Sun Belt Conference Weekly News and Notes (Week 12)
2015-16 Sun Belt Conference Composite Schedule
2015-16 Sun Belt Conference Standings
2015-16 Sun Belt Conference Media Guide
Long Leads Surging UL Lafayette into Rivalry Showdown vs. UL Monroe
NEW ORLEANS – UL Lafayette rides a six-game winning streak into a rivalry game against UL Monroe, winner of its last four games, on Tuesday night at the Cajundome in Lafayette, La. The meeting of two teams in the top four of the men’s basketball standings will be a rematch of the Louisiana rivals after the Warhawks won a 81-70 game in Monroe, La., earlier in the season.
Senior Shawn Long leads the Ragin’ Cajuns (11-8, 7-3) into Tuesday night’s game against UL Monroe (10-11, 6-4) after back-to-back double-doubles last week. Long earned the Student-Athlete of the Week honor after he averaged 20.5 points, 14.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks and helped UL Lafayette extend its win streak to six games.
Long finished 13-for-21 (.619) from the floor and 15-for-17 (.882) from the free throw line, and scored 19 points with 14 rebounds, in an 80-54 win over Texas State. He notched his 14th double-double of the season, and 66th of his career (the most among active NCAA student-athletes) with a 22-point, 15-rebound performance against UT Arlington. His final bucket against the Mavs moved him past former Ragin’ Cajuns standout Jerry Flake for fifth-place on the school’s all-time list with 2,059 points. Long finished 6-for-10 from the floor and 10-for-10 from the free throw line against UTA and blocked a season-high six shots against the Mavs.
Other notable performances came from Georgia Southern’s Tookie Brown, UL Monroe’s Majok Deng and South Alabama’s Georgi Boyanov. Brown averaged 22.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and two steals in a 2-1 week for the Eagles. He became the first freshman at Georgia Southern to score 30-plus points in a game with 34 points in a win at Appalachian State; also had three assists and three steals in the contest. Deng post 29 points and also swatted away a career-high five blocks against UT Arlington. He also became the first Warhawk to make seven three-pointers in a game since 2010-11. Boyanov averaged nearly a double-double in two South Alabama wins, posting 15.0 points and 9.0 rebounds while shooting 50.0 percent from the floor.
The Little Rock Trojans (19-2, 9-1) maintained their lead in the standings with a fourth-consecutive victory on Saturday against Georgia State. Little Rock leads the nation in scoring defense by allowing 58.1 points per game this season. The Trojans also are fifth in field-goal percentage defense (37.4 percent) and are 10th in turnover margin (+4.1).
Several ESPN3 contests line this week’s conference slate. Four games will be available for viewing on the channel, as well as the WatchESPN app, on Thursday: Texas State at Georgia State (6:30 p.m. CT), UT Arlington at Georgia Southern (6:30 p.m. CT), UL Lafayette at Appalachian State (6:30 p.m. CT) and South Alabama at Arkansas State (7:35 p.m. CT). On Saturday, UL Monroe at Appalachian State (2:30 p.m. CT) and Troy at Arkansas State (7:05 p.m. CT) will also be available on ESPN3.
The 2016 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Championship will be held from Mar. 10-13, 2016, at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, La. The top eight teams in the regular season standings will compete for the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. All games of the tournament will be televised by ESPN3 with the championship game set for a Noon C.T. tip on Selection Sunday, Mar. 13, and an ESPN2 broadcast.
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WEEK 12 SUN BELT CONFERENCE STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Shawn Long (UL Lafayette, Senior, Forward)
The NCAA’s No. 3 rebounder (12.8) helped UL Lafayette extend its win streak to six games on the season after helping the Ragin’ Cajuns earn a pair of Sun Belt Conference victories during the week … averaged 20.5 points, 14.5 rebounds, 3.5 blocks, 1.0 steals and 0.5 assists in wins over Texas State and UT Arlington … finished 13-for-21 (.619) from the floor and 15-for-17 (.882) from the free throw line … scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in an 80-54 win over Texas State before coming back to notch his 14th double-double of the season, and 66th of his career (the most among active NCAA players) with a 22-point, 15-rebound performance against UT Arlington … his final bucket against the Mavs moved him past former Ragin’ Cajuns standout Jerry Flake for fifth-place on the school’s all-time list with 2,059 points … finished 6-for-10 from the floor and 10-for-10 from the free throw line against UTA … blocked a season-high six shots against the Mavs.
RECENT RESULTS
Tuesday, January 26
South Alabama 66, Troy 58
Thursday, January 28
UL Monroe 99, UT Arlington 88
Little Rock 80, Georgia Southern 67
UL Lafayette 80, Texas State 54
Appalachian State 75, Troy 71
Arkansas State 75, Georgia State 69
Saturday, January 30
UL Monroe 72, Texas State 59
Little Rock 63, Georgia State 53
UL Lafayette 90, UT Arlington 75
South Alabama 73, Appalachian State 60
Georgia Southern 71, Arkansas State 66
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, February 2
UL Monroe at UL Lafayette 7:15 PM CT
Thursday, February 4
UL Lafayette at Appalachian State 6:30 PM CT (ESPN3)
UT Arlington at Georgia Southern 6:30 PM CT
Texas State at Georgia State 6:30 PM CT (ESPN3)
Troy at Little Rock 7:15 PM CT
South Alabama at Arkansas State 7:35 PM CT (ESPN3)
Saturday, February 6
UT Arlington at Georgia State 1:30 PM CT (ESPN3)
UL Monroe at Appalachian State 2:30 PM CT (ESPN3)
Texas State at Georgia Southern 6:00 PM CT
South Alabama at Little Rock 6:00 PM CT
Troy at Arkansas State 7:05 PM CT (ESPN3)
* - Indicates Sun Belt Conference game
(All Times CT)
NEWS AND NOTES
NCAA TOURNAMENT SUCCESS
The Sun Belt Conference begins the 2015-16 season following unprecedented postseason success to last year. Georgia State earned a No. 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament and upset No. 3 seed Baylor in the first round. Of the 32 conferences with automatic qualifiers into the tournament the Sun Belt Conference was one of 15 to win a game in the tournament.
POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT PROWESS
The Sun Belt Conference was one of the premier mid-major basketball conferences last season as demonstrated by its postseason success. The league was one of just three (Missouri Valley & Pac-12) where its members earned a win in the NCAA Tournament along with wins in at least two other postseason tournaments. UL Monroe advanced to the final of the College Basketball Invitatinoal (CBI) last year while UL Lafayette reached the semifinals of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT).
HISTORIC TV PACKAGE
The Sun Belt Conference has its largest television package ever for men’s and women’s basketball for the 2015-16 season. ESPN3 will carry 99 games during the 2015-16 season to go along with two nationally-televised rivalry games on ESPN2. The two ESPN2 rivalry clashes will be UT Arlington at Texas State on Feb. 9, 2016, and Georgia State at Georgia Southern on Feb. 23, 2016. On-campus productions delivered on ESPN3 offer unique opportunities for students and staff at each Sun Belt Conference member institution in live-game production. ESPN3 is streamed live on WatchESPN platforms across computers, smartphones, tablets and connected devices. It is accessible to more than 99 million households to fans with an affiliated internet or video provider.
LITTLE ROCK’S RECORD START
The Trojans nearly finished non-conference play with a perfect record, starting 10-0 before its first loss of the season at Texas Tech on Dec. 22. The 10-game win streak to start the year was the best in program and Sun Belt history. The streak matched a program record, and was the first 10-game winning streak for Little Rock since the 1987-88 season.
TRIPLE-DOUBLE RARITies
Junior Donte Thomas led Arkansas State to an 89-67 win at South Alabama on Saturday (Jan. 2) with a triple-double of 14 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. It marked the third triple-double in Arkansas State program history. UT Arlington Erick Neal recorded 27 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists to earn the program’s first triple-double. Those triple-doubles are just the fifth and sixth by a Sun Belt Conference student-athlete in a conference game since the 1998-99 season.
LITTLE ROCK IN THE RANKINGS
Little Rock has appeared in the USA Today Coaches Poll in five separate weeks this season, including three straight from Jan. 11 to Jan. 25. Little Rock received as many as five votes in the AP Top 25 and USA Today Coaches polls during its record 10-game winning streak. It marked the first time a Little Rock team had received votes in the AP Poll since Feb. 1988.
LITTLE ROCK’S WINNING WAYS
Little Rock is off to its best start in program history and is one win shy of its first 20-win season since 2008-09. The Trojans are now 9-0 at home on the season, and have won 11 straight games at the JSC dating back to last season.
TROJANS RANK NATIONALLY
Little Rock continues to lead the nation in scoring defense (58.3 ppg) and ranks fifth in defensive field goal percentage (37.4). The Trojans are 10th in country in turnover margin (4.1) and 23rd in turnovers per game (10.7).
LONG SETS ALL-TIME REBOUNDING MARKS
Shawn Long has been a rebounding machine during his three-plus seasons in a Ragin’ Cajuns uniform, averaging 10.5 rebounds per game for his career. Against Alabama on Nov. 20, Long became the school’s all-time leading rebounder, passing Roy Ebron (1,064) before passing former South Alabama standout Augustine Rubit as the Sun Belt Conference’s all-time leading rebounder. Long has pulled down 1,218 rebounds in his career.
HISTORIC FOUR-DAY STRETCH
UT Arlington stunned Memphis 68-64 on Nov. 23 at FedEx Forum to put the wraps on an impressive two-game sweep over perennial basketball powers. The Mavs were three nights removed from beating Ohio State on the road. UTA improved to 3-1 with the win after withstanding a second-half charge that saw the Tigers rally from 10 points down with a 15-0 run. The Mavericks regrouped down the stretch and claimed their first victory over Memphis in three tries.
Two on Lou Henson Watch List
UL Lafayette senior Shawn Long and UT Arlington junior Kevin Hervey were named to the Lou Henson Mid-Season Watch List. Long was named the Preseason Student-Athlete of the Year.
LITTLE ROCK DEFATS MW FAVORITES
Saturday (Nov. 21), the Trojans became just the 12th team and sixth non-Mountain West member to beat the San Diego State in Viejas Arena since 2005. The win was Little Rock’s third-ever over a Mountain West opponent, and first since Colorado State on Nov. 30, 2002.
MR. DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Anthony Livingston posted his 25th career double-double Thursday with 22 points and 12 rebounds against Georgia State. The double-double was his 18th against Sun Belt foes and second against the Panthers. Livingston has a double-double against each Sun Belt opponent, except for ULM. The Warhawks held Livingston to eight points and six rebounds Jan. 7. With 25 career double-doubles, Livingston ranks 13th among active NCAA Division I players. Shawn Long (UL Lafayette) leads the nation with 64 double-doubles in his career. Livingston is tied with Pascal Siakam (New Mexico State) for most double-doubles (25) among active student-athletes in their second season in Division I.
A SUN BELT MAINSTAY
A-State head coach John Brady earned his 400th career win on Jan. 18 against Little Rock with the 76-73 victory. Brady opened his coaching career with 89 victories in six seasons at Samford (1991-97). He continued his career by picking up 192 wins in 11 years at LSU (1997-2008). In his eighth season at A-State (2008-present), Brady has 119 wins to his credit. In NCAA Division I all-time coaching wins leaders, Brady currently ranks t-122nd with former Washington coach Marv Harshman. Frank Keaney (Rhode Island) and Mike Vinging (ULM) are t-120th with 401 career wins. Of the 122 coaches with 400 career wins, 67, including Brady, have been to the Final Four. Note that all totals are for wins as a Division I coach only.
JAGS HIT THE GLASS
Since a four-game stretch where the team was outrebounded by an average of 9.3 per game, South Alabama is plus-22 over the last two contests, including a season-best plus-16 Saturday.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE
Shawn Long has been a double-double machine in his career for the UL Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns, totaling 65 double-doubles in 119 games. With
13 double-doubles in the 2015-16 season, Long has extended his NCAA active lead. Here is a list of the top 10 active leaders in double-doubles in the nation through (Jan. 26).
NAME G D-D
1. Shawn Long, UL Lafayette 118 64
2. Chris Horton, Austin Peay 113 52
Jameel Warney, Stony Brook 122 52
4. Egidijus Mockevicius, Evansville 123 47
5. Joel Bolomboy, Weber State 116 45
6. Josh Hawkinson, Washington State 77 34
Josh Scott, Colorado 112 34
8. Venky Jois, Eastern Washington 108 31
Rico Gathers, Baylor 128 31
Devin Thomas, Wake Forest 116 31
ELITE COMPANY
Georgia State has won 25 games in each of the last two seasons, the second-best totals in school history. Only 20 programs in the country have won at least 25 games in each of the last two years. The elite group includes: Kentucky, Duke, Michigan State, Arizona, Gonzaga, Louisville, Wichita State, Kansas, Wisconsin, Iowa State, Virginia, Villanova, VCU, Stephen F. Austin, San Diego State, N.C. Central, Louisiana Tech, SMU and Dayton.
Williams Hits USA Milestone
Ken Williams became the 15th student-athlete in South Alabama history to score 1,000 points in their career after pouring a team-high 13 points Thursday (Jan. 14) vs. Texas State. He moved up one spot to No. 14 after putting up 23 points vs. Texas-Arlington, tying his career high with six 3-pointers.
DEFENSE LEADS JAGS
After starting the season 0-10 (0-6 Sun Belt) when trailing at halftime, the Jags have won their last two after trailing at half. The South Alabama defense held an App State team that was averaging 84.3 points in its last four outings to 31.8 percent shooting Saturday night and 60 points. At one point, the Mountaineers missed 12 straight shots during a 22-3 Jaguar run and went seven minutes without a point. Sun Belt leading scorer Frank Eaves was held to a season-low two points on 1 for 15 shooting. The league’s leading 3-point shooting team coming into the game at 37.4 percent, App State was held to 27.6 percent (8 for 29) from behind the arc after missing 19 of its first 21 attempts from deep. South Alabama ranks third in the Sun Belt in 3-point defense (.320).
EAVES SCORES MILESTONE
Appalachian State senior Frank Eaves eclipsed 1,000 career points and was just the 31st student-athlete in program history to accomplish that feat (83 career games). App State boasted two 20-point scorers for the first time this season (Eaves - 25pts, Shabazz - 20pts) last week.
HERVEY OUT FOR SEASON
Sophomore forward Kevin Hervey is out for the rest of the season after MRI results last Friday afternoon revealed a torn left ACL. Hervey suffered the injury prior to last Thursday night’s game against Arkansas State. Hervey was among the Sun Belt leaders in scoring (18.1) and rebounding (9.8). The Arlington Bowie product had eight double-doubles this season.
PANTHERS DEFEND THEIR COURT
Georgia State is 34-2 in the comfy confines of the GSU Sports Arena since the 2013-14 season.
HOT-SHOOTING MOUNTAINEERS
Frank Eaves tied a Holmes Center record last week against Georgia Southern with 37 points and nine made three-point field goals. Ronshad Shabazz topped his previous career-high of 21 points with a 29-point performance against Georgia Southern last Monday. He also recorded career highs in field goals (10). The 100 points scored against Georgia Southern was the first 100-point game for the Black and Gold since a 100-68 win over Milligan on Dec. 21, 2013.
YOUTH IN STATESBORO
Georgia Southern returns just four scholarship letterwinners from last season’s 22-9 team that advanced to the Sun Belt Conference Championship game. With 11-of-12 scholarship student-athletes who are freshmen, redshirt freshmen or sophomores (92 percent), Georgia Southern has the highest percentage of underclassmen on its current roster of the 345 NCAA Division I squads. Liberty (91 percent), Ohio State (85 percent), Fairleigh Dickinson (85 percent) and Wyoming (80 percent) round out the top-5. Georgia Southern lost 76 percent of its scoring and 72 percent of its rebounding from last season. Georgia Southern opens a four-game homestand by playing host to South Alabama Thursday. The Eagles also play host to Troy, ULM and UL Lafayette during the stretch.
#FUNBELT TO THE NBA
The Sun Belt Conference became one of seven conferences nationwide to have back-to-back first round selections in the NBA Draft last year. Former UL Lafayette guard Elfrid Payton went No. 10 overall to the Orlando Magic in the 2014 draft while former Georgia State guard R.J. Hunter went No. 28 overall to the Boston Celtics last year. The Sun Belt joined the American Athletic Conference, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC.