Georgia State men’s basketball Opens NCAA Tournament with Baylor Thursday

Release from Georgia State Athletics:

Georgia State will return to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 14 years on Thursday facing Baylor at Veteran’s Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. at 1:40 p.m. ET live on TBS. The Panthers will be looking to advance for the second-straight time when qualifying for the tournament.

Georgia State (24-9) earned a No. 14-seed by winning the Sun Belt Conference tournament following its second-straight regular season championship. The Panthers enter the NCAA tournament having won five-straight and nine-of-10 following a 38-36 win over Georgia Southern in the conference final on Sunday.

The victory did not lack some extra drama. During the initial postgame celebration, head coach Ron Hunter tore his Achilles and will coach Thursday in a hard-cast before seeing if surgery is required in the offseason. That was after leading scorer Ryan Harrow played only six minutes during the tournament while nursing a bruised hamstring.

The Panthers last qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2001 under former head coach Charles “Lefty” Driesell, earning a No. 11 seed and upsetting No. 6 Wisconsin 50-49 in the first round in Boise, Idaho. Georgia State led No. 3 Maryland midway through a second round match-up before falling 79-60. The Panthers only other appearance came in 1991 as a No. 16 seed.

Georgia State is 46-12 in their last 58 games dating back to last season. The 24 wins this season are the third-most in program history.

Baylor (24-9) enters the NCAA tournament as a No. 3 seed following a loss to Kansas in the Big XII tournament semifinals. The Bears are led by Rico Gathers who is averaging a double-double of 11.7 points and 11.6 rebounds per game.

Georgia State is holding opponents to just 38.1 percent shooting for the season, No. 9 in the NCAA. The Panthers have held 11 opponents under 30 percent shooting this season, second-most only to undefeated Kentucky.

The Panthers are led by the scoring duo of R.J. Hunter and Ryan Harrow. The pair repeated as All-Sun Belt First-Team honorees last week while Hunter was once again named Sun Belt Player of the Year, becoming the first Panther to accomplish earn the honor two years in a row. Following the Panthers run in New Orleans, Hunter was joined on the Sun Belt All-Tournament team by Markus Crider and tournament MVP Kevin Ware.

The pair are averaging 38.5 points per game, the fourth-most of any duo in the country. Hunter is currently averaging 19.8 points per game, 16th in the NCAA, while Harrow is adding 18.7 points per contest, ranked No. 34 in the nation. Both are looking to become the first Panther to average more than 20 points in a game for the first time since the 2001-02 season.

Hunter, who scored 32 points against UL Lafayette in the Sun Belt tournament semifinals has scored 1,783 career points in just 97 games, averaging 18.4 points per game. He is the NCAA career active leader in points scored, 3-pointers (248) and 3-point attempts (700) among all juniors. Hunter is also 10th among all active players in career scoring average.

Harrow became just the fourth Panther to earn multiple all-conference first-team selections after leading the Sun Belt in scoring most of the season and standing second in the league averaging 3.7 assists per game, shooting 50.4 percent from the floor, seventh in the Sun Belt. Working to overcome a hamstring injury, Harrow was limited to just six minutes in the Sun Belt tournament.

Ware earned tournament honors following an 18-point, five-rebound performance against Georgia Southern in the championship game. He returns to the NCAA tournament after helping Louisville win the 2013 national title. He, along with Harrow (Kentucky-2012) have national championship rings with their prior schools.

Georgia State has used a balanced attack of shooting well and defending equally well to win games this season. The Panthers are shooting 48.0 percent from the floor, ranked No. 17 in the NCAA, scoring 72.0 points per game and giving up just 62.2 per contest. Georgia State is also sixth in the NCAA averaging 9.1 steals per game and sixth in turnover margin at 4.5.

“In college basketball, this is what you play for,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “Our team is extremely proud to represent Georgia State, our alums, fans and students in the NCAA tournament, but we are also not going to be content to just be there. We will prepare hard all week for a very good Baylor team and then see how the chips fall.”