2019-20 Sun Belt Men's Basketball News and Notes:
Standings | Composite Schedule | Stats
AROUND #SUNBELTMBB
• This week's Sun Belt Conference men's basketball schedule features 10 teams playing 12 games over the next seven days.
• The Sun Belt boasts three teams currently on winning streaks of three games or more, headlined by Georgia State (6-3) on a five-game winning streak. The Panthers are in the midst of a 12-day break from the hardwood before returning to open conference play on Thursday, Dec. 19 against UTA.
• Coastal Carolina (6-4) and Georgia State are two of most accurate teams in the nation from three-point range. The Chanticleers lead the Sun Belt and rank 10th in NCAA Division I (.418, 89-of-213) with the Panthers right on their heels at 11th nationally (.417, 70-of-168).
• Coastal Carolina senior guard Tyrell Gumbs-Frater leads the nation in three-point field goal percentage (.559, 33-of-59). He and backcourt mate Keishawn Brewton are tied for 21st nationally in three-pointers per game (3.30). Gumbs-Frater's eight threes made against Delaware State on Nov. 30 are tied for the seventh-most in a game this season.
• Arkansas State (7-2) is continuing its strong start. The Red Wolves picked up a road win at Tulsa on Dec. 7 – their first win over an American Athletic Conference member and first win over Tulsa, which snapped the Golden Hurricane's 19-game home non-conference game winning streak.
• Georgia Southern (6-3), winner of its last two in a row, is off to a strong start as well. Among the Division I leaders, the Eagles rank third in steals per game (11.3), seventh in total steals (102) and eighth in scoring offense (84.2 points per game). Georgia Southern has recorded double-digit steals in its last three games and six games total already this season.
• Speaking of steals, Little Rock sophomore guard Markquis Nowell is one of the nation's best in taking the ball away – currently ranking fifth in total steals (30) and sixth in steals per game (3.00). Nowell continues to lead the Sun Belt and currently sits seventh nationally in minutes per game (37.56).
• UTA (4-6) closes out its non-conference slate at Houston on Wednesday, Dec. 11. That will be the Mavericks' fourth Division I non-conference opponent this season that played in the NCAA Tournament last season.
• ULM junior guard Michael Ertel has scored in double figures his last 13 games in a row, dating back to last season, and has posted 20 or more points five times during that stretch. Ertel scored his 1,000th career point against Northwestern State on Nov. 26.
• UTA, South Alabama, Arkansas State and Texas 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 14th 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
DeVante Jones, Coastal Carolina (So., G, Baton Rouge, La.)
Coastal Carolina sophomore guard DeVante Jones averaged 23.5 points per game in two wins for the Chanticleers. Jones collected his second-consecutive double-double with 15 points and 10 assists against Greensboro College. He tied his career high with 32 points in Coastal Carolina's come-from-behind win at Winthrop. In the Winthrop game, Jones went 9-of-16 from the field and hit all 12 of his free throws in leading the comeback win. For the week, he shot 60 percent (15-of-25) from the field, 33.3 percent (3-of-9) from three-point range and a perfect 100 percent (14-of-14) from the free throw line. Jones added 17 assists against only five turnovers and recorded five steals.
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
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, December 10
Tennessee State at Little Rock (ESPN+), 6:30 p.m.
Grambling State at ULM (ESPN+), 7 p.m.
Wednesday, December 11
Arkansas State at Missouri State (ESPN+), 7 p.m.
UTA at Houston (ESPN3), 7 p.m.
Troy at Jacksonville State (ESPN+), 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, December 14
Appalachian State at Howard, 11 a.m.
North Carolina Central at Coastal Carolina (ESPN+), 1 p.m.
Louisiana at Louisiana Tech (CUSA.TV), 4 p.m.
Stephen F. Austin at ULM, 8 p.m.
Sunday, December 15
Troy at Chattanooga (ESPN+), 3 p.m.
Georgia Southern at Bradley (ESPN3), 4 p.m.
Bethany College at Texas State, 5 p.m.
All Times are Central and Subject to Change