DENVER - The University of Denver men's basketball team will travel to Hot Springs, Ark., as the No. 3 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Championships, which runs from March 3-6. The Pioneers secured a first round bye and will open play in the Quarterfinals on Sunday, March 4 at 7:45 p.m. MT against the winner of No. 6 South Alabama and No. 11 Troy.
Arkansas-Little Rock and Middle Tennessee along with Denver, Louisiana-Lafayette and North Texas earned byes into the quarterfinals of the tournament championship. The first round and the quarterfinals of the championship will take place March 3 and 4 with the league utilizing a two-court system, as games will be played in Summit Arena and the Convention Center Court. The semifinals and championship game will be played exclusively in Summit Arena.
The first round games can be viewed exclusively on www.sunbeltsports.org, as SBC Extra will webcast those games. The quarterfinal games taking place in Summit Arena will be aired on the Sun Belt Network, while the Convention Center Court quarterfinals will be shown on SBC Extra. Both semifinal matchups will be aired on the Sun Belt Network with the championship match being broadcast nationally on ESPN2 at 5 p.m. MT.
The Pioneers are offering special savings on Sun Belt Conference Tournament tickets. Fans can purchase 2-for-1 full session packets, good for all men's and women's games throughout the tournament, for only $95. Denver season ticket holders can buy 2-for-1 full session packets for only $75. To purchase these special deals, please contact Darren Duplechin at 303-871-3573 by Thursday, March 1 at 5 p.m. MT.
Championship Seeds
1. *&Middle Tennessee (14-2, 0.875)
2. *&UALR (12-4, 0.750)
3. &Denver (11-5, 0.688)
4. &Louisiana-Lafayette (10-6, 0.625)
5. &North Texas (9-7, 0.563)
6. South Alabama (8-8, 0.500)
7. Western Kentucky (7-9, 0.438) ^
8. Florida Atlantic (7-9, 0.438)
9. Arkansas State (6-10, 0.375)
10. FIU (5-11, 0.313) ^^
11. Troy (5-11, 0.313)
Championship Schedule of Events
Saturday, March 3
Game 1 - No. 6 South Alabama vs. No. 11 Troy - 5 p.m. (Summit Arena)
Game 2 - No. 8 Florida Atlantic vs. No. 9 Arkansas State - 5:15 p.m. (Convention Center Court)
Game 3 - No. 7 Western Kentucky vs. No. 10 FIU - 7:30 p.m. (Summit Arena)
Sunday, March 4
Game 4 - No. 1 Middle Tennessee vs. Winner Game 2 - 5 p.m. (Sun Belt Network - Summit Arena)
Game 5 - No. 4 Louisiana-Lafayette vs. No. 5 North Texas - 5:15 p.m. (Convention Center Court)
Game 6 - No. 2 UALR vs. Winner Game 3 - 7:30 p.m. (Sun Belt Network - Summit Arena)
Game 7 - No. 3 Denver vs. Winner Game 1 - 7:45 p.m. (Convention Center Court)
Monday, March 5
Game 8 - Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 - 5 p.m. (Sun Belt Network - Summit Arena)
Game 9 - Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 7 - 7:30 p.m. (Sun Belt Network - Summit Arena)
Tuesday, March 6
Championship Game - Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9 - 5 p.m. (ESPN2 - Summit Arena)
^ - Western Kentucky and Florida Atlantic split their season series and finished tied with identical 7-9 records. WKU earns the higher seed as they have a better winning percentage against No. 1 Middle Tennessee (0.500) as compared to Florida Atlantic (0.000).
^^ - FIU and Troy also split their season series this season and finished with identical 5-11 records. Both teams were winless against seeds one through five so we would move on to No. 6 South Alabama. FIU owns a better winning percentage over South Alabama (1.000) than Troy (0.000) and therefore earns the higher seed.
NOTE: All Game times are Mountain and Subject to Change
Denver Men's Basketball
