READ MORE ON THE PANTHERS: "Ron Hunter's Energetic Style Sparks Turnaround at Georgia State," by Jeff Eisenberg, Yahoo! Sports
ATLANTA-Winners of a school-record 10 straight games, Georgia State will face 2011 Final Four participant VCU, winners of eight straight on Wednesday night in Richmond, Va. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Siegel Center, and the game can be seen live on ESPN3.
The Panthers' streak is tied for the seventh longest in the nation with Georgetown and New Mexico. Georgia State has not lost since Nov. 14 while VCU has not lost since Nov. 27.
Georgia State (10-3, 2-0 CAA) won its tenth straight game on Monday night, earning an impressive 58-44 victory over CAA preseason favorite Drexel. The Panthers forced 25 turnovers and held the Dragons to just 31.9 percent shooting.
Wednesday's game can be heard live on WRAS-FM 88.5 beginning at 7 p.m. with the Panther Pregame Show. Live stats are available at GeorgiaStateSports.com.
The match-up of two of the top teams in the CAA continues a daunting stretch of three games in six days for Georgia State, with the Panthers facing the top three teams in the CAA preseason poll. Following Wednesday's game, State will travel to Fairfax, Va., to face George Mason on Saturday.
Georgia State is off to its best start since beginning the 2000-01 season 11-1. During the Panthers' winning streak, Georgia State has held opponents to just 51.0 points per game, while scoring 71.7 points per contest. State has held six opponents to 50 points or less, including just 39.0 points per game in two CAA contests.
During the streak, the opposition is shooting just 34.2 percent from the floor and 26.1 percent from three-point range. The Panthers have forced 53 more turnovers than the opposition, creating 39 more steals and making 69 more free throws.
"Our team continues to take this season one game at a time," commented first year head coach Ron Hunter. "Although the streak is nice, it is really for our fans, students, administration and alumni. We have to just take care of our own business on the court and let everything else fall into place.
"VCU is obviously a great team. To make the run that they did last year was incredible and they are off to a very good start this year. We respect everyone in our league, but at the end of the day we feel like we are a good basketball team too."
VCU (11-3, 2-0 CAA) has won eight straight after earning an 80-63 road victory at Hofstra on Monday night. The Rams are led by Bradford Burgess who is averaging 14.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
Although just having one player averaging in double figures, VCU has five players averaging at least 8.5 per game. Darius Theus is scoring 8.5 per game, while dishing out a team-high 4.9 assists per game.
In the Rams' win over Hofstra, junior Troy Daniels led the way with 15 points, while Theus added a career-high 14 and seven assists.
Offensively, the Panthers are taking care of the ball, allowing just 11.8 turnovers per game which ranks 28th in the nation. For the season, State is allowing just 57.8 points per game, among the top 25 in the NCAA. The Panthers also rank in the top 40 in scoring margin (31st), steals (16th) and turnover margin (21st), while committing the 18th fewest fouls per game, just 15.3.
Within the CAA, State leads the league in scoring margin, field goal defense, blocked shots and assist/turnover ratio. The Panthers are second in scoring offense, scoring defense, field goal percentage, steals and turnover margin.
Senior Eric Buckner enters play averaging 11.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, shooting 62.6 percent from the floor, tops in the CAA. He also leads the conference and is 13th in the NCAA with 3.0 blocks per contest. Buckner moved into fifth on the Panthers all-time blocks list earlier this season.
Sophomore Devonta White continues to lead the team in scoring and assists, averaging 13.5 points and 3.5 assists per game. White is third in the CAA with an 81.8 free throw percentage and fourth with a 1.7 assist/turnover ratio.
Senior James Fields is having a career-best year and was named CAA co-Player of the Week on Dec. 26. Fields is averaging 9.1 points and 3.5 assists per game, shooting 51.7 percent from the floor. During the last six games, Fields is averaging 12.3 points and 3.5 assists per game, shooting 59.0 percent from the floor.
Georgia State and VCU split a pair of games during the 2010-11 season with each team winning on its own home court. The Rams earned a 71-54 victory in Richmond, while GSU won 76-66 in Atlanta.
State will return to action on Saturday night facing George Mason at 7:30 p.m. The game will air live on CSS, the first of back-to-back games on CSS for the Panthers.
Both season and individual game tickets for the 2011-12 season continue to be on sale. A variety of packages can be found by visiting GeorgiaStateSports.com or by calling 1-866-GA-STATE.
www.GeorgiaStateSports.com
