Men’s Basketball Conference Championship - Semifinals Contact: Randy Lieberman ([email protected]) Phone: 504-556-0872 Mercedes-Benz Superdome 1500 Sugar Bowl Drive New Orleans, LA 70112 | SunBeltSports.org | @SunBelt | #FunBelt Conference Overall W L PCT L10 STREAK PF PA TP W L PCT L10 STREAK PF PA TP UTA - & 14 4 0.778 8-2 L1 79.8 70.6 18 25 7 0.781 9-1 W1 77.8 69.0 32 Georgia State 12 6 0.667 6-4 W1 74.9 70.7 18 20 11 0.645 6-4 W2 74.7 69.6 31 Arkansas State 11 7 0.611 5-5 L2 71.8 68.9 18 20 12 0.625 4-6 L3 73.3 69.1 32 Georgia Southern 11 7 0.611 4-6 L2 75.4 73.2 18 18 14 0.563 4-6 L3 76.3 73.1 32 Texas State 11 7 0.611 6-4 W1 66.8 65.4 18 19 12 0.613 6-4 W2 67.5 63.6 31 Coastal Carolina 10 8 0.556 5-5 L1 71.7 72.3 18 16 17 0.485 5-5 L1 72.2 72.5 33 Louisiana 10 8 0.556 6-4 W6 79.1 79.3 18 21 12 0.636 7-3 L1 81.9 76.3 33 Troy 10 8 0.556 7-3 W2 76.9 74.5 18 20 14 0.588 8-2 W4 78.6 71.8 34 South Alabama 7 11 0.389 4-6 W1 72.2 76.3 18 14 18 0.438 4-6 L1 71.4 72.6 32 Little Rock 6 12 0.333 3-7 L1 63.9 67.9 18 15 17 0.469 3-7 L2 68.4 68.3 32 Appalachian State 4 14 0.222 3-7 W1 69.8 76.7 18 9 21 0.300 3-7 L1 74.3 75.1 30 ULM 2 16 0.111 2-8 L3 64.1 70.6 18 9 24 0.273 2-8 L1 66.7 69.7 33 & - Regular Season Champions | @ - Tournament Champions SUN BELT NOTES SCHEDULE/RESULTS Semifinals Stories MARCH 4 (SATURDAY) UTA is making its second consecutive, and second ever, Georgia Southern 67, Georgia State 72 semifinal appearance. Georgia State is in the semis for the third time in four years. Texas State is making its Texas State 70, ULM 65 first-ever semis appearance. Troy is in the semifinals for Appalachian State 77, Coastal Carolina 73 the first time since 2010 and second in program history. South Alabama 73, Arkansas State 70 Troy 57, Little Rock 54 Together We Rise The Sun Belt is in a class of its own as a mid-major Louisiana 83, UTA 81 basketball league. It is the only mid-major conference that had both a first-round pick in the 2014 and 2015 MARCH 2 (THURSDAY) NBA Drafts while also having a team win a game in the 2015 and 2016 NCAA Tournaments. Below is a list of UTA 72, ULM 57 conferences that accomplished both of those feats: Little Rock 62, South Alabama 57 ACC Big Ten Big 12 Louisiana 94, Texas State 84 (OT) PAC-12 SEC Sun Belt Troy 81, Arkansas State 72 Cinderella Lives Here Little Rock’s thrilling 85-83 double-overtime win FEBRUARY 27 (MONDAY) against No. 5 seed Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Louisiana 77, Appalachian State 62 Tournament last year made it a second year in a row a team from the Sun Belt shocked a top-seeded team. Coastal Carolina 77, ULM 72 After Georgia State topped No. 3 seed Baylor 57-56 in Little Rock 56, Georgia Southern 54 the 2015 tournament, the Sun Belt has now joined an Arkansas State 78, Georgia State 67 exclusive list of conferences with teams that have won Texas State 90, South Alabama 64 games in the 2015 and 2016 NCAA Tournaments: ACC American Atlantic 10 UTA 82, Troy 67 Big East Big Ten Big 12 2017 SUN BELT CHAMPIONSHIP Conference USA Missouri Valley PAC-12 FEBRUARY 25 (SATURDAY) SEC Sun Belt West Coast MARCH 8 (WEDNESDAY) ULM 75, Appalachian State 64 First Round: #8 CCU 80, #9 USA 67 Postseason Success Louisiana 79, Coastal Carolina 77 First Round: #12 ULM 73, #5 A-ST 70 (OT) The Sun Belt has had plenty of success in postseason Texas State 63, Troy 59 First Round: #7 LA 78, #10 LR 71 tournaments outside of the Big Dance. Recently, ULM UTA 86, South Alabama 75 made a run to the 2015 CBI championship series and First Round: #6 TROY 84, #11 APP 64 Louisiana advanced to the CIT quarterfinals in the 2015 Georgia State 71, Little Rock 54 season. Last year a record three teams participated in Georgia Southern 72, Arkansas State 60 the CIT where Louisiana and UTA both advanced to the MARCH 10 (FRIDAY) quarterfinals. Quarterfinals: #1 UTA 74, #8 CCU 51 FEBRUARY 20 (MONDAY) Quarterfinals: #4 Texas State 63, #12 ULM 51 #FunBeltToTheNBA UTA 81, Georgia Southern 71 Quarterfinals: #2 Georgia State 86, #7 Louisiana 76 Two former student-athletes from the Sun Belt are Georgia State 67, Texas State 51 Quarterfinals: #3 Georgia Southern 70, #6 Troy 90 currently on an NBA roster. Troy 76, Appalachian State 66 Coastal Carolina 81, South Alabama 77 (OT) Team Student-Athlete (School) MARCH 11 (SATURDAY) Orlando Magic Elfrid Payton (LA) Semifinals: #1 UTA vs. #4 Texas State 11:30 AM Philadelphia 76ers Shawn Long (LA) FEBRUARY 18 (SATURDAY) Semifinals: #2 Georgia State vs. #6 Troy 2:00 PM UTA 68, Georgia State 67 In addition there are five former Sun Belt student- Louisiana 85, ULM 84 athletes playing professionally in the NBA D-League. MARCH 12 (SUNDAY) Georgia Southern 70, Texas State 67 Final: 1:00 PM Team Student-Athlete (School) Troy 87, Coastal Carolina 78 Grand Rapids Drive Melvin Johnson (ASU) South Alabama 87, Appalachian State 74 Fort Wayne Mad Ants Anthony Walker (UTA) All Times Central and Subject to Change Long Island Nets R.J. Hunter (GSU) * - denotes Sun Belt Conference game FEBRUARY 17 (FRIDAY) Maine Red Claws Josh Hagins (LR) Arkansas State 67, Little Rock 58 Follow the #funBelt all times are central time and subject to change 1 /SunBeltConference @SunBelt @SunBelt SunBeltsports @SunBelt /SunBeltsports MEDIA SERVICES PLAYER OF THE WEEK CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL Visit www.SunBeltSports.org to find 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Championship Central. When at the main page, mouse over “Championships” and click on “Men’s Basketball” to be taken to the championship central page. ANNUAL AWARDS The Sun Belt Conference will name three All- Conference teams and individual honors for Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the year. All awards are decided upon by a vote at the end of the regular season by the league’s 12 head coaches and select members of the media. EMAIL LIST-SERVE Media members may request to receive Sun Belt Conference News, Press Releases and Weekly Releases via email. Media should send an email NIJAL PEARSON to [email protected] or mcelwain@ TEXAS STATE | FRESHMAN | GUARD | GENERAL STUDIES sunbeltsports.org with the subject “Media News” Nijal Pearson closed out his first collegiate regular season by averaging 18.5 points, 3.0 assists, 2.5 requesting to be added to the media distribution rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks per game while making 13-of-26 (50.0%) shot attempts and was list. 6-for-11 (54.5%) from beyond the arc at the Louisiana schools to help Texas State earn the No. 4 seed and a bye in the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Tournament. He began by scoring 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting and was 3-for-6 on three-pointers at Louisiana. His three made treys set a new career-high BASKETBALL CONTACTS while he recorded his third 20-point scoring game of the season. The Beaumont, Texas native also had two assists, a block, a rebound and a steal against the Ragin’ Cajuns. Pearson followed with 17 points, SUN BELT CONFERENCE four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a rejection in a five-point victory at ULM. He made 5-of-10 Randy Lieberman ......................504-556-0872 (O) [email protected] ..504-250-4642 (C) shots, knocked down three three-pointers for the second game in-a-row and was 4-for-5 at the free throw line. APPALACHIAN STATE Ben Winterrowd ........................828-262-7162 (O) OPP NAME GP-GS MIN FG-FGA PCT 3FG-FGA PCT FT-FTA PCT OFF-DEF-TOT PF-FO A TO BLK STL PTS [email protected] ....828-964-6409 (C) at Louisiana 1-1 34 8-16 .500 3-6 .500 1-3 .333 0-1-1 4-0 2 3 1 1 20 at ULM 1-1 38 5-10 .500 3-5 .600 4-5 .800 2-2-4 0-0 4 1 1 2 17 ARKANSAS STATE Mark Taylor ...............................870-372-3547 (O) [email protected] ...............870-219-5705 (C) WEEK TOTALS GP-GS MIN-AVG FG-FGA PCT 3FG-FGA PCT FT-FTA PCT OFF-DEF-TOT-AVG PF-FO A TO BLK STL PTS-AVG 2-2 72-36.0 13-26 .500 6-11 .545 5-8 .625 2-3-5-2.5 4-0 6 4 2 3 37-18.5 COASTAL CAROLINA Darrell Orand ............................843-349-6467 (O) [email protected] ..................843-333-4067 (C) GEORGIA SOUTHERN Marc Gignac ..............................912-478-5288 (O) SUN BELT NOTES [email protected] .....980-297-9981 (C) Upset City Cradle of Coaches GEORGIA STATE UTA’s 65-51 win at #12 Saint Mary’s marked a third Experience meets opportunity in the Sun Belt with a mix Mike Holmes .............................404-413-4033 (O) consecutive year a Sun Belt team defeated an AP Top of illustrious coaching careers balanced by first-year [email protected] .....................404-259-9716 (C) 25 team.