BOSTON – Ron Hunter knew what he inherited when he took the head coaching job at Georgia State. He knew he had a culture to change, and he knew he was in a different place. But thus far, he’s loving every minute of it, and the early results don’t hurt. Now he has a different issue on his hands with his team, which stands 5-2 in CAA play after a 60-57 loss at Northeastern on Wednesday night.
Hunter, who loved that he was able to walk to Fenway Park during the team’s trip to Boston, is full of energy and positive vibes. He’s pleasant to talk to and all along has felt good about this team, as well as the job itself. It would be easy to dismiss it as coach-speak, but he felt like a few players were ready to be better and liked the experience on the team, although it wasn’t winning experience. You can tell his confidence in the team is not misplaced by a long shot.
The Panthers didn’t start out the season the right way, as they lost three straight in the World Vision Classic in Washington. But they came back home from it and played better, and before you know it they rattled off nine straight wins to enter CAA play on a good note, and they won two more before George Mason ended the streak at 11. Now, as the Panthers are near the top of the standings even after the loss on Wednesday, Hunter sees something else to deal with.
“I took over a program that doesn’t know how to win,” said Hunter. “We’re winning right now, and we don’t know how to handle success a little. I think the easier part for me was teaching them how to win; teaching them how to maintain that is a whole other deal.”
The Panthers haven’t been able to top 12 wins in a season since joining the CAA back in 2005-06. That came after they had a good run of success in the Atlantic Sun, dating back to when it was still the Trans-America Athletic Conference. In their last eight seasons there, they had 10 or more conference wins in all but one season. It’s been different in the CAA thus far, and it doesn’t help that the Panthers joined during a stretch where the conference has had some of its best years ever.
Hunter knows he hasn’t turned this team into a perennial contender by a long shot, but this is certainly a better start than many figured. He said his players were disappointed they didn’t pull out Wednesday’s game, and more importantly, they’re all on the same page with the game plan. That’s the big reason he feels the team has become a factor right away in the conference, which is something they wanted to do. Because of both, this team should stay right in the mix. Being 5-2 instead of 2-5 makes a big difference since they won’t be playing from behind in the standings.
“I have one kid I recruited on this team, and they’ve all bought in,” Hunter said, adding that he’s been pleasantly surprised by that development. “We’re going to be a factor. Everybody’s waiting for the bottom to fall out at Georgia State. The bottom isn’t going to fall out for us. I’ll make sure that won’t happen.”
Georgia State has gotten this far in large part because of good defense. The Panthers hold opponents to just over 37 percent shooting, including less than 32 percent from long range, and force over 16 turnovers per game. They also out-rebound opponents by more than two per game, including Wednesday’s 33-24 edge over a Northeastern team that is rebounding much better than they did a year ago.
If the Panthers are to keep up their success, they will need to improve offensively to go along with keeping up the defense. While they shot over 45 percent on Wednesday night, they have struggled at that end of the floor in CAA play as most of the key offensive numbers are down since conference play began. In CAA games, they are shooting 41.5 percent from the field and less than 25 percent from long range, and they turn the ball over just under 14 times per game.
Even in looking at this aspect, Hunter’s positive feeling about this team comes through, and again you can’t help but sense that it’s not simply a coach being a coach.
“We are who we are,” Hunter said with a smile. “We’re not a great offensive team, and we’re not going to become a great offensive team by the end of the year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t win.”
So far, the Panthers have won in conference play without being a great offensive team. Being a good defensive team has shown that a team can win on nights when they don’t play well offensively. With a continuation of that and some offensive improvement, the Panthers might be better at handling success before long. That will only make Hunter an even happier person than he naturally seems to be.
