Men’s Basketball Wednesday, November 23 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 Appalachian State 0 0 0.000 - - - - 0 1 2 0.333 - W1 95.7 80.0 3 Arkansas State 0 0 0.000 - - - - 0 5 1 0.833 - W5 75.3 64.3 6 Coastal Carolina 0 0 0.000 - - - 0 2 3 0.400 - W1 70.8 69.8 5 Georgia Southern 0 0 0.000 - - - - 0 1 3 0.250 - L2 76.3 69.8 4 Georgia State 0 0 0.000 - - - - 0 2 2 0.500 - W1 76.5 67.3 4 Little Rock 0 0 0.000 - - - - 0 3 2 0.600 - L1 77.4 64.4 5 Louisiana 0 0 0.000 - - - - 0 2 2 0.500 - W2 89.3 74.8 4 South Alabama 0 0 0.000 - - - - 0 5 0 1.000 - W5 77.6 60.0 5 Texas State 0 0 0.000 - - - - 0 2 2 0.500 - L1 71.0 65.5 4 Troy 0 0 0.000 - - - - 0 2 2 0.500 - L2 80.8 72.0 4 ULM 0 0 0.000 - - - - 0 1 4 0.200 - L4 71.4 75.4 5 UTA 0 0 0.000 - - - - 0 2 3 0.400 - W1 76.6 77.6 5 & - Regular Season Champions | * - Earned Championship Berth | @ - Tournament Champions SUN BELT NOTES RECENT RESULTS UPCOMING SCHEDULE Together We Rise WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2016 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2016 The Sun Belt is in a class of its own as a mid-major Coastal Carolina 89, Coppin State 59 Appalachian State vs. Hartford 1:00 PM basketball league. It is the only mid-major conference that had both a first-round pick in the 2014 and 2015 Florida Gulf Coast 85, UTA 72 Louisiana at James Madison 3:00 PM NBA Drafts while also having a team win a game in the Coastal Carolina at Wake Forest 6:30 PM 2015 and 2016 NCAA Tournaments. Below is a list of THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2016 Mount St. Mary’s at UTA 7:00 PM conferences that accomplished both of those feats: Arkansas State 78, Georgetown 72 Little Rock at Central Michigan 7:30 PM ACC Big Ten Big 12 PAC-12 SEC Sun Belt Appalachian State 119, Warren Wilson College 51 Troy at San Francisco 9:00 PM Colorado 89, ULM 70 Georgia State at Eastern Kentucky TBA Cinderella Lives Here UAB 74, Troy 51 Little Rock’s thrilling 85-83 double-overtime win against No. 5 seed Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Louisiana 117, Panhandle State 47 NOVEMBER 25 (FRIDAY) Tournament last year made it a second year in a row Troy at Hawaii 1:00 AM a team from the Sun Belt shocked a top-seeded team. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2016 (6) Georgia Southern at Florida A&M 1:30 PM After Georgia State topped No. 3 seed Baylor 57-56 in #15 Purdue 64, Georgia State 56 Texas State vs. UTSA 7:00 PM the 2015 tournament, the Sun Belt has now joined an exclusive list of conferences with teams that have won Idaho 65, Little Rock 57 games in the 2015 and 2016 NCAA Tournaments: Arkansas 71, UTA 67 NOVEMBER 26 (SATURDAY) ACC American Atlantic 10 South Alabama 69, FIU 64 Appalachian State at Duke 11:00 AM Big East Big Ten Big 12 Conference USA Missouri Valley PAC-12 (6) Georgia Southern at Radford 1:30 PM SEC Sun Belt West Coast SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016 South Alabama at Eastern Illinois 3:15 PM South Alabama 84, Youngstown State 75 UTA at Fordham 4:00 PM Postseason Success Arkansas State 60, Army 57 The Sun Belt has had plenty of success in postseason tournaments outside of the Big Dance. Recently, ULM BYU 81, Coastal Carolina 65 NOVEMBER 27 (SUNDAY) made a run to the 2015 CBI championship series and Lehigh at Arkansas State 1:30 PM Louisiana advanced to the CIT quarterfinals in the 2015 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2016 Texas Southern at Louisiana 4:00 PM season. Last year a record three teams participated in the CIT where Louisiana and UTA both advanced to the Arkansas State 73, Chattanooga 67 quarterfinals. Mercer 80, Georgia Southern 67 NOVEMBER 28 (MONDAY) South Alabama 71, Jacksonville 58 Appalachian State vs. Charlotte 6:00 PM #FunBeltToTheNBA Stephen F. Austin at ULM 7:00 PM Two former student-athletes from Sun Belt Conference schools are currently on NBA rosters to start the 2016- MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2016 17 season. Eastern Illinois 71, Troy 67 NOVEMBER 29 (TUESDAY) Coastal Carolina 83, Southern Utah 68 Chattanooga at Coastal Carolina 6:00 PM Team Student-Athlete (School) Chicago Bulls R.J. Hunter (GSU) Little Rock 68, St. Bonaventure 65 Texas State vs. McNeese State 7:00 PM Orlando Magic Elfrid Payton (LA) Seattle 81, ULM 75 UTA at Texas 7:00 PM Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 73, Texas State 69 Little Rock at Central Arkansas 7:30 PM In addition there are 3 former Sun Belt student-athletes Louisiana 83, Delaware State 82 playing professionally in the NBA D-League. UTA 88, St. Francis (Ill.) 67 NOVEMBER 30 (WEDNESDAY) Wright State at Georgia State 6:00 PM Team Student-Athlete (School) Delaware 87ers Shawn Long (LA) TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2016 Cleveland State at Arkansas State 7:00 PM Grand Rapids Drive Melvin Johnson (ASU) Georgia State 74, NJIT 53 South Alabama at Southern Miss 7:00 PM Fort Wayne Mad Ants Anthony Walker (UTA) Akron 75, Georgia Southern 67 Methodist at Coastal Carolina 7:30 PM Mid-Major Rankings Arkansas State 75, SIU-Edwardsville 57 The Sun Belt featured three teams (tied for the most Pepperdine 66, Little Rock 65 with Missouri Valley) in the latest CollegeInisider.com Bryant 64, ULM 57 Men’s Mid-Major Top 25 (#13 UTA, #23 South Alabama, #25 Arkansas State) with another three receving votes: Georgia Southern, Georgia State and Little Rock. Follow the #funBelt all times are central time and subject to change 1 /SunBeltConference @SunBelt @SunBelt SunBeltsports @SunBelt /SunBeltsports MEDIA SERVICES SUN BELT 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 DONTE THOMAS to [email protected] or mcelwain@ ARKANSAS STATE | SENIOR | GUARD | INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES sunbeltsports.org with the subject “Media News” Donte Thomas helped A-State to a 3-0 week that included wins over Georgetown and Chattanooga. requesting to be added to the media distribution He averaged 13.0 points. 4.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists for the week while shooting .467 from the floor. list. He made his return to Washington and helped A-State earn a 78-72 over Georgetown with 12 points, 7 rebounds and five assists. He committed only two turnovers against the full court press the Hoyas ran much of the night. Sunday against Chattanooga he had a team-high 18 points and 10 assists to post BASKETBALL CONTACTS his fifth career double-double and first this season. SUN BELT CONFERENCE Randy Lieberman ......................504-556-0872 (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] ..504-250-4642 (C) At Georgetown 1-1 22 5-10 .500 0-0 .000 2-4 .500 0-7-7 4-0 5 2 1 0 12 At Army 1-1 28 4-11 .364 0-1 .000 1-2 .500 1-2-3 2-0 6 4 0 0 9 APPALACHIAN STATE Vs Chattanooga 1-1 34 5-9 .556 1-2 .500 7-9 .778 0-2-2 3-0 10 5 0 2 18 Ben Winterrowd ........................828-262-7162 (O) [email protected] ....828-964-6409 (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 3-3 84-28.0 14-30 .467 1-3 .333 10-15 .667 1-11-12-4.0 9-0 21 11 1 2 39-13.0 ARKANSAS STATE Mark Taylor ...............................870-372-3547 (O) [email protected] ...............870-219-5705 (C) 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) Beasts Against the East Cradle of Coaches GEORGIA STATE Arkansas State’s 78-72 win at Georgetown last Thursday Experience meets opportunity in the Sun Belt with a mix Mike Holmes .............................404-413-4033 (O) marked the second year in a row a Sun Belt team has of illustrious coaching careers balanced by first-year [email protected] .....................404-259-9716 (C) won a true road game against a Big East school.