SAN MARCOS, Texas – A new season has dawned for the No. 4 seed Texas State men's basketball team (23-8, 12-6 Sun Belt) as they look forward to a 5 p.m. tip on March 15 at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans to begin its run in the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The Bobcats will face No. 8 seed South Alabama (17-16, 8-10 Sun Belt).

GAME INFORMATION –SOUTH ALABAMA
5 p.m. CST | Lakefront Arena
WATCH: ESPN+ - Matt Stewart (PxP), Bob Donewald (Color Analyst)
LISTEN: AM 1300, KTSW 89.9 and TuneIn.com – Bill Culhane (PxP)
FOLLOW: Live Stats
 
ABOUT TEXAS STATE
Despite dropping their last two games, the Bobcats have sat at the top of the league standings for most of the year and registered a program best 23 regular season wins (Division I era) and 12 Sun Belt victories to earn a bye to the quarterfinals of the tournament. Texas State mirrors the 2016-17 season as the No. 4 seed of the tournament. That season, they played their way to the championship game but fell to No. 6 Troy, 59-53. The Bobcats hope to get back to their dominating defense where they still lead the league in scoring defense (64.2 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (41.1).
 
Texas State is led by 2018-19 All-Sun Belt First Team selection, junior guard Nijal Pearson. Pearson is just the second Bobcat to receive Sun Belt first team honors and averages 17.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game this season. He ranks No. 3 in the conference with a 39.7 3-point field goal percentage and No. 12 with a 43.4-percent clip from the floor. Pearson moved up to No. 5 on the all-time scoring list for Texas State with 1,509 points and No. 2 with 174 career made 3-point field goals. His total of 79 3-pointers this season is tied for No. 3 (Josh Naylor, 2004-05) in the school's single-season record book.
 
Pearson is followed by All-Sun Belt Third Team recipient, senior guard Tre'Larenz Nottingham. Nottingham chips in 13.6 points and records 1.3 steals per game. Not only does the Moreno Valley. Calif. native rank No. 5 in the league with 78 made 3-pointers, he is also tied for No. 5 in a single-season (Maxwell Curry, 1989-90) and ranks No. 8 in TXST history with 124 career made 3-pointers.
 
Other contributors for the Bobcats include junior forward Eric Terry (8.4 ppg) senior forward Alex Peacock (8.3 ppg) who ranks No. 12 with 6.2 rebounds per game, and junior guard Jaylen Shead who averages 7.6 points per game. Shead leads the Sun Belt with a 2.5 assists-to-turnover ratio, and No. 2 with 4.9 assists per game.
 
ABOUT SOUTH ALABAMA
Texas State was defeated by South Alabama on March 2, 77-63, where USA shot an impressive 63 percent from the floor and 59 percent from 3-point territory, moving the all-time series record to 7-3 in favor of TXST. The Jaguars are one of four teams who had at least two players named to the 2018-19 All-Sun Belt teams, including second team selection and team leading scorer, junior forward Josh Ajayi (16.4 ppg., 7.6 rpg.), and third team award winner and leading rebounder, junior forward Trhae Mitchell (14.0 ppg., 7.7 rpg). Senior guard Rodrick Sikes averages 11.9 points per game and graduate Kory Holden chips in 10.6 points per contests. South Alabama defeated No. 9 Arkansas State in the first round, 75-67, to earn the trip to New Orleans and then upset No. 5 Louisiana, 70-69 in the second round.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
If the Bobcats win, they will be penciled into a semifinal contest vs. the 2018-19 regular season Sun Belt Conference Champions and No. 1 seed, Georgia State, at 3 p.m. on March 16. TXST and GSU split the regular season series with both teams winning on the road.

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