Unfinished Business

Eliel Nsoseme’s jersey number is 1. On Feb. 3, it might as well have been number 911.

Georgia State’s 6-foot-8 senior forward missed two free throws with 27 seconds to play against Troy in the Sports Arena that would have tied the game at 62. The Panthers lost 67-63.

After the final whistle, Nsoseme (so-sem-ee) stormed into the back of the team’s locker room and exploded in a rage against himself for missing those two free throws.

Senior Corey Allen got to him first. The other seniors, Kane Williams and Justin Roberts, arrived with the rest of the team. They threw their arms around Nsoseme and let him know they needed him. That the team needed him.

It was that “What do we stand for?” moment every successful team needs to have.

“After that moment, right there as a team, we started picking things up,” Roberts said. “We’ve been strong ever since.”

“We grew together,” Allen said.

“There was an emergency,” Nsoseme said. “There was a lot of emotion,”

The Panthers have not lost since and are riding a 10-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament this week, Georgia State’s sixth appearance in the Big Dance. They expected a daunting matchup and got one in Gonzaga, the overall top-seed.

The Panthers have seen daunting before. They started 0-4 in the Sun Belt Conference and had five games cancelled because of COVID-19. The four seniors — Allen, Nsoseme, Roberts and Williams — grabbed the rudder and steered them through. They made sure that “we” not “me” was the underpinning, and that’s how the squad survived, then thrived.

“That moment with Eliel showed everybody in that locker room that we are a team first,” Roberts said. “It was big.”

Before the loss to Troy, the Panthers were 8-10 overall, 2-5 in the Sun Belt Conference and clearly at a crossroads. Preseason favorites to win the league, the team couldn’t get sustained traction because of sudden lapses on the floor.

Allen, Nsoseme, Roberts and Williams took responsibility, huddling often in their apartments to self-scout their games. After all, the seniors have played in a combined 496 college basketball games. The losing season was on them.

“We weren’t playing to our standard. I mean, we were losing games at home,” Roberts said. “That doesn’t happen often.”

GAME CHANGE
Allen and Roberts are 23 years old; Williams is 22 and Nsoseme is 24.

Allen leads the team in scoring (14.7 points per game) but sounds just as pleased by his evolution on defense. His hands are more active, and he’s averaging eight deflected balls per game.

“There are so many other plays you can make in a game that don’t involve shooting the ball,” Allen said. “That’s one area where I’ve really grown — the deflections, setting up teammates for shots and getting my hands up when I close out on a shooter.”

You can also see Allen’s cunning on the court on offense when he is closely guarded. A defender will be on his hip, so instead of trying to get away by going to the 3-point line, Allen will curl tight around a teammate’s screen to hold off the defender. It’s a veteran’s savvy.

Williams is the Georgia State career-leader in games played (148) and holds five other career records. He talks about how he’s learned to read defenses. It was his deflection and steal with five seconds left in the first-round Sun Belt Conference Tournament game against Arkansas State that sealed a 65-62 victory.

“There have been plays like that over the years when I wished I had gone for the steal,” Williams said of his game-winning move against Arkansas State. “I was ready for that one.”

Williams is the “floor general” and “the loudest communicator on the team, defensively and offensively,” he said.

“I have to communicate to my guys and make sure everybody knows we're on the same page,” Williams said. “The coaches have been trying to get me to get loud for two years.”

Roberts averages 11.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and almost three assists per game. He leads the team in 3-point field goal percentage. The 5-foot-10 guard has started every game for the Panthers since he transferred from DePaul University.

“When I first came into the program, I focused on just being good enough for myself,” he said. “The game has slowed down for me now, and I think about the team and what I need to do for the team.”

Nsoseme is the emotional catalyst for the Panthers, which he certainly showed in his locker room plea. But it’s his work around the hoop that is more indispensable. He averages close to a double-double (9.4 points and 9.8 rebounds) each game.

There was one other crucial turning point for the team: Williams was back home in Douglasville, Ga., and texted Allen several days after the 2020-21 season ended with a heartbreaking loss against Appalachian State in the conference championship game.

“Trying to go back at it again?” Williams wanted to know.

“Yeah, let’s do it,” Allen replied.

Roberts, Allen’s roommate, got the next text.

“I’m in,” Roberts said.

Nsoseme, whose career started at the University of Cincinnati, was returning, too.

“Unfinished business,” Nsoseme said.

Listen to the Panther Insider Podcast, hosted by the Voice of the Panthers Dave Cohen (B.A. '94), featuring the four seniors and Head Coach Rob Lanier.