2019-20 Sun Belt Men's Basketball News and Notes:
Standings | Composite Schedule | Stats  
 
AROUND #SUNBELTMBB
• An action-packed week ahead for Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball with 27 games on the schedule and league teams playing game all across the country.
 
• The week's slate features several intriguing matchups, including South Alabama hosting 2019 Final Four participant Auburn, Georgia State traveling to play two games against basketball bluebloods Duke and Georgetown, Troy heading to the Hoosier State to face Indiana and UTA heading out west to clash with Pac-12 foe Oregon.
 
• Three teams – Louisiana, South Alabama and UTA – are off to 2-0 starts after the first seven days of the season.

• Entering the season, five teams return three or more starters – UTA (5), Appalachian State (4), Little Rock (4), Georgia Southern (3) and South Alabama (3). In returning all five starters, the Mavericks return the same starting lineup for their final six games in 2018-19 along with four of their top five scorers.

• Georgia Southern redshirt senior guard Ike Smith, South Alabama redshirt senior forward Trhae Mitchell and Texas State senior guard Nijal Pearson were among the preseason picks on the watch list for the 2019-20 Lou Henson Award, presented annually to the nation's top Division I mid-major player.

• The Sun Belt is slated to showcase a record 341 games on the ESPN family of networks – 327 regular-season home games (172 men and 151 women) and 18 Sun Belt Basketball Championship games (nine men and nine women).

 • The Sun Belt pulled in numerous national preseason honors and recognitions, headlined by  South Alabama recognized as the conference's preseason favorite by multiple publications.

• The Jaguars were selected by the conference's 12 head coaches as the preseason favorite as well to go along with Mitchell selected as the league's Preseason Player of the Year.
 
• Sun Belt men’s basketball has three new head coaches roaming the sidelines this season – Appalachian State's Dustin Kerns, Georgia State's Rob Lanier and Troy's Scott Cross.
 
• Former Louisiana standout Elfrid Payton opened the NBA season as the lone former Sun Belt standout on the league’s active opening-night rosters. The conference has a trio of alumni roaming the sidelines for the upcoming season with Appalachian State's Alvin Gentry (head coach, New Orleans Pelicans), UTA’s Kaleb Canales (assistant coach, New York Knicks) and South Alabama’s Dale Osbourne (assistant coach, Portland Trail Blazers).
 
• The NBA G League opened its 2019-20 season with eight former Sun Belt standouts on rosters:
 
Appalachian State
Ronshad Shabazz, College Park Skyhawks (G, 1st year)
 
Little Rock
Rayjon Tucker, Wisconsin Heard (G, 1st year)
 
Georgia State
Malik Benlevi, Salt Lake City Stars (G, 1st year)
Curtis Washington, Maine Red Claws (F/C, 1st year)
 
Louisiana
JaKeenan Gant, Fort Wayne Red Ants (F, 1st year)
Jay Wright, Maine Red Claws (G, 2nd year)
 
UTA
Kevin Hervey, Oklahoma City Blue (F, 2nd year)
 
Troy
Wesley Person, Jr., Maine Red Claws (G, 1st year)
 
The conference had two former players as first-round draft picks in the 2019 NBA G League Draft with Shabazz as the 13th pick by College Park and Texas State's Kavin Gilder-Tilbury as the 28th pick by Rio Grande Valley. Person (second round), Wright (third round) and Washington (fourth round) were also selected in this year's draft.

• The 2020 Sun Belt Men’s Basketball Championship is set to feature a 10-team bracket with first-round games on Saturday, March 7, second-round games on Monday, March 9 and quarterfinal games on Wednesday, March 11 hosted by the higher seeds on campus sites. The four men's teams that advance from the quarterfinals will then converge on New Orleans and the Smoothie King Center, home of the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans, for semifinals games on Saturday, March 14 and championship game on Sunday, March 15. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds receive byes directly to the semifinals. First-round, second-round, quarterfinal and semifinal games are set for live coverage on ESPN+. The championship game is set for Sunday, March 15 at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Josh Ajayi, South Alabama (RSr., F, El Monte, Calif.)
South Alabama redshirt senior forward Josh Ajayi averaged 21.5 points and 10.0 rebounds in the Jaguars' 2-0 start to the season. Ajayi set a career high with 30 points, 20 coming in the second half, against Southern Miss. He shot 10-of-14 from the floor, making two of his four three-point attempts, and hit 8-of-9 from the free throw line. Ajayi He also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and dished out three assists against the Golden Eagles. In the opener against Pikeville, he recorded his 20th career double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds and became the ninth Jaguar to have a 13-point, 13-rebound game in a season opener in school history. Ajayi was nearly perfect from the field (5-of-6) and added three blocks.
 
2019-20 Weekly Award Winners
November 12: Josh Ajayi, South Alabama

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, November 12
East Carolina at Appalachian State (ESPN+), 6 p.m.
Northern Kentucky at Coastal Carolina (ESPN+), 6 p.m.
Chattanooga at Troy (ESPN+), 6 p.m.
4-Louisiana at TCU (FOX Sports Southwest), 7 p.m.
Auburn at South Alabama (ESPN+), 7 p.m.
Prairie View A&M at Texas State (ESPN+), 7 p.m.
UTA at Nevada (Mountain West Network), 9 p.m.
 
Thursday, November 14
ULM at Mississippi State (SEC Network), 6 p.m.
Southwest Baptist at Little Rock (ESPN+), 6:30 p.m.
1-VMI at Arkansas State (ESPN+), 7:30 p.m.
 
Friday, November 15
2-Appalachian State vs. Montana State, 3:30 p.m.
Radford at Georgia Southern (ESPN+), 6 p.m.
3-Georgia State at Duke (ACC Network), 6 p.m.
South Alabama at Chattanooga, 6 p.m.
Texas State at Baylor (ESPN+), 7 p.m.
Youngstown State at Louisiana (ESPN+), 7 p.m.
1-UC Davis at Arkansas State, 7:30 p.m.
 
Saturday, November 16
2-Appalachian State vs. Tennessee Tech, 2:30 p.m.
Troy at Indiana (BTN), 7 p.m.
 
Sunday, November 17
1-Idaho at Arkansas State (ESPN+), 1:30 p.m.
Little Rock at Central Arkansas, 2 p.m.
3-Georgia State at Georgetown (FS1), 6:30 p.m.
5-UTA at Oregon (Pac-12 Networks), 7 p.m.
 
Monday, November 18
2-Appalachian State at UNC Greensboro (ESPN+), 6 p.m.
6-Middle Tennessee at Coastal Carolina (ESPN+), 6 p.m.
Carver at Troy (ESPN+), 6 p.m.
7-Jackson State at Texas State (ESPN+), 7 p.m.

All Times are Central and Subject to Change 

KEY:
1-Red Wolves Classic, Jonesboro, Ark.
2-Spartan Invitational, Greensboro, N.C.
3-2K Empire Classic benefitting Wounded Warrior Project
4-MGM Resorts Main Event, Las Vegas, Nev.
5-Battle 4 Atlantis (Mainland), Elon, N.C.
6-Myrtle Beach Invitational, Conway, S.C.
7-Wild West Showdown, San Marcos, Texas