The UALR Trojans limited Georgia State, the Sun Belt's best shooting team, to 34.5 percent accuracy from the field in the first half.
Coach Wes Flanigan's University of Arkansas at Little Rock team didn't do as well in the second half.
Georgia State (18-10, 11-5) reverted back to its usual form with 53.8-percent shooting from the field in the second half and handed the Trojans their fourth consecutive loss, 71-54, in front of an announced crowd of 3,830 at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
The Trojans (13-15, 4-11 Sun Belt) played the Panthers tight in the first half, trailing 31-30 after Georgia State managed 10 of 29 from the floor.
Georgia State made 14 of 26 from the floor in the second half, and it held the Trojans to 31.8 percent (7 of 22)
"In the second half, Georgia State got going," Flanigan said. "They are one of the better teams in our league and they responded with a much better second half."
Georgia State Coach Ron Hunter said that he knew his team would get going at some point.
"I thought our defense did a good job of keeping us in the game early," Hunter said. "We're too good a shooting team to struggle the way we did in the first half. I thought we were rushing shots and not showing patience. We weren't attacking the basket and it showed."
Devin Mitchell led Georgia State with 16 points, and D'Marcus Simonds had 10 for the Panthers.
The Trojans held the Panthers' leading scorer, Jeremy Hollowell, to seven points. Hollowell, who came into the game averaging 15.4 points per game, was just 3-of-15 shooting.
"I thought we did a pretty good job on Hollowell, but we've got to do a better job on defense overall," Flanigan said.
Sports on 02/26/2017