2019-20 Sun Belt Men's Basketball News and Notes:
Standings | Composite Schedule | Stats
AROUND #SUNBELTMBB
• Sun Belt Conference men's basketball has a slight slate of holiday hoops this week with seven games on the schedule to close out the calendar year. All eight games are non-conference matchups highlighted by league teams taking on opponents from the Atlantic Coast, American Athletic, Big East, Big West and Southeastern conferences.
• Arkansas State (9-3, 2-0 Sun Belt) has the most non-conference wins with seven so far this season. The Red Wolves are 7-0 this season and 29-4 under head coach Mike Balado when scoring 65 points before their opponent.
• Georgia State (8-3, 2-0 Sun Belt) continues to be the Sun Belt's hottest team, entering the week on a seven-game winning streak. The Panthers' streak sits as the seventh-longest in NCAA Division I. At 8-3, first-year head coach Rob Lanier has matched the 8-3 start of previous head coach Ron Hunter for the best start for a first-year head coach in program history.
• Little Rock (8-5, 2-0) is off to its first 2-0 start in Sun Belt play since the 2015-16 season. It marks the first time the Trojans have won the Louisiana swing (Monroe and Lafayette) in the same season since the 2008-09 season.
• Appalachian State's 8-4 start to the season is its best start since the 2006-07 season, when the Mountaineers started 9-3. The 2-0 start to Sun Belt play marks just the second time Appalachian State won its first two Sun Belt games, also accomplishing the feat during the 2017-18 season.
• Georgia Southern (8-4, 2-0) has won four of its last five games. The Eagles close out a stretch of three games in five games taking on in-state foe Georgia in their last non-conference matchup of the season.
• Coastal Carolina senior guard Tyrell Gumbs-Frater continues to be among the top shooters in the nation, currently ranking third in three-point field goal percentage (.536, 37-of-69). Gumbs-Frater (3.36) and junior guard Keishawn Brewton (3.09) are the only two players in the Sun Belt currently averaging over three three-pointers per game.
• Little Rock sophomore guard Markquis Nowell remains among the nation's best in steals, currently ranking fourth in total steals (35) and 11th in steals per game (2.69).
• ULM senior guard JD Williams has taken over the conference lead and ranks fifth nationally in minutes played per game (37.40).
• Georgia State and Arkansas State were among the teams receiving votes in the most recent
CollegeInsider.com Men's Mid-Major Top 25.
• The Sun Belt is currently ranked 15th among the Division I conferences, according to the
Jeff Sagarin Ratings.
• The Sun Belt is one of 10 NCAA Division I conferences that received approval from the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Rules committees to permit the
use of electronically transmitted data to the bench for coaching purposes during the 2019-20 season.
• 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.
• 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
Justin Forrest, Appalachian State (Jr., G, Decatur, Ga.)
Appalachian State junior guard Justin Forrest played a key role in a pair of wins for the Mountaineers to start Sun Belt play. In the conference opener at South Alabama, Forrest poured in a season-high 32 points on 10-of-17 (.588) shooting, four rebounds, a career-high-tying six assists and a career-high-tying four steals. It marked the fifth time in his career he has scored 30 or more points in his career. Forrest added a game-high 25 points on 9-of-18 (.500) shooting, five rebounds three assists and two steals. For the week, he averaged 28.5 points on 19-of-35 (.543) shooting, 4.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.0 steals. Forrest, picking up his second Sun Belt Player of the Week honor, was named the Lou Henson Award National Player of the Week, selected weekly to highlight the top mid-major player in Division I college basketball.
2019-20 Weekly Award Winners
November 12: Josh Ajayi, South Alabama
November 19: Markquis Nowell, Little Rock
November 26: Elijah McCadden, Georgia Southern
December 3: Markquis Nowell, Little Rock
December 9: DeVante Jones, Coastal Carolina
December 16: Nijal Pearson, Texas State
December 23: Justin Forrest, Appalachian State
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Monday, December 23
Georgia Southern at Georgia (SEC Network), 6 p.m.
Georgia State at SMU (ESPN3), 6 p.m.
Saturday, December 28
ULM at Butler (FS1), 3 p.m.
Mobile at South Alabama (ESPN+), 3 p.m.
Freed-Hardeman at Arkansas State, 4 p.m.
Sunday, December 29
Appalachian State at North Carolina State (ACC Network), 3 p.m.
UC Santa Barbara at Louisiana (ESPN+), 5 p.m.
All Times are Central and Subject to Change