Men's Basketball Sun Belt Conference

GSU, WKU Roll On - UL Lafayette's Long Honored for Third Time of Season

Sun Belt Conference Weekly News and Notes (Full PDF)
2013-14 Sun Belt Conference Media Guide
2013-14 Sun Belt Conference Composite Schedule
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Around the Sun Belt Conference
Two Sun Belt teams have made impressive runs as of late. Georgia State has stolen most of the headlines with their 14 game win streak - good for the seventh best win streak in the nation. But, Western Kentucky has strung together six consecutive wins of its own - good for the 15th best win streak in the nation.

Georgia State’s school-record 14-game winning streak, eclipsed the previous long of 11-straight during the 2011-12 season, head coach Ron Hunter’s first year at GSU. The Panthers have also won nine-straight at home, the third longest home-court winning streak in the history of the program. After starting the season 0-5 on the road, the Panthers have won seven-straight, tied for the longest road winning streak in program history and matching the record set during the 1999-2000 season. GSU will feature its talents on ESPN2 this weekend when the Panthers head to Troy.

WKU returned to the court on Saturday at UALR and is set for a Monday night game at Arkansas State. In thrilling fashion, WKU defeated UALR on a Trency Jackson 28-footer at the buzzer, giving the Hilltoppers their sixth-straight Sun Belt Conference victory and also sixth-straight SBC road win.

Jackson’s game-winner at UALR came after WKU fell down by 13 points with just over 8:00 left in the game. It was the 10th double-digit comeback for WKU under head coach Ray Harper and third in the last four victories.

Player of the Week

Shawn Long (UL Lafayette, So., F)
Long posted one of his best weeks of the season, helping the Ragin’ Cajuns win a pair of road league games by a total of four points to move into fifth place in the Sun Belt standings, percentage points out of fourth and a first round bye in then upcoming league tourney. Long scored a career-high 31 points, going 11-for-17 from the field, in a 92-89 win at UT Arlington on Thursday night and he came back to score a game-high 20 points with 13 rebounds at Texas State on Saturday for his 13th double-double of the season (31st in 56 career games). For the season, Long has scored 30 or more points twice with a dozen 20-point efforts.

Recent Results

February 6
* Georgia State 68, UALR 57
* Texas State 65, UL Monroe 57
* UL Lafayette 92, UT Arlington 89
* Troy 79, South Alabama 74

February 8
* UL Lafayette 67, Texas State 66
* Western Kentucky 79, UALR 78 (Sun Belt Network)

Upcoming Games

February 13
* Texas State at Georgia State - 6:00 PM
* UT Arlington at UL Monroe - 7:00 PM
* Troy at WKU - 7:00 PM
* UALR at UL Lafayette - 7:05 PM
* Arkansas State at South Alabama - 7:05 PM

February 15
* UALR at UL Monroe - 2:00 PM
* Arkansas State at UL Lafayette - 4:15 PM
* Georgia State at Troy - 5:00 PM (ESPN2)
* South Alabama at WKU - 7:00 PM
* Texas State at UT Arlington - 7:30 PM

NOTE: All Game times are Central and Subject to Change

Team News and Notes

UALR Trojans
UALR dropped a pair of tough matchups at home to Georgia State and WKU this past week. The Trojans fell 68-57 to Georgia State on Thursday, Feb. 6 before losing a 79-78 contest at the buzzer to WKU on Saturday in a game that was televised by the Sun Belt Network.

UALR struggled on offense throughout its loss to the Panthers. The Trojans finished 21 of 57 from the floor (36.8 percent) while the Panthers shot 22 of 55 (40 percent). UALR finished 2 of 14 on 3-pointers and didn’t hit its first until just 44 seconds remained. UALR did shoot 13 of 17 from the free throw line.

The Trojans shot the ball much better from the floor against WKU, finishing the game 24 of 46 from the floor (52.2 percent) and 7 of 10 from 3-point range. However, with seven minutes to play and a 13-point lead, UALR cooled off as WKU heated up and eventually claimed the win. Trency Jackson’s buzzer-beater capped the Hilltoppers’ comeback that was aided by UALR making just three field goals in the final eight minutes and missing five of eight free throws in the final 44 seconds.

UALR had five players score in double figures including Josh Hagins(20), James White (14), Leroy Isler (13), Ben Dillard (11) and Mareik Isom (11), but WKU (16-7, 8-3) made 12 3-point baskets to help narrow the gap.

The Trojans return to action this week with Louisiana in the Cajundome on Thursday before playing at ULM on Saturday.

Arkansas State Red Wolves
Sophomore guard Cameron Golden, who has presently registered a team-leading 62 assists in 20 games this campaign, is three assists shy of matching his squad second-most 65 helpers in 31 contests last season. The A-State backcourt player has accumulated 127 career assists for a 2.5 per game average in 51 appearances.

Arkansas State’s top two rebounding leaders this season, senior forwards Kirk Van Slyke (126 rebs.) and Kendrick Washington (119 rebs.) have combined to generate 34.6 percent (245-709) of the team’s production. Washington is averaging a team-best 6.6 boards per game while Van Slyke is pulling down 6.3 caroms an outing to date this campaign.

The Red Wolves are 4-3 this season in games decided by nine points or less and are 8-5 in contests when the margin is at least 10 points. All of A-State’s eight home encounters this campaign have been decided by 10 points or more with the Red Wolves registering a 6-2 ledger.

Kirk Van Slyke is averaging a team-high 18.8 points per game (150 pts.) in eight home appearances this season compared to a squad-best 15.3 points an outing (184 pts.) in 12 away matchups. The frontcourt player has grabbed a squad-most 7.0 rebounds a contest (56 rebs.) at home this season while recording an average of 5.8 rebounds per game (70 rebs.) on the road.

Arkansas State has made double-digit three-point field goals in each of its last two games to date with 11 apiece in conference road contests versus ULM?(1/30)?and Troy (2/1). The Red Wolves has reached double-figure treys in seven contests this season with a team-most 14 triples at Texas State (1/4)?and 13 at Lamar (11/30). A-State made 12 three’s at Marshall (12/21), 11 at Georgia State (1/16), and 10 at UT?Arlington (1/2). The Red Wolves are 63 triples away from equaling the school’s single-season record of 241 established by the 2002-03 and 2006-07 teams.

Kirk Van Slyke (16.6 ppg.), senior guard Melvin Johnson III (12.3 ppg.), Kendrick Washington (11.4 ppg.), and senior guard Ed Townsel (10.6 ppg.) have combined to produce 65.0 percent (446-686) of the team’s scoring in nine SBC games this campaign.

Georgia State Panthers
Georgia State is currently riding a school-record 14-game winning streak, eclipsing the previous long of 11-straight during the 2011-12 season, head coach Ron Hunter’s first year at GSU. The Panthers have also won nine-straight at home, the third longest home-court winning streak in the history of the program. After starting the season 0-5 on the road, the Panthers have won seven-straight, tied for the longest road winning streak in program history and matching the record set during the 1999-2000 season.

The Panthers 14-game winning streak is tied for the seventh longest in the country. The list of teams ahead of the Panthers includes Wichita State, Syracuse, San Diego State, Stephen F. Austin, Florida and St. Louis.

The 14-game win streak is just four shy of the longest winning streak in Sun Belt history. The record is 18 held by Western Kentucky during the 2001-02 season.

Georgia State’s 10-game Sun Belt winning streak is tied for the eighth longest conference winning streak in league history. It is also tied for the longest conference win streak in program history, matching the record set by the 2000-01 team.

R.J. Hunter (31) and Devonta White (30) combined to become just the second duo in program history to score 30 points in the same game against UT Arlington. The only previous time it happened was in 1989-90 when Matt O’Brien (32) and Chris Collier (31) did it against vs. Fort Valley State.

Within the next few weeks, four Panthers could be among the 1,000-point club. Devonta White scored his 1,000th-point in the final game of last season and now has 1,261 for his career, fifth most in program history. Sophomore R.J. Hunter should be the next one to reach the mark, entering play this week with 985 points scored in less than two full seasons (18th in program history). Redshirt-junior Ryan Harrow has scored 969 points in his career. He scored 271 at NC State and 287 as the starting point guard at Kentucky last year.

UL Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns
Rejuvenated following three consecutive league wins over UL Monroe and at both UT Arlington and Texas State, the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (15-9, 6-5) return home to play four of its next five games. The stretch starts against UALR on Thursday, Feb. 13 beginning at 7:15 p.m. in the Cajundome.

The Cajuns begin the week in fifth place in the Sun Belt, percentage points out of third, with games against the teams in third (UALR) and fourth place (Arkansas State) on tap for this week. The top two teams in the final league standings get a double bye into the SBC semifinals while the third and fourth place teams received a first round by and will only need to win three games to claim the title.

This will be the second meeting in two weeks against UALR with the Trojans claiming the first, an 80-69 decision in Little Rock on Jan. 30. Forward Shawn long did not play in the game. Elfrid Payton led the Cajuns with 20 points against the Trojans while J.J. Davenport added a double-double with career highs of 14 points and 11 rebounds.

A 20-point effort at Texas State on Saturday has moved Shawn Long within 22 points of becoming the 41st player in school history to score 1,000 points in a career. Long enters the week with 978 career points and he would join teammate Elfrid Payton (1,225 points) on the list of 1,000 point scorers.

The Ragin’ Cajuns return home this week with a 15-9 record, needing one more victory to equal the previous win the 16 wins that the Cajuns totalled in 2011-12, the second season under head coach Bob Marlin. The 16 wins are the most by a UL Lafayette team since the Cajuns went 20-10 in 2002-03.

With the Cajuns guards in early foul trouble, Bob Marlin turned to freshman Hayward Register, who was scoreless in the seven minutes of action in Sun Belt play this year. Register responded by scoring a career-high 17 points -- more than double his previous best of seven points -- going five-for-seven from three-point in 17 minutes.

UL Monroe Warhawks
The Warhawks return home this weekend to take on UT-Arlington at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday and UALR at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. ULM is 388-167 all-time at Fant-Ewing Coliseum

ULM is coming off a tough 65-57 defeat to Texas State in its only game last week. The Warhawks trailed 37-28 at half, and 12 points in the second half before coming back to take the lead with 3:17 remaining in the game. Though a late run by the Bobcats gave them the final edge

Junior Tylor Ongwae registered his 16th double-figure scoring game on the season and has reached that mark in all 10 league games. On the season, Ongwae leads the team with 16.1 points per game

Senior Jayon James registered a season-high 18 points on a season-high eight made field goals against Texas State. He forced three steals for the second time this season. James led the team in assists for the 12th time on the year. It was his first 40-minute game of the season. It was his 22nd career double-figure scoring game and ninth on the year. He’s had at least 10 points, five rebounds and five assists in six games this season

In conference games, James ranks second in the league with 5.1 assists per game and is top-10 in field goal percentage at .532 (42-for-79)

Junior Chinedu Amajoyi hit a career-high three field goals against Texas State, all on three-pointers. His nine points were one shy of his career-high

ULM held a 30-26 advantage in the paint and 9-4 edge in fast break points against the Bobcats

South Alabama Jaguars
South Alabama’s current three-game skid to Arkansas State is its longest against the Red Wolves since dropping four in a row 2002-05. The Jaguars are averaging 58.7 points in their losing streak against ASU and have scored more than 63 points once in their last five games dating back to the 2009-10 season.

After holding its first eight Sun Belt opponents under their season scoring average, the last two, Georgia State and Troy, have exceeded their average. GSU (78.4 ppg) put up 85 and Troy (66.9) tallied 79.

The Jaguars have posted a positive assist-turnover ratio in three of their last four games, including a 16-12 ratio at Troy. The 16 assists are the third most by the team this season and second most in regulation. South Alabama’s total 45 assists is its highest three-game total this season.

USA has assisted on better than 50 percent of its field goals in each of the last three games after accomplishing the feat just three times in the first 20. The Jags assisted 16 times on 28 field goals at Troy.

Augustine Rubit recorded his seventh 20-point performance against Troy with a team-high 25 on 10 of 16 shooting. He made both of his 3-point attempts and had two steals. The 25 points are his most since pouring in a career-high 35 against Gonzaga on Dec. 14 and moved him into a tie for 16th in Sun Belt history with 1,775 points. He is 12 points from 15th and 14 from 14th.

Rubit also moved into a tied for second at USA with Ed Rains with his 92nd career double-digit scoring game. Jeff Hodge is the school’s all-time leader with 104.

Rubit averages 15.4 points and 10.4 rebounds in five career games against Arkansas State, but was held to nine points and seven boards on Jan. 11 in Jonesboro, both personal lows against the Red Wolves.

UT Arlington Mavericks
UT Arlington hits the road for Thursday’s league game at UL Monroe carrying a three-game losing streak. It’s the longest skid for the Mavericks since dropping five in a row back in November.

UTA has dropped into a tie for sixth place in the SBC standings with ULM at 4-6. The Mavericks are 2-9 on the road this season, including 1-3 in the conference. UTA beat ULM 83-79 in overtime in Arlington on Jan. 9.

The Mavericks are 3-3 since senior G Reger Dowell returned from a leg injury. Dowell has led the team in scoring in four of those six games, despite starting just twice. Dowell, the leading scorer in the SBC and 15th nationally at 20.8 points per game, has scored in double figures in all 20 of his games and has hit the 20 points 12 times.

Dowell is one of five players in the country averaging at least 20 points per game who didn’t average double figures in his previous season. The others are: Cameron Bairstow (New Mexico), Aaric Murray (Texas Southern), D.J. Balentine (Evansville) and Tyler Harvey (Eastern Washington).

Junior G Lonnie McClanahan returned to the starting lineup when Dowell went down and has been on an offensive tear since. McClanahan set career highs in successive games, scoring 25 against ULM (1/9) and following that up with 27 at UL Lafayette (1/11). He set a new career best with 28 at WKU (1/30) and beat that with 31 against UL Lafayette (2/6). He’s averaged 21.3 points in his last eight games (all starts).

Senior F Brandon Edwards is tied for 24th nationally and second in SBC in rebounding at 9.7 per game. Has 10 double-doubles in 22 games. Edwards began the season 16th on UTA’s all-time rebounding list and fifth after recently passing his high school coach Steven Thomas.
Dowell (20.8 ppg) and Edwards (15.1 ppg) are first and tied for 11th, respectively, in scoring in the Sun Belt.

Texas State Bobcats
Texas State guard Wes Davis averaged 13.0 points over his two games this week. His most impressive display however, was his defense on UL-Lafayette’s Player of the Year candidate Elfrid Payton. Davis held Payton to just 3-of-14 from the field for 10 points, his second lowest total of the season.

With the Bobcats 33-31 lead against UL-Lafayette, Texas State has now led at halftime in six straight games. During that stretch, the Bobcats have outscored their competition 191-167.

Texas State has become very efficient from the field, shooting above 50 percent in each of its last two games. For the year, the Bobcats are 7-3 when shooting 50 percent or better.

With its 57 points allowed to UL Monroe, Texas State has given up 58 points or fewer seven times this season, for the first time since 2004-05.

The Bobcats pounded the glass against ULM, owning a rebound advantage of 30-23. Even more impressive, was Texas State’s first half display in which it surrendered just eight rebounds.

Troy Trojans
The Trojans took down in-state rival South Alabama on Thursday night, 79-74. Troy led by as many as 12 points in the second half.

Hunter Williams exploded in the second half after a slow start. He finished the game with a game-high 26 points on 9-of-18 shooting, including 7-of-12 from beyond the arc. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out four assists in 38 minutes of play.

Kevin Thomas finished with 15 points, while Jeff Mullahey added 13. Josh Warren was the leading rebounder for the Trojans with 10.

The Trojans outrebounded the Jaguars on Thursday night, 36-31, and outscored the Jaguars 32-24 in the paint.

Troy heads out to Western Kentucky on Thursday night and returns home to take on Georgia State on Saturday in a nationally televised contest.

WKU Hilltoppers
WKU returned to the court on Saturday at UALR and will begin the next week with a Monday night game at Arkansas State. In thrilling fashion, WKU defeated UALR on a Trency Jackson 28-footer at the buzzer, giving the Hilltoppers their sixth-straight Sun Belt Conference victory and also sixth-straight SBC road win.

Entering the week, WKU is one of just 12 schools in the nation to hold at least a 5-0 record on the road in conference play, and with a win on Monday at Arkansas State WKU would join Wichita State as the only teams in the nation with a 6-0 road record in league play.

Jackson’s game-winner at UALR came after WKU fell down by 13 points with just over 8:00 left in the game. It was the 10th double-digit comeback for WKU under head coach Ray Harper and third in the last four victories.

After the Arkansas State game on Monday, WKU returns to E.A. Diddle Arena on Thursday to start a three-game homestand against Troy, South Alabama and ULM.