The 2019–20 Georgia State Panthers men's basketball team represented Georgia State University during the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team's head coach was Rob Lanier, who was coaching his first season at Georgia State. The Panthers played their home games at the GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, Georgia as a member of the Sun Belt Conference. They finished the season 19–13, 12–8 in Sun Belt play to finish in a tie for fourth place. They were the No. 4 seed in the Sun Belt tournament, where they lost to Georgia Southern.
Previous season The Panthers finished the season 24–10, 13–5 in the Sun Belt, claiming the title of SBC regular season champions. The Panthers also went on to defeat Texas State and UT Arlington to become back-to-back champions of the Sun Belt tournament. As a result, they received the Sun Belt's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. As the No. 14 seed in the Midwest region, they lost to Houston in the first round. After losing in the NCAA tournament, it was reported that head coach Ron Hunter had been offered the head coaching position at Tulane, to which he responded that he was going to take 48 hours to think about the future. On March 24, Tulane officially announced Hunter as head coach. It was later reported Hunter opted to leave Georgia State due to a disagreement between the university and Hunter over contract details regarding performance bonuses, tying them to his team's GPA, which was purported by the university to be declining year after year. On 5 April 2019, Georgia State announced the selection of Rob Lanier, associate head coach for the Tennessee Vols, to head the program at GSU.
Offseason
Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Malik Benlevi 2 F 6'6" 225 Senior Savannah, GA Graduated D'Marcus Simonds 15 G 6'3" 195 Junior Gainesville, GA Declared for NBA draft James Wall 21 F 6'8" 190 Freshman Canton, GA Walk-on; did not return Devin Mitchell 24 G 6'4" 190 Senior Lawrenceville, GA Graduated Jeff Thomas 30 F 6'5" 190 Senior Norwalk, OH Graduated Matt Chism 35 G 6'3" 185 Sophomore Dawsonville, GA Walk-on; did not return Jordan Tyson 50 F 6'9" 220 Senior Cincinnati, OH Graduated
Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School JoJo Toppin 4 G 6'5" 175 Sophomore Brooklyn, NY Georgia. Under NCAA transfer rules, Toppin will have to sit out for the 2019–20 season, using a redshirt, leaving three years of eligibility remaining. Eliel Nsoseme NA F 6'9" 225 Junior Kinshasa, Congo Cincinnati. Under NCAA transfer rules, Nsoseme will have to sit out for the 2019–20 season, using a redshirt, leaving two years of eligibility remaining. Ryan Boyce 32 G 6'6" 190 RS Freshman Memphis, TN Memphis. Under NCAA transfer rules, Boyce will have to sit out for the remainder of the 2019–20 season, leaving three years of eligibility remaining.
2019 recruiting class
Roster
Regular season The Panthers won the regional championship of the 2K Empire Classic. Kane Williams and Justin Roberts were named to the All-Tournament Team of the Empire Classic. Williams was also named the regional MVP.
Schedule and results
!colspan=9 style=| Exhibition
!colspan=9 style=| Regular season
!colspan=9 style=| Sun Belt tournament
References