Sun Belt Conference Weekly News and Notes (Week 17)
2015-16 Sun Belt Conference Composite Schedule
2015-16 Sun Belt Conference Standings
2015-16 Sun Belt Conference Media Guide
Sun Belt Teams Prep for Conference Tournament Beginning on Thursday
NEW ORLEANS – Eight teams will battle for an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament this week as the Sun Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Championship tips off on Thursday night from Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.
The Little Rock Trojans (27-4, 17-3) own the No. 1 seed after earning their first outright Sun Belt regular-season title this season. The UL Monroe Warhawks (19-12, 15-5), winners of their last nine consecutive games and 13 of their last 14 games, enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed. The tournament tips off this Thursday night with first round matchups between No. 5 seed Georgia Southern (14-16, 10-10) and No. 8 seed South Alabama (13-18, 8-12) at 5 p.m. CT and No. 6 seed Georgia State (16-13, 9-11) and No. 7 seed Texas State (14-15, 8-12) following at 7:30 p.m. CT. The winners of the two first round games will advance to take on the No. 3 seeded UT Arlington (22-9, 13-7) and No. 4 seeded UL Lafayette (16-13, 12-8).
All games of the tournament will be televised by ESPN3 and available on the WatchESPN app, with the championship game set for a Noon C.T. tip on Selection Sunday, Mar. 13, and an ESPN2 broadcast.
UL Monroe senior Majok Deng helped extend ULM’s winning streak to nine consecutive games over the weekend with wins over Georgia Southern and Georgia State. He also aided the Warhawks to completing a perfect 13-0 season at home. Deng, the Sun Belt Conference’s leading in scoring at 18.9 points per game, averaged 19.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game over the weekend while shooting .556 percent from the field.
The Adelaide, Australia product started it off with a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds vs. the Eagles. He followed it up with a game-high 22 points and seven rebounds against the Panthers. It was the 11th time this season that he scored at least 20 points in a game. Deng has scored at least 13 points in 22 of his last 24 outings. In addition to scoring, Deng also finished first in the league in blocks, third in defensive rebounds, third in minutes, sixth in three-pointers made, seventh in overall rebounding and eighth in free throw percentage.
Other notable performances last week came from Little Rock’s Roger Woods and UT Arlington’s Kaelon Wilson. Woods averaged 20.5 points while shooting 66.7 percent from the floor over Little Rock’s final two regular-season games. He posted a career-high 30 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the floor, 2-of-3 from 3 and 6-of-10 from the foul line in the Trojans’ 89-80 win over Arkansas State on Tuesday night. Wilson helped lead the Mavs to a perfect 3-0 week to finish a program-best third in the final Sun Belt standings. The sophomore averaged team highs in points (13.7) and rebounds (8.0) in two starts, while shooting 69.6 percent. Wilson set a new career high with 21 points on 9-14 shooting against South Alabama in a 92-79 win.
For more information on the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Championship, visit championship central on SunBeltSports.org.
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WEEK 17 SUN BELT CONFERENCE STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Majok Deng (UL Monroe, Senior, Forward)
Senior Majok Deng helped extend ULM’s winning streak to nine consecutive games over the weekend with wins over Georgia Southern and Georgia State. He also aided the Warhawks to completing a perfect 13-0 season at home. Deng, the Sun Belt Conference scoring champion, averaged 19.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game over the weekend while shooting .556 percent from the field. The Adelaide, Australia product started it off with a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds vs. the Eagles. He followed it up with a game-high 22 points and seven rebounds against the Panthers. It was the 11th time this season that he scored at least 20 points in a game. Deng has scored at least 13 points in 22 of his last 24 outings. In addition to scoring, Deng also finished first in the league in blocks, third in defensive rebounds, third in minutes, sixth in three-pointers made, seventh in overall rebounding and eighth in free throw percentage.
RECENT RESULTS
TUESDAY, MARCH 1
Little Rock 89, Arkansas State 80
UT Arlington 75, Texas State 69
THURSDAY, MARCH 3
Appalachian State 69, Little Rock 63
UL Monroe 83, Georgia Southern 76
Georgia State 72, UL Lafayette 69
UT Arlington 92, South Alabama 79
Texas State 78, Troy 57
SATURDAY, MARCH 5
UL Monroe 91, Georgia State 78
Appalachian State 80, Arkansas State 73
Texas State 68, South Alabama 57
UT Arlington 90, Troy 55
UL Lafayette 87, Georgia Southern 78
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
THURSDAY, MARCH 10 - FIRST ROUND
Game 1: #5 Georgia Southern vs. #8 South Alabama
5:00 PM (ESPN3)
Game 2: #6 Georgia State vs. #7 Texas State
7:30 PM (ESPN3)
FRIDAY, MARCH 11 - QUARTERFINALS
Game 3: Game 1 Winner vs. #4 UL Lafayette
5:00 PM (ESPN3)
Game 4: Game 2 Winner vs. #3 UT Arlington
7:30 PM (ESPN3)
SATURDAY, MARCH 12 - SEMIFINALS
Game 5: Game 3 Winner vs. #1 Little Rock
1:00 PM (ESPN3)
Game 6: Game 4 Winner vs. #2 UL Monroe
3:30 PM (ESPN3)
SUNDAY, MARCH 13 - CHAMPIONSHIP
Game 7: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner
12:00 PM (ESPN2)
* - Indicates Sun Belt Conference game
(All Times CT)
NEWS AND NOTES
TOURNAMENT CREDENTIAL APPLICATIONS
Applications for media credentials to the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships on March 9-13 are now being accepted. Media outlets planning to cover the tournament should complete and submit the registration form at the link here.
NCAA TOURNAMENT SUCCESS
The Sun Belt Conference begins the 2015-16 season following unprecedented postseason success to end 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).
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. Little Rock will enter the final week of the regular season with the nation’s best record (26-3, .896) and is just the second team in Sun Belt history to win 26 of its first 29 games to start a season (1992-93 New Orleans), and can be the first to win 27 of 30 with a victory over Arkansas State on Tuesday.
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’s 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. The Sun Belt is one of only five conferences nationwide to have multiple student-athletes notch a triple-double this season.
LITTLE ROCK IN THE RANKINGS
Little Rock has appeared in the USA Today Coaches Poll in six separate weeks this season, including three straight from Jan. 11 to Jan. 25. Little Rock received as many as five points 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 its first 20-win season since 2008-09. The Trojans are now 11-0 at home on the season, and have won 13 straight games at the JSC dating back to last season.
TROJANS RANK NATIONALLY
Little Rock continues to rank near the top (3rd) in scoring defense (59.8 ppg) and ranks seventh in defensive field goal percentage (38.5). The Trojans are 13th in country in turnover margin (3.4) and 20th in scoring margin (11.2).
LONG SETS ALL-TIME REBOUNDING MARKS
Shawn Long has been a rebounding machine during his three-plus seasons, 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 1,393 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.
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.
TWO ON LOU HENSON WATCH LIST
UL Lafayette senior Shawn Long & 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.
LONG’S POTENTIAL CAREER MILESTONE
UL Lafayette senior Shawn Long is just four points shy of joining elite company as the only student-athletes to boast career totals of 2,250 points and 1,400 rebounds. Long has maintained an average of 18.8 points per game and 12.9 rebounds per game this season to join the exclusive list (alphabetical):
Shawn Long, UL Lafayette (2012-16)*
Games: 130 Rebounds: 1,410 Points: 2,246
Elgin Baylor, College of Idaho/Seattle (1954-58)
Games: 80 Rebounds: 2,500 Points: 1,559
Tom Gola, La Salle (1951-55)
Games: 118 Rebounds: 2,462 Points: 2,201
Elvin Hayes, Houston (1965-68)
Games: 93 Rebounds: 2,884 Points: 1,602
Dickie Hemric, Wake Forest (1951-55)
Games: 104 Rebounds: 2,587 Points: 1,802
Lionel Simmons, La Salle (1986-90)
Games: 131 Rebounds: 3,217 Points: 1,429
DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE
Shawn Long has been a double-double machine in his career for UL Lafayette totaling 72 double-doubles in 127 games. With 20 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 Feb. 25):
NAME G D-D
1. Shawn Long, UL Lafayette 128 73
2. Chris Horton, Austin Peay 124 58
3. Jameel Warney, Stony Brook 133 57
4. Egidijus Mockevicius, Evansville 133 56
5. Joel Bolomboy, Weber State 125 51
6. Josh Hawkinson, Washington State 87 40
7. Venky Jois, Eastern Washington 118 37
8. Ryan Anderson, Arizona 124 35
9. Kyle Collinsworth, BYU 134 34
Devin Thomas, Wake Forest 124 34
Stacy Davis, Pepperdine 122 34
Josh Scott, Colorado 120 34
MR. DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Anthony Livingston posted his 27th career double-double Feb. 13 with 11 points and 12 rebounds against Georgia Southern. The double-double was his 20th against Sun Belt foes and he has at least one against all SBC foes. With 27 career double-doubles, Livingston ranks 17th among active NCAA Division I players. Livingston is second among second-year student-athletes behind Pascal Siakam (New Mexico State) for most double-doubles (29).
ELITE COMPANY
Georgia State 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 HOT FROM BEYOND THE ARC
Tim Williams hit his 200th career 3-pointer against Texas-Arlington, becoming the third player in school history to reach that mark. He is six behind Demetric Bennett (2004-08) for second place. Williams also moved up to 11th all-time at South Alabama in career points (1,266) and 13th in career field goals (407).
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.
SHABAZZ, LAWSON LEAD APP
Freshman Ronshad Shabazz has now scored in double-figures in 17 games this season, including five 20-point efforts. Senior Jacob Lawson is second in the league in blocks and blocks per game, but ranks 17th nationally in blocks per minute.
LIVINGSTON CLEANS THE GLASS
Arkansas State junior Anthony Livingston had 22 rebounds at Little Rock, the third most in a NCAA Division I game this year. It was the most by an A-State player in any game since Jeff Clifton had 25 against Little Rock on Jan. 29, 1994. Livingston had 22 rebounds, two fewer than the Trojans total rebounds of 24. He pulled in seven offensive rebounds, the most by an A-State student-athlete in a game since Brandon Peterson had seven against Troy on Jan. 30, 2013.
GANT’S REBOUNDING MILESTONE
With his 11-rebound performance at Georgia Southern (Feb. 6), Texas State’s Emani Gant moved into a tie for 19th on the schools career rebounding list. The senior forward now has 498 in his Bobcat career. He is tied with Matt Staff (2010-13) and David Skyes (1999-03).
JAGS SCORING RARITY
After going five years in between having two student-athletes score 20 points or more in a game, USA did it twice in February. Shaq Calhoun and Georgi Boyanov shared team-high honors with 20 points against Georgia Southern (Feb. 13). Calhoun tied his career high with 20 points — setting a new personal best with four 3-pointers in six attempts — after combining for 22 points in the previous four games combined. Boyanov also scored 20 points against Georgia Southern, making all six of his field-goal attempts, the best single-game performance by a Jaguar this season. He just missed a double-double with nine rebounds.
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.