Six Sun Belt Games Last Night

Censored by Laurie · December 19, 2007

One conference game on last night's slate...proving once again Sergio Rouco can recruit but might be the worst coach in basketball.

MTSU - 72 FIU - 63 - The Blue Raider interior beat up on the undersized FIU frontline (undersized only b/c Rouco insists on using Alex Galindo at the 4), led by forward Desmond Yates with 23 points and center Theryn Hudson with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Center Russell Hicks led the Panthers with 20 points off the bench, while Galindo chipped in 14. FIU continues the disappointing trend coming out of the state of Florida for the Sun Belt. Galindo is one of the most talented players in the conference, but is being forced to play out of position despite the Panthers having 3 capable players on their bench who could play the four and allow Galindo to roam the wing.

FAU - 70 North Florida - 64 - Speaking of disappointing Florida schools, FAU is now the winner of two straight, although against less than stellar compition (UNF is now 1-8). Carlos Monroe led the way, as he probably will every game the rest of the season, with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Point guard Carderro Nwoji gave the Owls 17 points, including 5-6 from three point and guard Sean Alarcon chipped in 11. George Mason transfer Sammy Hernandez should be in uniform for FAU's Thursday game against Arkansas State.

Western Kentucky - 84 North Carolina Central - 53 - Courtney Lee led the way with 16 points in just 18 minutes, and the Toppers put 3 others in double figures as they emptied the bench against the 1-13 Eagles.

Denver - 52 South Dakota St. - 56 - At this point in the season for Denver, you're really just looking for positive signs for the future. The team has struggled to a 3-6 start and their leading returning scorer has left the team. Rob Lewis may prove to be a bright spot. The 6'7" 215 freshman forward scored 14 last night and has had back to back strong games for the Pioneers. Lewis averaged over 33 points per game as a senior in high school last season and is taking advantage of his increased playing time. Guard Joe Jackson led the Pioneer effort last night with 15 and David Kummer added 10 points and 5 steals in the loss.

New Orleans - 62 Southern Miss - 84 - It may be time to step back and take a look at how good UNO actually is. Bo McCalebb led the way 24 and Kyndall Dykes added 15 in the first game of the Gulf Coast Classic; UNO will face Alcorn State tonight. Southern Miss came into the game at 5-3, including a 7 point loss to South Alabama. UNO may be riding their upset of N.C. State to respectability; their two losses have come now by 22 and 15 to Nichols State; they have decent wins against Tulane and Colorado, but they've yet to really show anything significant since the N.C. State game, just throwing out an over-rated warning.

UALR - 70 Pepperdine - 65 - The Sun Belt improved to 3-1 against the West Coast conference with the lone loss being WKU to Gonzaga. Shane Edwards led the way for the 9-1 Trojans with 15 points, and Terrance Akins and Mike Smith both chipped in 11. UALR struggled with its shooting in the first half, but hit 68% of their second half shots and forced 22 Wave turnovers en route to the win. UALR has what might be the Sun Belts biggest non-conference game on Saturday when it travels to Creighton. The Blue Jays are 7-1 with key wins against Nebraska and Saint Joseph's. A win for the Trojans would ensure the Sun Belt of a winning record against both the West Coast Conference and the Missouri Valley and should help the conference RPI come March.