The Sports Inquirer

Release from Georgia State Athletics:

Georgia State junior R.J. Hunter led the Panthers to a perfect 3-0 record away from home last week to earn Sun Belt Player-of-the-Week honors as announced by the conference office on Tuesday afternoon.

In the three games, Hunter played all but four minutes, averaging 27.7 points per game, shooting 27-of-55 from the floor, 49.1 percent. Hunter also knocked down eight 3-pointers and made 21-of-24 free throws (87.5 percent). He added eight assists and eight steals in the three games.

The Panthers opened the week with wins over Western Carolina and Oakland at the CBE Hall of Fame Classic before heading to Indianapolis where Hunter returned home for the first time since attending Pike High School as GSU earned a 66-63 win over IUPUI.

“I am proud of the way R.J. and the entire team played on a very long road trip,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “It is always great to see our players rewarded for their hard work. You could easily have made a case for several of our players to be honored this week as we had different guys step up and really help us while we were away from home.”

The junior opened the week with 27 points and five rebounds against Western Carolina, shooting 10-of-23 from the floor and making 6-of-8 free throws as the Panthers won 85-70.

He then scored 29 points with five rebounds, shooting 9-of-14 from the floor and made 6-of-9 3-pointers and 5-of-5 free throws as the Panthers escaped with a win over Oakland, 83-78.

The Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year then closed the week back in Indy, scoring 27 points. After a rough first half, Hunter scored 21 of his points in the second half, making all eight of his free throws and knocking down his lone 3-pointer of the game with 45 seconds to play to finally put the Panthers ahead after trailing most of the half. He added two free throws with 10 seconds to play to secure the win.

For the season, Hunter is averaging 22.9 points per game, tops in the Sun Belt and fourth in the nation. Over the last 10 days, he moved up from 11^th to fifth on Georgia State’s all-time scoring list and is within range of overtaking Rodney’s Hamilton’s school-record 1,515 points midway through the season.

It marks the third time in two seasons that Hunter has been named Sun Belt Player of the Week and first time a Panther has been honored the season. He was also named the Sun Belt Player of the Week on Monday by College Sports Madness.