2018-19 Sun Belt Men's Basketball Weekly News and Notes:
Week 4 Release (PDF) | Standings | Composite Schedule | Stats | Media Guide
AROUND #SUNBELTMBB
• Sun Belt men’s basketball has another busy week ahead with 20 games on the schedule, nine of which are slated for live coverage. The conference opens the second month of the season with its busiest day so far with eight matchups on Saturday, Dec. 1.
• Texas State defeated Cal Poly, USC Upstate and host Portland in consecutive days to win the 2018 Portland Classic title. This marked the second in-season tournament title for the Sun Belt following Georgia State capturing the 2018 Islands of the Bahamas Showcase title. In addition to junior guard Nijal Pearson being named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, senior guard Tre’Larenz Nottingham was named to the All-Tournament Team after averaging 13.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists. Nottingham scored a season-high 25 points in the win over USC Upstate.
• Georgia State earned the Sun Belt’s first win in 2018-19 over a Power Five school with its 91-67 victory over Georgia in the third-place game of the 2018 Cayman Islands Classic. The win was the Panthers’ third in four games over the Bulldogs dating back to 2000-01. Since the start of the 2013-14 season, Georgia State has won more games (114) than any other NCAA Division I team in the state of Georgia. The Panthers' win came on an undefeated day (Nov. 21) for the Sun Belt with Louisiana defeating Tulane to take third place at the Gulf Coast Showcase and Texas State defeating Cal Poly to open the Portland Classic.
• The Sun Belt had two teams – Georgia Southern (26) and Georgia State (91) – in the top 100 in the new NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) for NCAA Division I men’s basketball, which replaces the RPI. The NET relies on game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses. The new ranking system was approved in late July after months of consultation with the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, top basketball analytics experts and Google Cloud Professional Services.
• The Sun Belt boasts three teams in the latest CollegeInsider.com Men’s Mid-Major Top 25 – Georgia Southern (12th), Georgia State (20th) and Louisiana (23rd).
• Georgia State junior guard D’Marcus Simonds is among the list of 40 players under consideration for the 2018-19 Lute Olson Award, presented annually to the nation’s top player in NCAA Division I men’s basketball. Simonds, Georgia Southern senior guard Tookie Brown, Louisiana senior forward JaKeenan Gant and Troy senior forward Jordon Varnado are among the list of 49 players under consideration for the 2018-19 Lou Henson Award Watch List, presented annually to the nation’s top mid-major player in Division I men’s basketball. The Lute Olson and Lou Henson awards will be presented at the College Insider awards event in April at the NCAA Men’s Final Four in Minneapolis.
• Simonds earned All-Tournament Team honors at the Cayman Islands Classic after averaging 21.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists. Simonds also added three blocks and five steals in three games.
• Gant earned All-Tournament Team honors at the Gulf Coast Showcase after leading the Ragin’ Cajuns to wins over previously unbeaten Colorado State and in-state rival Tulane. Gant averaged 17.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in three games and recorded his first double-double of the season (17 points, 11 rebounds) in the win over Tulane.
• South Alabama senior guard Rodrick Sikes accounted for 13 of the team’s final 21 points in the first half en route to scoring 30 points, the sixth 30-point performance of his career, against Southeast Missouri State on Nov. 19.
• Little Rock freshman forward Nikola Maric finished with his first career double-double (20 points, 12 rebounds) with three blocks against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 24.
• Arkansas State junior forward Salif Boudie scored a career-high 21 points, 11 of which came in the first half, in the Red Wolves’ win over Gardner-Webb on Nov. 25 in the final game of the VisitCurrituckOBX.com Battle in the Blue Ridge in Asheville, N.C.
• The 2019 Sun Belt Men’s Basketball Championship is set for March 12 and 14-17. The tournament begins on Tuesday, March 12, with two first-round games taking place at on-campus sites. The remaining eight teams converge on Lakefront Arena in New Orleans starting on Thursday, March 14, with the winner earning the league’s automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. First-round, second-round, quarterfinal and semifinal games are set for live coverage on ESPN+. The championship game is scheduled for Sunday, March 17 at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Nijal Pearson, Texas State (Jr., G, Beaumont, Texas)
Texas State junior guard Nijal Pearson was named Most Valuable Player at the Portland Classic, averaging 24.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.7 steals in three games. Pearson shot 58.7 percent (27-of-46) from the field and 66.7 percent (14-of-21) from the three-point line. He netted a career-high 33 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals to lead the Bobcats to a 91-68 victory over Portland in the championship game. Pearson scored 19 of his points in the first half when Texas State overcame a nine-point deficit to take a 36-34 lead. He had 18 points with four three-pointers against USC Upstate in the semifinal game. The Beaumont, Texas, native poured in 23 points in the 54-42 victory over Cal Poly, scoring 18 in the second half, to help the Bobcats overcome a 23-16 deficit. For his performances, Pearson was named National Mid-Major Player of the Week by College Sports Madness.
2018-19 Weekly Award Winners
November 13: D'Marcus Simonds, Georgia State
November 20: Tookie Brown, Georgia Southern
November 27: Nijal Pearson, Texas State
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, November 27
East Tennessee State at Georgia Southern (ESPN+), 6 p.m.
ULM at Northwestern State, 6:30 p.m.
UTA at Tulsa (ESPN3), 7 p.m.
Wednesday, November 28
Georgia State at Tulane, Noon
Little Rock at Central Arkansas, 7 p.m.
Louisiana at New Orleans, 7 p.m.
South Alabama at Southern Miss, 7 p.m.
Rice at Texas State (ESPN+), 7 p.m.
Thursday, November 29
Austin Peay at Troy (ESPN+), 7:15 p.m.
Georgia Southern at Arizona (PAC-12), 8 p.m.
Friday, November 30
Appalachian State at East Carolina (ESPN3), 6 p.m.
Coastal Carolina at South Carolina (SECN), 6 p.m.
Saturday, December 1
Arkansas State at Lehigh, 1 p.m.
ULM at Ole Miss (SECN+), 1 p.m.
UTRGV at UTA (ESPN+), 2 p.m.
Sam Houston State at Little Rock, 3 p.m.
Texas State at UTSA, 3 p.m.
Georgia State at Liberty (ESPN+), 5 p.m.
Southern at Louisiana (ESPN+), 7 p.m.
Florida A&M at South Alabama (ESPN+), 7 p.m.
All Times are Central and Subject to Change