UALR, ASU teams begin scramble for best seeding

If the Sun Belt Conference Tournament started today, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock men would travel to Jonesboro to meet Arkansas State University for a tournament play-in game.

The winner would be sent to New Orleans. The loser's year would be cut short.

All four of Arkansas' Sun Belt Conference basketball teams are off tonight before ASU and UALR's in-state rivalry is renewed Saturday at First National Bank Arena in Jonesboro.

The women will begin a doubleheader at noon, and the men will follow at 4 p.m.

After Saturday, ASU and UALR's men and women will each have four games remaining -- two at home and two on the road.

The first-place UALR women (15-9, 11-2) had a nine-game winning streak snapped in a 50-48 loss at Texas State on Saturday in San Marcos, Texas. UALR has not earned a win at Texas State since the 2014-15 season.

The top six seeds in the Sun Belt will advance to New Orleans for the conference tournament, which begins March 11 for the women and March 12 for the men.

The top two seeds advance directly to the semifinals March 15 at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans. The tournament championship, which is March 16, will decide which school the Sun Belt sends as its automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament.

The ASU women are 4-9 in the Sun Belt this season, which is 10th among 12 teams. If the tournament started today, ASU would travel to the No. 7 seed for a play-in game.

The ASU (11-15, 5-8) and UALR men (10-16, 5-8) are tied for eighth place with South Alabama. Saturday's game between ASU and UALR will unlock the tie and send the loser to nine conference losses.

Troy (11-14, 4-9), which owns the worst record in the Sun Belt, is the league's only team with nine losses thus far.

The top 10 seeds in the Sun Belt qualify for the conference tournament. On the fringe of qualification, ASU and UALR's next five games will settle whether -- and against whom and where -- they will play in the tournament.

A win for the Trojans on Saturday would create a series split between the two schools, which is relevant if ASU and UALR are tied at the end of the regular season.

The ASU and UALR men will hit the road for two-game road trips to Georgia State (18-8, 9-4) and Georgia Southern (16-10, 8-5) next week. The Georgia schools are currently Nos. 2 and 3 in the Sun Belt.

UALR and ASU then will return to Arkansas to host Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana-Lafayette in the final week of league play. The Louisiana schools are each 6-6 against the Sun Belt prior to today.

ASU will host Louisiana-Monroe on March 7. Louisiana-Lafayette will visit UALR the same day. The matchups will then swap March 9.

Saturday’s games

UALR AT ARKANSAS STATE

WHERE First National Bank Arena, Jonesboro

WOMEN

WHEN Noon

RECORDS UALR 15-9, 11-2 Sun Belt Conference; Arkansas State 9-15, 4-9

MEN

WHEN 4 p.m.

RECORDS UALR 10-16, 5-8 Sun Belt Conference; Arkansas State 11-15, 5-8

Sports on 02/21/2019

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