UTA at South Alabama slated for afternoon ESPN2 broadcast on MLK Day
NEW ORLEANS – The UTA at South Alabama men’s basketball game on Monday, January 16, will tip off at 2 p.m. CT and will be aired live on ESPN2. The nationally-televised Sun Belt Conference game is one of two regular-season contests the network will air this season, with the other being the Little Rock at Louisiana game on Jan. 2.
The matchup between the Mavericks (10-3) and Jaguars (7-6) pits two teams that notched notable non-conference wins during the first months of the season. UTA notched non-conference road wins against No. 19 Saint Mary’s, Texas, Fordham, Bradley and Loyola Marymount this season. South Alabama opened its season with a 76-68 win at UNLV and won all three of its games of the Red Diamond Roundball Classic.
The Sun Belt was the first conference to join with ESPN beginning with the 1979 men’s basketball season. This season, in total, 125 Sun Belt Conference men’s and women’s basketball games will be telecast live on ESPN networks and available for streaming through WatchESPN and the ESPN app.
UTA is currently on a nine-game winning streak after defeating Loyola Marymount 80-77 on Dec. 22. The nine-game winning streak is tied with the 2003-04 team for the second-longest in the history of the program. Over the course of its streak, UTA owns six road wins, including double-digit victories over Texas and No. 12 Saint Mary's. The Mavericks are the No. 17-ranked team in the latest NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball RPI rankings released on Dec. 24.
South Alabama is one of two teams to win first round games of the Sun Belt Conference Championship in back-to-back seasons. The Jaguars concluded non-conference play with a 7-6 record. South Alabama’s leading scorers, seniors Georgi Boyanov (12.5 ppg), Nick Stover (11.0) and Ken Williams (11.5) all rank in the Top 25 in scoring in the conference this season.
Sun Belt men’s basketball will continue to have a prime viewing slot on Selection Sunday with the championship game of the men’s basketball tournament set to air at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN2 on Sunday, March 12. All other games of the men’s basketball championship will be shown on ESPN3.