DENVER ? Arkansas State is thousands of miles from a Sun Belt Conference championship.
For ASU, the long, winding and sometimes bumpy road to the crown starts in the west, swings through the central states and heads east before finally ending at home.
First stop, Denver.
Arkansas State begins an unprecedented road swing this evening, playing the first of seven conference games away from its home court, with only one Sun Belt team and another non-conference foe visiting Jonesboro during the next five weeks.
All in all, the Indians (10-6 overall, 3-1 Sun Belt Conference) play seven of their next eight SBC games on the road, where little has gone right thus far this season. Their only reward? Two conference games at home to end the regular season.
Tonight?s tipoff at Denver?s Magness Arena is 7:30 CST. The game will be televised by Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain and is scheduled to air locally on Fox Sports Southwest (Cox cable channel 34).
Arkansas State coach Dickey Nutt, whose Indians have yet to win this season on an opposing team?s court, said maintaining focus and keeping calm in the face of adversity is imperative to ASU?s success.
?Our intensity level will have to be higher than it?s been,? Nutt said. ?We need to let our offense come from our defense. And, we have got to do all the little things on the road ? be a good free-throw shooting team and make our layups. Every opportunity that we get, we?ve got to take advantage of.?
After winning three of their first four Sun Belt games at home, the Indians appear to have one of their most challenging road tests of the season against the Pioneers, who have victimized Arkansas State three straight games.
Denver (8-6, 3-0) is off to a perfect start in the Sun Belt, including victories at Louisiana-Lafayette and Florida International, to lead the West Division.
ASU is coming off an emotional victory over Western Kentucky, beating the Hilltoppers last Saturday 94-90 in a frantic, full-court game. The Indians had five players score in double figures and won it with some heroics from junior Jerry Nichols and senior Dewarick Spencer in the final minutes.
After starting the first seven games and coming off the bench the next seven, junior Kitus Witherspoon moved back into the first five for Western and responded with 22 points and 14 rebounds. Witherspoon will start again tonight as junior Marcus Ardison has been sidelined with an injured wrist.
Ardison did not make the trip to the Mile High City after having an MRI exam Tuesday afternoon. The results were not immediately available, but Ardison is undergoing therapy on the wrist twice a day and there is a possibility that he might make the trip to North Texas on Saturday.
Nutt said he was disappointed in Witherspoon the past few weeks, but has seen a change of heart recently and it?s been a blessing.
?He is playing really, really good,? Nutt said. ?He?s also done really well in practice. In the game, it?s just that he hasn?t been able to control himself and hasn?t been into it like he needs to. I thought the last game he was near perfect and that?s what we need out of him.?
The Pioneers have plenty of weapons and defending their diversity will not be an easy chore for ASU. Denver has started the same five players all 14 of its games and four are averaging in double figures.
At 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds, junior post Yemi Nicholson has been an inside force for the Pioneers. He leads Denver with highs of 15.7 points and 7.6 rebounds a game while shooting 60 percent from the field.
Complementing Nicholson is a backcourt with loads of experience and Sun Belt longevity in senior guards Erik Benzel and Rodney Billups.
Benzel had an unforgettable game at Arkansas Sate last season, scoring 22 of his 25 points in the second half to set up a game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds by Ryan Goral that lifted Denver to a stunning 66-65 victory.
Benzel is second on the team at 15.2 points per game, including a deadly shot from the 3-point line, where he?s made 49-of-104 attempts for 47.1 percent. He drained 7-of-13 against Arkansas State last season and his 49 baskets from beyond the arc is No. 1 in the Sun Belt Conference.
Billups, a point guard averaging a league-leading 6.4 assists per game, is the younger brother of Detroit Pistons star Chauncey Billups.
?Their main objective is to get Billups in the paint,? Nutt said. ?Billups will try to beat you on the drive, pull the defense in and kick it out. He can shoot the ?3? and he?s a good shooter from out there, but Erik Benzel is the guy they are really looking for.?
Benzel has led the Pioneers in scoring seven out of 14 games, including 30 points in an 80-61 win at Eastern Washington. Billups averages 10.2 points per game while sophomore forward Antonio Porch averages 11.4 points and just under 6 rebounds.
?They do a lot of inside-out and they do a lot of screening on the ball,? Nutt added. ?They?ve been playing together for a long while, so they?re really good at what they do.?
Arkansas State boasts the highest-scoring offense in the Sun Belt at 79.1 points a game, with three players averaging in double figures. Spencer is third in the league at 18.5 points a game while J.J. Montgomery is seventh at 16.1 points.
ASU?s Isaac Wells averages 10.3 points and 6.3 boards. Witherspoon leads the Indians in rebounding with 7.4 a game.
Nutt said he expects a full-court, high-scoring game as the Pioneers typically play man-to-man defense. But opponents have often thrown straight zones and match-up zones at the Indians and those have been effective in the past, especially in losses on the road.
ASU is 1-5 away from the Convocation Center, its lone victory coming at the Golden Bear Classic, where the Indians beat Hampton 65-57 on a neutral court.
Spencer said it?s just a matter of playing together, collectively and consistently.
?We?ve got to play 40 minutes every game,? Spencer said. ?We just have to play 40 minutes of hard basketball and straight-out defense. We have to be consistent the whole game, not just 30 or 35 minutes. We?re coming together and we?re playing as a team right now. What?s been successful for us is passing the ball around and playing 40 minutes.?
Arkansas State leads the overall series 6-5, but since the Pioneers joined the Sun Belt in 1999, the Indians have won just once at Denver.
Last year?s loss in Jonesboro still haunts several of ASU?s players and Nutt himself. But as much as the defeat could serve as motivation for this evening, the Arkansas State coach wants his team to approach this game and this road trip with a businesslike attitude.
With visits to North Texas, Arkansas-Little Rock, New Orleans, Western Kentucky, Florida International and Middle Tennessee all still to go, the Indians can?t afford to lose focus.
?This road trip, I want us to be as even-keeled as we?ve ever been in our lives,? Nutt said. ?We can?t get too high and we can?t get too low. It?s going to be brutal, but if we can be steady and stay focused, whether we hit a bump or not, then I feel like we are going to be there when it?s all said and done.?
For ASU, the long, winding and sometimes bumpy road to the crown starts in the west, swings through the central states and heads east before finally ending at home.
First stop, Denver.
Arkansas State begins an unprecedented road swing this evening, playing the first of seven conference games away from its home court, with only one Sun Belt team and another non-conference foe visiting Jonesboro during the next five weeks.
All in all, the Indians (10-6 overall, 3-1 Sun Belt Conference) play seven of their next eight SBC games on the road, where little has gone right thus far this season. Their only reward? Two conference games at home to end the regular season.
Tonight?s tipoff at Denver?s Magness Arena is 7:30 CST. The game will be televised by Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain and is scheduled to air locally on Fox Sports Southwest (Cox cable channel 34).
Arkansas State coach Dickey Nutt, whose Indians have yet to win this season on an opposing team?s court, said maintaining focus and keeping calm in the face of adversity is imperative to ASU?s success.
?Our intensity level will have to be higher than it?s been,? Nutt said. ?We need to let our offense come from our defense. And, we have got to do all the little things on the road ? be a good free-throw shooting team and make our layups. Every opportunity that we get, we?ve got to take advantage of.?
After winning three of their first four Sun Belt games at home, the Indians appear to have one of their most challenging road tests of the season against the Pioneers, who have victimized Arkansas State three straight games.
Denver (8-6, 3-0) is off to a perfect start in the Sun Belt, including victories at Louisiana-Lafayette and Florida International, to lead the West Division.
ASU is coming off an emotional victory over Western Kentucky, beating the Hilltoppers last Saturday 94-90 in a frantic, full-court game. The Indians had five players score in double figures and won it with some heroics from junior Jerry Nichols and senior Dewarick Spencer in the final minutes.
After starting the first seven games and coming off the bench the next seven, junior Kitus Witherspoon moved back into the first five for Western and responded with 22 points and 14 rebounds. Witherspoon will start again tonight as junior Marcus Ardison has been sidelined with an injured wrist.
Ardison did not make the trip to the Mile High City after having an MRI exam Tuesday afternoon. The results were not immediately available, but Ardison is undergoing therapy on the wrist twice a day and there is a possibility that he might make the trip to North Texas on Saturday.
Nutt said he was disappointed in Witherspoon the past few weeks, but has seen a change of heart recently and it?s been a blessing.
?He is playing really, really good,? Nutt said. ?He?s also done really well in practice. In the game, it?s just that he hasn?t been able to control himself and hasn?t been into it like he needs to. I thought the last game he was near perfect and that?s what we need out of him.?
The Pioneers have plenty of weapons and defending their diversity will not be an easy chore for ASU. Denver has started the same five players all 14 of its games and four are averaging in double figures.
At 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds, junior post Yemi Nicholson has been an inside force for the Pioneers. He leads Denver with highs of 15.7 points and 7.6 rebounds a game while shooting 60 percent from the field.
Complementing Nicholson is a backcourt with loads of experience and Sun Belt longevity in senior guards Erik Benzel and Rodney Billups.
Benzel had an unforgettable game at Arkansas Sate last season, scoring 22 of his 25 points in the second half to set up a game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds by Ryan Goral that lifted Denver to a stunning 66-65 victory.
Benzel is second on the team at 15.2 points per game, including a deadly shot from the 3-point line, where he?s made 49-of-104 attempts for 47.1 percent. He drained 7-of-13 against Arkansas State last season and his 49 baskets from beyond the arc is No. 1 in the Sun Belt Conference.
Billups, a point guard averaging a league-leading 6.4 assists per game, is the younger brother of Detroit Pistons star Chauncey Billups.
?Their main objective is to get Billups in the paint,? Nutt said. ?Billups will try to beat you on the drive, pull the defense in and kick it out. He can shoot the ?3? and he?s a good shooter from out there, but Erik Benzel is the guy they are really looking for.?
Benzel has led the Pioneers in scoring seven out of 14 games, including 30 points in an 80-61 win at Eastern Washington. Billups averages 10.2 points per game while sophomore forward Antonio Porch averages 11.4 points and just under 6 rebounds.
?They do a lot of inside-out and they do a lot of screening on the ball,? Nutt added. ?They?ve been playing together for a long while, so they?re really good at what they do.?
Arkansas State boasts the highest-scoring offense in the Sun Belt at 79.1 points a game, with three players averaging in double figures. Spencer is third in the league at 18.5 points a game while J.J. Montgomery is seventh at 16.1 points.
ASU?s Isaac Wells averages 10.3 points and 6.3 boards. Witherspoon leads the Indians in rebounding with 7.4 a game.
Nutt said he expects a full-court, high-scoring game as the Pioneers typically play man-to-man defense. But opponents have often thrown straight zones and match-up zones at the Indians and those have been effective in the past, especially in losses on the road.
ASU is 1-5 away from the Convocation Center, its lone victory coming at the Golden Bear Classic, where the Indians beat Hampton 65-57 on a neutral court.
Spencer said it?s just a matter of playing together, collectively and consistently.
?We?ve got to play 40 minutes every game,? Spencer said. ?We just have to play 40 minutes of hard basketball and straight-out defense. We have to be consistent the whole game, not just 30 or 35 minutes. We?re coming together and we?re playing as a team right now. What?s been successful for us is passing the ball around and playing 40 minutes.?
Arkansas State leads the overall series 6-5, but since the Pioneers joined the Sun Belt in 1999, the Indians have won just once at Denver.
Last year?s loss in Jonesboro still haunts several of ASU?s players and Nutt himself. But as much as the defeat could serve as motivation for this evening, the Arkansas State coach wants his team to approach this game and this road trip with a businesslike attitude.
With visits to North Texas, Arkansas-Little Rock, New Orleans, Western Kentucky, Florida International and Middle Tennessee all still to go, the Indians can?t afford to lose focus.
?This road trip, I want us to be as even-keeled as we?ve ever been in our lives,? Nutt said. ?We can?t get too high and we can?t get too low. It?s going to be brutal, but if we can be steady and stay focused, whether we hit a bump or not, then I feel like we are going to be there when it?s all said and done.?
