Press Release
NEW ORLEANS – The seeds and matchups for the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Championship, presented by First Bank and Trust, have been determined following the conclusion of the conference’s regular season on Saturday evening.
The championship begins on Tuesday, March 12 and concludes with the title game on Selection Sunday, March 17. The first-round, second-round quarterfinal and semifinal games are set for live coverage on ESPN+ with Sunday’s championship game slated for live coverage on ESPN2. All tournament games are available online and via the ESPN app. Live statistics are available on SunBeltSports.org and live postgame press conferences are available on [youtube.com/user/SunBeltSports]YouTube.com/SunBeltSports.
Georgia State (22-9, 13-5 Sun Belt) clinched their third regular-season title and first in four years by winning six of their last seven games. The title-clinching win over Georgia Southern was the Panthers’ first in Statesboro, Ga., since 1996.
UTA (16-15, 12-6) enters the tournament as a top-four seed for the fourth year in a row, this time as a No. 2 seed. The Mavericks, picked 11th in the conference’s preseason poll, closed out the regular season with four-straight wins.
Georgia Southern (20-11, 12-6) earned the No. 3 seed and Texas State (23-8, 12-6) earned the No. 4 seed, securing byes to the quarterfinals.
The championship tips off Tuesday with a pair of first-round games on campus sites as No. 8 seed South Alabama (15-16, 8-10) hosts No. 9 seed Arkansas State (13-18, 7-11) and No. 7 seed ULM (16-14, 9-9) hosts No. 10 seed Appalachian State (11-20, 6-12).
The winners of the first-round games advance to Thursday’s second-round games slated for 5 and 7:30 p.m. CT at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans. Friday’s quarterfinals are 5 and 7:30 p.m. CT and Saturday’s semifinals are 3 and 5:30 p.m. CT. Sunday’s championship game is 1 p.m. CT with Rich Hollenberg and Chris Spatola on the call.
Follow the #SunBeltMBB and the #SunBeltBBALL Championship on social media via Twitter, Facebookand Instagram.
2019 SUN BELT MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Schedule
Tuesday, March 12 (First Round at Campus Sites)
Game 1 – No. 9 Arkansas State at No. 8 South Alabama (ESPN+), 7 p.m.
Game 2 – No. 10 Appalachian State at No. 7 ULM (ESPN+), 7 p.m.
Thursday, March 14 (Second Round at Lakefront Arena)
Game 3 – Game 1 Winner vs. No. 5 Louisiana (ESPN+), 5 p.m.
Game 4 – Game 2 Winner vs. No. 6 Coastal Carolina (ESPN+), 7:30 p.m.
Friday, March 15 (Quarterfinals at Lakefront Arena)
Game 5 – Game 3 Winner vs. No. 4 Texas State (ESPN+), 5 p.m.
Game 6 – Game 4 Winner vs. No. 3 Georgia Southern (ESPN+), 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 16 (Semifinals at Lakefront Arena)
Game 7 – Game 5 Winner vs. No. 1 Georgia State (ESPN+), 3 p.m.
Game 8 – Game 6 Winner vs. No. 2 UTA (ESPN+), 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 17 (Championship at Lakefront Arena)
Game 9 – Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner (ESPN2), 1 p.m.
All Times are Central and Subject to Change
Championship Seeds and Conference Records
1. Georgia State (13-5)
2. UTA (12-6)1
3. Georgia Southern (12-6)
4. Texas State (12-6)
5. Louisiana (10-8)
6. Coastal Carolina (9-9)2
7. ULM (9-9)
8. South Alabama (8-10)
9. Arkansas State (7-11)
10. Appalachian State (6-12)
Tiebreakers
1. The records among three teams tied for second place were UTA (3-1, .750), Georgia Southern (2-2, .500) and Texas State (1-3, .250), placing UTA as the No. 2 seed, Georgia Southern as the No. 3 and Texas State as the No. 4 seed.
2. Coastal Carolina swept the regular-season series (2-0) against ULM, thus placing Coastal Carolina as the No. 6 seed and ULM as the No. 7 seed.