By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

When you think major college basketball in my home state Georgia Tech and Georgia come to mind.

Both of those programs did not do well this season and they are not playing in the NCAA Tournament. Surprisingly, the only team from the Peach State in the Big Dance is Georgia State.

Head coach Ron Hunter led the Panthers to the tournament two previous times in 2015 and 2018. In 2015 as a No. 14 seed they upset No. 3 Baylor. They have tournament experience, so they should not be intimidated.

The Panthers finished 24-9. They are a very balanced team with five players that average double figures. Junior guard D’Marcus Simonds is the leading scorer with 18.4 points per game. He also averages 5 rebounds per game and 4 assists.

Senior forward Malik Benlevi leads the team in rebounds with 6 rpg. The Savannah native also averages 12 ppg. Senior guard and Alabama transfer Devin Mitchell also averages 12 ppg.

Sophomore guard Kane Williams and senior forward Jeff Thomas both average 11 ppg. Thomas is the only starter that’s not from Georgia.

The Panthers played two SEC teams and beat both of them. They trounced Georgia in the Cayman Islands Classic 91-67. They defeated Alabama on the road 83-80.

GSU got to the tournament by winning the Sun Belt Conference tournament. Their conference record was 13-5 so they finished the regular season with the best record.

There were some upsets in the Sun Belt tournament so they played UT Arlington in the championship game. The Mavericks finished fourth in conference play but their overall record is only 17-16.

Georgia State won the game 73-64. UTA went on an 8-0 run in the second half, cutting Georgia State’s lead to 64-60 with less than two minutes to play.

Junior guard Damon Wilson broke up the run with two free throws, and Williams extended the lead back to eight with another two free throws. UTA missed multiple 3’s in an attempt to come back, and with 56 seconds left, Simonds converted a free throw to make it a 10-point game.

“We weren’t the greatest free throw shooting, and I couldn’t understand it because we shoot the ball so well,” said Georgia State coach Ron Hunter. “But we have been great at the end of the game with five minutes left. With five minutes left in the game we’ve been tremendous free throw shooters.”

“I knew when we get it inside five we were pretty locked in at that particular time, and that’s when you have to make them.”

The Panthers are the No. 14 seed in the Midwest region. They will play No. 3 seed Houston (31-3) in the first round. The Cougars had a great season and finished the regular season in first place in the AAC. They lost the conference tournament championship to Cincinnati.

They are led by head coach Kelvin Sampson, who previously coached at Oklahoma and Indiana.

I think that there is a very good chance of GSU pulling an upset. I thought Houston was an elite team prior to losing to Cincy. I think they may have been exposed in that game.

The game is Friday March 22^nd at 7:20 pm. We will see how it plays out.