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Georgia State at Louisiana-Monroe, 8:00 PM Eastern, No TV
The UTR Game of the Day heads over to the Sun Belt Conference tonight for a crucial showdown in the battle for the top seed in the conference tournament as well as the double byes that come with the top two spots. Entering play tonight, a three way tie exists at the top of the conference standings at 13-5 between Georgia State, Georgia Southern and Louisiana-Monroe. With Georgia State in Monroe, Louisiana tonight and scheduled to host Georgia Southern in Atlanta on Saturday, these last few days of the conference season should see some of the best games in the Sun Belt so far this year.
Georgia State enters play tonight at 20-9 overall with the best RPI, BPI and KenPom ratings in the conference. While at one point in time we had considered the Panthers a contender for an at-large bid, bad losses to the likes of Texas State, Appalachian State and Arkansas-Little Rock have killed any dreams of a multi-bid Sun Belt. However, in terms of talent, the Panthers are still the best team in the conference. The combination of R.J. Hunter, Ryan Harrow, Markus Crider and Kevin Ware give the Panthers plenty of weapons, and make their losses this season even more inexplicable. However, despite the setbacks, sweeping their final two games will leave Georgia State alone at the top of the Sun Belt standings when the regular season ends.
Louisiana-Monroe has been one of the surprises in the SBC this season. The Warhawks enter play tonight at 19-10 overall with the second best RPI in the conference behind Georgia State. While their best win on the season may have been a road win at UAB to open the season, they have been able to win the games they needed to in conference, including a win at Georgia Southern back on February 7. ULM will need to play a lot better tonight than they did at Georgia State earlier this season if they want to capture the league title, given that they lost by 20 in Atlanta back in January. Tylor Ongwae was held scoreless in limited action in that game and the Warhawks will be looking for a lot more from him tonight.