Southern Miss vs. Georgia State: Hunter laments missed opportunities

As Georgia State tries to turn the corner in its second year with Ron Hunter as coach, a win over Southern Miss would have been a huge step in the right direction.

Instead, poor free-throw shooting allowed the Southern Miss Golden Eagles to get back into the game and pull off a heart-breaking comeback, as they defeated the Panthers 69-67 on Wednesday night.

In talking to the media afterwards, Hunter lamented the little things that lead up to the loss (courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution):

"If we made free throws and didn't turn it over we would have won the game," coach Ron Hunter said. "We're disappointed because we think we should be beating postseason teams. The kids are hurting and I want them to hurt. We want them to feel the pain of losing."

Missed free throws have been a huge problem for Georgia State so far this season: the Panthers missed two free throws against Troy that would have given them a chance to tie the game and they missed six free throws in the first half of Wednesday, which would have allowed them to build a bigger cushion to hold off the inevitable Southern Miss charge in the second half.

As a result, they've slipped to 5-6 on the season, meaning that they have very little margin for error in conference play if they want to be playing in the postseason in March.