HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team makes its first-ever appearance in the Sears Bracketbuster when it plays host to Ohio Valley Conference member UT Martin on Saturday night at the University Center.
Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the internet at www.LionSports.net.
Southeastern (9-15) will be one of six Southland Conference teams hosting games in the Bracketbuster joining McNeese State, Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin. The other six teams – Central Arkansas, Lamar, UT Arlington, UTSA, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Texas State – will play on the road.
The Lions, who look to improve on a 9-3 record at home this season, fell at Lamar in their last game, 70-54, despite 18 points and 12 rebounds from
Roosevelt Johnson.
Jeremy Campbell added 10 points for Southeastern while
Donovan Ross came off the bench to score seven.
Johnson leads Southeastern in both scoring (10.2 ppg.) and rebounds (7.2 rpg.) with
Elgin Bailey next in the scoring column at 8.6 points per contest. Campbell (7.7),
Daron Populist (7.6),
DeShawn Patterson (5.7) and
Todd Nelson (5.0) are next in scoring for Southeastern, which averages 67.8 points per game at home and 59.1 points overall.
The game against UTM (4-24) will mark the first meeting on the hardwood between the schools since the 1978-79 season when both institutions were members of the Gulf South Conference. Southeastern leads the all-time series, 7-4, with the Lions claiming a 78-65 victory in the last meeting between the schools on Feb. 2, 1979.
UTM snapped a 15-game losing streak on Tuesday with a 76-75 overtime victory at Kennesaw State behind a season-high 31 points from freshman Myles Taylor. The Skyhawks rallied from a six-point halftime deficit to force overtime with Khristian Taylor (no relation) sinking the go-ahead free throw with 2.9 seconds remaining in the extra period.
The Skyhawks, who earned a 59-54 win at UAB on Nov. 27, are led in scoring by Mike Liabo with 14.7 points per game. Myles Taylor is next in scoring for UTM at 13.7 points while leading the team with 5.2 rebounds per contest.
Dane Smith (8.4), Troy King (7.6), Corderio Maclin (6.0) and Jeremy Washington (5.9) follow in the scoring column for UTM, which averages 63.6 points per game.
Sears BracketBusters, named because of the success of the teams in NCAA Championship play, will provide the 26 televised teams an opportunity to play other top non-conference opponents three weeks before Selection Sunday. The 116 teams not selected for Sears BracketBusters will compete against each other through the same three days.
The 142-team field will feature teams from 16 conferences: 12 each from Colonial Athletic Association, Mid-American Conference and Southland; 11 each from Ohio Valley Conference and Big South; 10 each from Horizon League, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Missouri Valley and Summit League; nine each from America East, Big Sky and Big West; eight from the Western Athletic Association; four from the Southern Conference; three from the MEAC; and two from the West Coast Conference.
As part of the agreement, all 13 of the Sears BracketBusters home teams in televised games, as well as the remaining 58 home squads, will play a return game at the home facility of their opponent in November or December of the 2013-14 season.
Sears BracketBusters is part of ESPN's college basketball franchise programming, along with Rivalry Week, Feast Week presented by Lowe's, Holiday Hoops Presented by Kay Jewelers, Judgment Week and Championship Week Presented by Dick's Sporting Goods.
Teams participating this season in Sears BracketBusters have produced 87 appearances in the last six NCAA Championships.
Three Southland Conference teams have previously participated in four BracketBusters games. Northwestern State has previously played in two BracketBusters matchups and rode its first appearance in 2006 at Utah State to a first-round upset over Iowa in the NCAA tournament. The Demons also met Tennessee Tech in a BracketBusters game. SFA also played in the 2006 event and SHSU played in 2007. While the conference is winless in its four previous BracketBusters games, which have all been played on the road, the league won all four of the guaranteed return games the next year.
