What You Need to Know:
* Georgia State will open defense of its back-to-back Sun Belt Conference titles facing UT Arlington on Wednesday at the College Park Center at 8:15 p.m. ET.
* The Panthers have won four-straight and finished non-conference play 7-2, tied for the third-best non-conference start in program history.
* Georgia State is 32-6 in Sun Belt Conference games since returning to the league two seasons ago.
ATLANTA-Georgia State will open defense of its back-to-back Sun Belt Conference titles on Wednesday traveling to Texas to face UT Arlington at 8:15 p.m. ET, in the College Park Center.
Georgia State has opened the season with a 7-2 record, the third-best non-conference mark in program history and best start under head coach Ron Hunter. The Panthers enter play on Wednesday on a four-game winning streak and are currently ranked No. 50 in the NCAA RPI.
The Panthers, which have won the last two Sun Belt Conference regular season titles since returning to the league, have put together an impressive 32-6 mark in league games since their return. It is part of a stretch that has seen Georgia State win 57 games since the start of the 2013-14 season.
Georgia State is 54-15 in their last 69 games dating back to Dec. 14, 2013 and has won 13-of-16 games dating back to last season.
Wednesday’s contest can be heard live on 1340 The Fan 3 and WRAS-FM 88.5 with Dave Cohen, now in his 33rd year as the Voice of the Panthers, being joined by 680 The Fan’s Brandon Leak. Live statistics and live audio will be available at GeorgiaStateSports.com and on most mobile devices.
When the Panthers return to the court, it will have been just over a week since earning a 64-62 win over Middle Tennessee. Redshirt-sophomore Isaiah Williams secured the win with a pair of free throws with 3.6 seconds remaining.
“Honestly, I don’t know that the long layoff with affect us that much,” Hunter said. “We took a couple days off for Christmas, but the guys have returned to practice hungry to get conference play started. The new guys have not had a chance to raise a championship trophy yet and they want to know what it feels like.”
Georgia State has built its winning with defense. The Panthers are allowing opponents to score just 59.3 points per game, second in the Sun Belt and No. 11 in the country. Teams are shooting just 38.9 percent from the floor and 29.3 percent from 3-point range against the Panthers this year.
On the other end, Georgia State has turned the ball over just 102 times, fourth fewest in the country, while forcing 132.
The Panthers are led by redshirt-junior Jeremy Hollowell who is averaging 15.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game and senior Kevin Ware, scoring 12.8 points and adding 4.1 rebounds per contest.
Senior Markus Crider has scored in double figures in each of the last five games and is now averaging 9.8 points per game. Crider has played in 108 career games entering Wednesday and could easily break the school record of 126 by Jihad Ali by the end of the year.
Redshirt-sophomore Isaiah Williams has been equally hot as of late. He has started the last two games and is averaging 12.5 points, 5.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game during that span. He has made 11 free throws over the last two games and turned the ball over only twice.
Hunter, in his fifth year with the Panthers, has won 94 games and could eclipse Bob Reinhart’s school-record of 107 career wins by the end of the year. Hunter owns three of the six single-season best win totals in school history.
Georgia State currently has more wins in the state of Georgia than any other Division 1 program since the start of the 2013-14 season. The Panthers have won 57 games, while Mercer (55), Georgia (47), Georgia Southern (41) and Georgia Tech (37) round out the top five.
UT Arlington (9-2) enters play on Wednesday ranked No. 38 in the latest NCAA RPI after earning some impressive non-conference wins, including victories over Ohio State and Memphis. The Mavericks are led by Kevin Hervey who is averaging 17.5 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. UTA is scoring more than 80 points per contest and holding opponents to just 64.4.
Following Wednesday’s game, Georgia State will remain in Texas for New Year’s Eve while traveling to San Marcos to face Texas State on Saturday at 5:15 p.m. ET. The Panthers open the home portion of the conference schedule on Jan. 7 facing Troy.
Quick Notes
• Georgia State opens defense of its back-to-back Sun Belt Conference titles on Wednesday at UT Arlington.
• The Panthers have won four-straight games since a 3-2 start. GSU’s 7-2 non-conference record is the third-best in program history.
• Georgia State has won four-straight games against UT Arlington since joining the Sun Belt by an average of 18.25 points per game.
• Over the last two years the Panthers are 32-6 in Sun Belt regular season games, going 17-1 two years ago and 15-5 last season.
• Georgia State is 7-2 to start the season, the best nine-game start in head coach Ron Hunter’s five seasons.
• Defensively, GSU is giving up just 59.3 points per game, the 11th best mark in the NCAA.
• The Panthers have turned the ball over only 102 times this season, fourth fewest in the NCAA.
• Georgia State was one of just 20 programs in the country to have won 25 or more games in each of the last two seasons.
• Georgia State is 54-15 (.783) since Dec. 14, 2013.
• Last time out, Georgia State earned a 64-62 win over Middle Tennessee which was ranked No. 54 in the NCAA RPI.
• Georgia State enters conference play ranked No. 50 in the NCAA RPI, while UT Arlington is No. 38.
• Georgia State, the two-time defending Sun Belt champions, was selected to finish second this year in the conference preseason poll.
• Markus Crider and T.J. Shipes have been a part of 72 wins, just 15 shy of the school-record set just last year by Ryann Green.
