What You Need to Know:
* Georgia State will look to snap a three-game losing streak hosting Texas State on Monday night in the GSU Sports Arena at 7 p.m.
* The Panthers are a half-game ahead of the Bobcats for fourth place in the Sun Belt and the final first round bye in the conference tournament which begins in just over two weeks.
* Georgia State is shooting 47.7 percent from the floor this year, tops in the Sun Belt.
ATLANTA-Looking to build momentum for the conference championship which starts in just over two weeks, Georgia State will host Texas State on Monday night at 7 p.m. in the GSU Sports Arena.
Georgia State (16-10, 9-5 Sun Belt) has lost three-straight games following an eight-game winning streak, but still remains one-half game ahead of Texas State (15-10, 8-5 Sun Belt) for a top four spot in the Sun Belt Championship and a first round bye.
Monday’s contest can be heard live on 1340 The Fan 3, 1230 The Fan 2 and WRAS-FM 88.5 with Dave Cohen, now in his 34th year as the Voice of the Panthers, being joined by 680 The Fan’s Brandon Leak. The game will also air on the WatchESPN platform for a second-straight year with Sam Crenshaw and former Panther Rodney “Truck” Turner calling the action. Live statistics and live audio will be available at GeorgiaStateSports.com and on most mobile devices.
This will mark the first and only match-up between the Panthers and Bobcats this season. Georgia State leads the all-time series 5-4 and has won three of the last four meetings.
For what head coach Ron Hunter described as a first in his career, the Panthers have lost two-straight games on last-second shots. Georgia State fell to first-place UT Arlington on Saturday 68-67 when Erick Neal knocked down a 3-pointer with one-second to play just days after falling to Coastal Carolina 65-64 on a put-back in the final seconds.
Freshman D’Marcus Simonds, who missed the first three games of Sun Belt play due to an injury has been rolling since his return just over a month ago. He is currently averaging 12.6 points and 3.7 rebounds per game, while shooting 58.1 percent from the floor. He has upped his scoring averaging to 16.1 points per game in conference play.
“The last week has been among the strangest in my career,” Hunter said. “We are turning the ball over way too much and giving teams the opportunity to stay in games. At this point in the season, if we can just minimize the turnovers, we can still win a lot of games and reach all of our goals.”
Senior Jeremy Hollowell, an All-Sun Belt Preseason Second Team member, continues to lead the Panthers averaging 15.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. He scored the 1,000th point of his career at Troy earlier this year and now has 852 points in a Georgia State uniform.
He is one of six Panthers scoring 6.0 or more points per game, as 10 members of the team average at least 11 minutes per game. Hollowell has scored 20 or more points in a game eight times this year.
Senior Willie Clayton also joined the 1,000 career point club last Monday. He is currently one of just nine active NCAA players to record at least 1,000 career points and 850 career rebounds. Clayton is averaging 6.2 points and 7.0 rebounds this season.
Sophomore Malik Benlevi has easily been Georgia State’s most improved player since last year. In Sun Belt games, Benlevi is averaging 9.7 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, while shooting 56.5 percent from the floor.
Junior Isaiah Williams is adding 8.6 points and dishing out 2.2 assists per game. He leads the team with 54 assists and is one of six Panthers with at least 20 steals this season.
Notes:
· Georgia State is first in the Sun Belt and No. 38 in the NCAA averaging 7.9 steals per game.
· Despite several players in their first year at Georgia State, the Panthers starting line-up doesn’t lack experience. Both Jeremy Hollowell (118) and Willie Clayton (122) played in their 100th career games during non-conference play.
· Georgia State is No. 39 in the NCAA forcing 15.31 turnovers per game.
· Freshman D’Marcus Simonds is sixth in the Sun Belt averaging 1.4 steals per game and No. 19 in scoring.
· Senior Willie Clayton has 864 career rebounds, ranked No. 12 in the NCAA among all active players.
Following Monday’s game, Georgia State will open its final regular season road trip at Little Rock on Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET. It is the first of two games in Arkansas as the Panthers will remain on the road and face Arkansas State on Feb. 27 at 8 p.m.
Quick Notes:
• Georgia State and Texas State will meet for the 10th time on Monday. GSU has won 3-of-last-4.
• Since rejoining the Sun Belt, GSU is 50-22 in conference regular season games, the most wins of any school in the league.
• GSU has lost three-straight games, however, the last two have literally come down to last second shots that have not fallen the Panthers way.
• Before the recent three game streak, GSU won eight-straight games which was tied for the third-longest streak in program history.
• Georgia State enters play in fourth place in the Sun Belt, a game back of second and will face those two teams (Georgia Southern and Arkansas St.) to close the year.
• Senior Willie Clayton scored his 1,000th point last Monday. He is one of just nine active players in the NCAA with 1,000+ points and 850+ rebounds.
• Senior Isaiah Dennis has been a part of 82 wins at GSU, the fourth-most in program history.
• Jeremy Hollowell scored his 1,000th career point at Troy on Jan. 28. He has scored 852 points at GSU.
• Georgia State finished non-conference play with 7 wins, tied for third most in program history.
• Georgia State made 15 3-pointers against Coastal Carolina on Jan. 21, tied for the sixth-most in a single game in program history.
• The Panthers 101-86 win at Louisiana marked the first time the Ragin’ Cajuns have given up 100 points at home since 1990.
• The win over Middle Tennessee in mid-December marked the second time in three seasons defeating an NCAA RPI Top 10 team.
• Ron Hunter enters play with 119 wins at GSU, the most in program history.
• Hunter is one of seven coaches to be the all-time winningest coach at multiple NCAA D1 schools.
• Senior Jeremy Hollowell has scored 20 or more points in a game eight times this year and is averaging a team-high 15.7 points per game.
• D’Marcus Simonds is averaging 16.1 points per game in SBC play, tops among freshmen.
• Willie Clayton has two double-doubles this year and has 19 for his career.
• Freshman D’Marcus Simonds was named MVP of the Cancun Challenge in November.
• Georgia State is 79-37 (.681) since Dec. 14, 2013.
