^{­TUSCALOOSA, ALA.-Georgia State cruised to a 96-70 win over McNeese State on Monday night at Coleman Coliseum to open the 29th edition of the NIT Season Tip-off. Devonta White and R.J. Hunter led the Panthers with 18 points a piece and Rashaad Richardson came off the bench to score 15 points on  five 3-pointers.}

^{Georgia State will now face Alabama on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET with the winner advancing to Madison Square Garden in New York next week. The game will air live on ESPN3.}

^{Georgia State (2-1) shot 55.6 percent from the floor, including 10-of-19 (52.6 percent) from 3-point range, holding McNeese State (1-3) to 38.2 percent from the floor and 11-of-38 from 3-point range.}

^{The Cowboys never led as the Panthers built a lead as big as 31 points with 5:31 to play in the game.}

^{Hunter finished 7-of-12 from the floor, grabbing six rebounds while White was 8-of-11 and moved up several all-time school lists.}

^{The senior from Alpharetta, Ga. moved into 14th-place on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,043 points, moving ahead of Trae Goldston. White also added three assists and now has 281 for his career, standing tied with Lamont McIntosh for seventh on the all-time list. He also started his 72nd career game to move into the top-10 on that list as well.}

^{“I saw a team tonight that is starting to get more confident,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “We have been working on the things that we can do to play well. I thought we did a lot of those things tonight. Now we sit back and see who we will play on Tuesday night with a chance to advance to the biggest stage in basketball, Madison Square Garden.”}

^{Following a White jumper with 7:09 to play in the first half, McNeese State never was within single-digits again. The Panthers pushed the lead to as many as 25 in the first half and led 54-35 at the half.}

^{The Panthers shot 21-of-35 from the floor in the first half, including 7-of-12 from 3-point range.}

^{The second half was much the same as Hunter was able to rest his starters. No Panther played more than 27 minutes and all 14 members of the team made it into the game.}

^{Sophomore T.J. Shipes came off the bench to score eight points and pull down eight rebounds, going 4-of-6 from the free throw line.}

^{Senior Manny Atkins added 12 points and five rebounds, with redshirt-junior Ryan Harrow chipping in 12 points. Redshirt-junior Curtis Washington added eight points and six rebounds.}

^{With Hunter wanting to see more production from the bench, Richardson finished 5-of-7 from 3-point range.}

^{Ledrick Eackles led McNeese State with 17 points, while Keelan Garrett added 14 points, making four 3-pointers.}

^{In three games this season, Georgia State is averaging 91.0 points per game. The Panthers outscored McNeese State 36-18 in the paint.}