing Arlington's guards all afternoon. Guard Brian Warren, who scored 21 points in the Mavericks' semifinal win over No. 2 seed Georgia Southern, was just 4-of-18 from the field on Sunday. Wilson was a huge reason why.

- Sophomore point guard Kane Williams, one of the most pleasant surprises of the season, added 12 points and five assists. Williams has gone from an up-and-down freshman to an integral part of an NCAA Tournament team in just 12 months.

- Another senior, Jeff Thomas added 11 points and was 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.

- GSU would've been much better than its 25-for-34 performance from the line if it wasn't for D'Marcus Simonds' struggles. The Panthers' top player, and absurdly their only all-Sun Belt recipient, was 2-of-9 from the charity stripe to finish with just 10 points. It's good news for GSU when the junior Simonds can have a tough night (he was also only 4-of-12 from the field) and still have a fairly-comfortable win in the conference championship game.

GSU, which as a 15-seed lost in the opening round to second-seeded Cincinnati in last year's tournament, received a No. 14 seed and will head to Tulsa, Oklahoma for Friday's opening round against another American Athletic Conference team, third-seeded Houston.

Games 753-754: Saturday doubleheader

754 - (2) Hawaii women vs. (1) UC-Davis
Big West championship
March 16 at Honda Center in Anaheim, CA
espn3

753 - (4) Texas State vs. (1) Georgia State
Sun Belt semifinals
March 16 at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, LA
ESPN +

Games 744-745: Saturday pair

745 - Georgia State at Georgia Southern
March 9 at Hanner Fieldhouse in Statesboro, GA
ESPN +

744 - (8) VMI vs. (1) Wofford
Southern quarterfinals
March 9 at US Cellular Center in Asheville, NC
ESPN +

Games 727-729: Weekend marathon, part 1

729 - Prairie View A&M at Alabama A&M
March 2 at T.M. Elmore Gym in Huntsville, AL
Youtube.com

The sound on my computer had been on and off all day, but it was on long enough for some quick, pre-game nonsense from the announcing team. I didn't get anyone's name, so we'll just call them The Billys:

"their valuable piece of real estate is when they play at home"
"any team can lose, anywhere"
"when you play Bulldog basketball, you always come out with a win!"

That's as solid a top 3 as you're going to find in just under two minutes. Excellent work, Billys.

728 - Montana State women at Northern Arizona
March 2 at J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff, AZ
Pluto TV

727 - Little Rock at Georgia State
March 2 at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, GA
ESPN +

Games 724-725: Thursday doubleheader

725 - Cal Poly at Cal State Fullerton
February 28 at Titan Gym in Fullerton, CA
espn3

A ton of great performances & storylines in this one:

* Khalil Ahmad and Kyle Allman, two of the top five scorers in Fullerton history, combined for 47 points in the Titans' 86-75 win.

* Fullerton attempted 49 (!) free throws, making 35 (71%).

* Donovan Fields, a diminutive/excellent senior guard for Cal Poly, had a team-high 22 points. Fields is probably not an NBA prospect, but he might get a un-drafted free agent look & at worst looks to be ready to play professionally somewhere.

But the best moment of the night came with about 25 seconds to play. 

Fullerton team manager Sammy Jones was cleared by the NCAA to dress for tonight's game and with 11 seconds left, Jones drove the lane and made a runner, was fouled and completed a three-point play for the hosts' final points of the night. Naturally, his teammates and the crowd went nuts, and during Cal Poly's ensuing free throw trip, a "Sammy" chant began in the arena.

Great moment.

724 - Arkansas State at Georgia State
February 28 at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, GA
ESPN +

GSU is one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country and showed it Thursday.

The Panthers hit 14 with Jeff Thomas's five in eight attempts, and Devin Mitchell's four leading the way for the hosts in a 76-60 victory.

Ty Cockfield came into the night second in the Sun Belt in scoring and while he led the way for Arkansas State with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, none of his teammates reached double figures and shot a combined 14-of-46 (30%).

That's win No. 20 (& an 11-5 record in Sun Belt play) for the Panthers, giving the program at least 20 victories in three consecutive seasons for the first time ever.

It's pretty amazing what coach Ron Hunter has done for the men's basketball program. Hunter, 167-94 in 7 + seasons at the Atlanta school, has now won 20 in six of those eight seasons. In 38 previous seasons, 10 different coaches reached 20 just three times (2000-01, 2001-02, 2003-04).

Games 714-716: Saturday tripleheader

716 - San Diego State at UNLV
February 23 at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, NV
ESPNU

715 - Loyola (Maryland) at Boston
February 23 at Case Gym in Boston, MA
Patriot League Network

714 - Georgia State at Coastal Carolina
February 23 at HTC Center in Conway, SC
ESPN +

Other games watched:

Eastern Illinois women at Tennessee State
SIU Edwardsville at Belmont

Games 710-712: Three on Thursday

712 - Cal Baptist at Grand Canyon
February 21 at GCU Arena in Phoenix, AZ
ESPN +

"dribble drive"

Color commentator Scott Williams, 16:03 left in the first half

711 - Chicago State at Utah Valley
February 21 at UCCU Center in Orem, UT
WAC Digital Network

Incredible shooting performance from Utah Valley, which thanks to Jake Toolson (25 points, 6-of-9 from three-point range) made 59% of its attempts from behind the arc in a 103-71 win.

Not surprising that Chicago State struggled this much defensively as the visitors came into the night 349th (out of 351 teams) in Division 1 in scoring defense and 342nd in field goal percentage defense (the Wolverines shot 58% overall).

Utah Valley had four others reach double-figures in scoring, led by Richard Harward's 19-point, 16-rebound on 8-of-10 shooting night.

710 - Georgia State at Appalachian State
February 21 at Holmes Convocation Center in Boone, NC
ESPN +

With Texas State's home loss to Louisiana-Monroe Thursday, GSU pulled even at 10-4 for first place in the Sun Belt with an 80-75 win.

Kane Williams, just a sophomore but one of the top point guards in the league, hit a difficult 4-footer and then completed a three-point play with 41 seconds left that put the Panthers (19-8) up for good. Williams then rejected Ronshad Shabazz's jumper with 11 seconds left, part of a defensive effort that held Appalachian State scoreless over the final 1:47.

Malik Benlevi, coming off a 26-point night in a win over South Alabama, again led the way for GSU with 20 points, finishing a rebound short of a double-double.

Williams and D'Marcus Simonds finished with 18 points each for the Panthers.

Justin Forrest led the Mountaineers with 17 points.

Game 700: Comeback

South Alabama at Georgia State
February 15 at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, GA
espn3

In the second half, Malik Benlevi scored 17 of his career-high 26 points, Jeff Thomas scored all but six of his 21, and Georgia State overcame an 18-point deficit to win 90-81.

Sourh Alabama went 12-of-19 from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes, building a lead as large as 50-32 and going into the locker room up 53-39. GSU didn't quit, and while the visitors cooled off considerably in the second half from long range - 2-of-13 - (they attempted 32 threes!), the Panthers climbed back into it.

A 16-1 run, which nearly erased the Jaguars' largest second-half lead of 16, was capped by Benlevi's corner three at the 13:53 mark and it was only a 56-55 deficit. Though South Alabama regained a six-point advantage when Josh Ajayi went 1-of-2 from the line at the 8:47 mark, Thomas' 3-pointer, one of four for the senior, put GSU ahead for good at 78-77 with just under four minutes to play.

After shooting 55% from the field in the first half, the Jaguars added just 28 points & shot 29% over the final 20 minutes, making one field goal over the final five minutes.

Benlevi had a huge night, going 5-for-7 from behind the arc and adding a team-high-tying (with Thomas) seven rebounds, five assists and three of GSU's 10 steals. Thomas moved into 15th on the school's all-time scoring list, passing both Jim Jacobs and current GSU radio commentator Lamont McIntosh.

The Panthers had 23 assists on 29 made baskets to move to 9-4 in Sun Belt play with five games to go.

Games 698-699: Thursday!

699 - Southern Utah at Sacramento State
February 14 at The Nest in Sacramento, CA
Pluto TV

1. What is going on with the Sacramento State logo

?

2. Play-by-play announcer Steve McElroy not only gave us an early "dribble drive" (17:12 left in the first half), but also said these things:

"remember how whiny I was when we went to the last break? Well, it's completely turned around"
"and we get a little Tupac music here"
"the Hornets could move from 9th to 7th, based on tonight's results, and various stuff"
"they're also floppers and that's not a criticism, they're really good at it"
"Simon doesn't like it...Simon says 'I'm not happy with that call'"
"the Thunderbirds tried super hardcore pressure"
"the guy who swippers the floor"


698 - Georgia State women at Troy
February 14 at Trojan Arena in Troy, AL
espn3



Other games watched:

Gonzaga at Loyola Marymount

Game 697 - Troy at Georgia State

February 13 at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, GA

Sometimes it's nice to let your best player and the conference's reigning player of the year just take over.

That's what happened Wednesday's as GSU's D'Marcus Simonds was excellent, scoring a game-high 27 points in a 77-63 win.

Simonds, who moved into No. 1 on the school's all-time field goals made list with nine (on 19 attempts), added seven rebounds and six assists in helping snap a brief, two-game losing streak.

It was just a one-point halftime lead before the hosts started the second by scoring the first eight points - Jeff Thomas hit a three and a lay-in, the last of which made it 42-33 and forced a Troy timeout less than three minutes into the half. The lead grew to as much as 18 on one of five Simonds' 3-pointers at the 12:11 mark.

Thomas and Devin Mitchell, the top two outside threats on the team, combined to go 6-for-7 from behind the arc and the Panthers hit 11 as a team. The defense also had 10 steals and forced 19 turnovers, and when that's happening at one end and the threes are falling at the other, GSU is difficult to beat.

The Panthers, now 17-8 overall and 8-4 in the Sun Belt, caught a huge break when Troy's Jordon Varnado missed his third consecutive game with an injury. Varnado has been a problem for the Panthers for the last two seasons of his nearly-2,000 point career, which thankfully ends in March. The senior scored 32 points on 12-of-16 shooting, including the game-winning 3-pointer with two seconds left in a 77-75 win back on January 19.

Games 691-692: Thursday/Friday pair

692 - Georgia State at Louisiana
February 8 at Cajundome in Lafayette, LA
ESPN2

691 - Pacific at Saint Mary's
February 7 at McKeon Pavilion in Moraga, CA
ESPNU

Other games watched:

New Mexico State at Cal State Bakersfield

Games 689-690: Wednesday doubleheader

690 - McNeese State at Sam Houston State
February 6 at Johnson Coliseum in Huntsville, TX
espn3

689 - Georgia State at Louisiana-Monroe
February 6 at Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe, LA
ESPN +

Game 685 - Georgia Southern at Georgia State

February 2 at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, GA
ESPN +

The last time GSU was on the court, D'Marcus Simonds scored just one point in a win over UT-Arlington last Saturday.

Safe to say, Simonds bounced back a week later.

The junior scored a game-high 29 points, his back court mate Kane Williams added 19 and the Panthers closed the game on a 13-3 run to win 81-72.

Georgia Southern led 69-68 with about 4 1/2 minutes to play on a nice move in the lane by Tookie Brown that led to a lay-up. The Eagles would only score three points the rest of the day as Simonds hit 1-of-2 from the free-throw line to tie it and a jumper from Malik Benlevi with 3 1/2 minutes to go gave GSU (16-6, 7-2 Sun Belt Conference) the lead for good. Williams, who added four assists and four steals, was 6-for-6 from the line down the stretch.

Jeff Thomas, whose follow-dunk of a Benlevi miss with 1:13 to go was the highlight of the afternoon & made it 77-70, did a bit of everything, adding 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting to go along with six rebounds and two assists. Benlevi added 12 on 5-of-8 shooting.

Quan Jackson led Southern (13-9, 5-4) with 20 points, 16 of which came after halftime.

The teams meet again in Statesboro, Georgia on March 9, the final day of the regular season.