Louisiana Tech Basketball

Thursday night's college basketball game between Louisiana Tech and UAB ended on an ugly note as the benches cleared in an all-out brawl at the Bartow Arena. 

Due to mass ejections, Louisiana Tech was forced to finish the game with just four players, via AL.com (h/t SI.com):

The Bulldogs lost 79-70.

Per SI.com, UAB's Hakeem Baxter attempted to punch Louisiana Tech's Jacobi Boykins, which started the altercation. But most of the ejections were due to players leaving the bench, which is against NCAA rules.

UAB had just six players by the final buzzer, but it was enough to hold on for the win.  

On Friday, Baxter and Boykins were suspended for one game apiece, per ESPN.com. 

"We have reviewed the incident in last night's Louisiana Tech vs. UAB men's basketball game," Conference USA said in a statement, per ESPN. "Although the majority of the individuals involved were attempting to diffuse the situation, what occurred last night was unacceptable."

It is unclear at this time if any other players will be disciplined as a result of the incident.

The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, coached by Michael White, are a sleeper capable of making noise in the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Don't forget about the Bulldogs when it comes time to fill out your office brackets, because they could be this year's Cinderella.

Currently projected to be a No. 13 seed (Joe Lunardi) in the West, squaring off against No. 4 Georgetown in the first round, Louisiana Tech has posted a 24-3 (14-0 WAC) record as of February 24.

Led by second-year head coach Michael White, the Bulldogs are primed to receive their first bid to the Big Dance since 1991. The young coach himself is no stranger to March Madness. He helped lead his Ole Miss Rebels to three consecutive NCAA Tournament bids (1997, 1998 and 1999), including the program's first win in the NCAA Tournament.

In fact, White almost led the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament last season in his initial year at the helm. At 35 years old in his first season as a college head coach, his club nearly ran the table as the No. 5 seed in the WAC Basketball Tournament and captured an automatic bid to the Big Dance. However, New Mexico State ultimately ended the tournament dreams of Tech fans.

Coming within 40 minutes of advancing to the NCAA Tournament in 2011-2012, the Bulldogs are destined for a berth this season. Quietly, they have won their past 16 games in a row heading into a February 28 tilt with Utah State. Further, White's squad will get a chance to sweep the same New Mexico State team that knocked his club out of the Big Dance last season when the two meet on March 7.

While sophomore guard Raheem Appleby leads his team in scoring with 14.7 PPG, six Louisiana Tech players are averaging 6.9 PPG or better. The head coach has developed his group into a true team, with 10 players averaging 10.1 minutes per game or more.

At the charity stripe, the Bulldogs shoot over 70 percent as a team, led by eight different players averaging 70 percent or better. The fact that White's team doesn't have to rely on just one or two players could bode quite well for Louisiana Tech when the level of competition goes up a notch in the Big Dance. They have depth.

One area of emphasis for White's club has been aggressive, yet careful play. The Bulldogs are No. 18 in the nation in steals per game with 9.1 per contest, while ranking No. 6 in the country in turnover margin at plus-5.3 steals per game. Come mid-March being able to protect the basketball becomes mission critical, an area in which Tech has been quite successful thus far in 2012-2013.

Averaging 73.9 PPG (No. 41 nationally) and 39.3 RPG (No. 21 nationally) as a unit, White's squad gets things done the old-fashioned way, as a team. If the Bulldogs can manage to win their final four games of the regular season, they would enter the WAC Tournament having won their last 20 contests. There's no denying the cohesiveness of a team both on and off the court, which can rattle off as many wins in a row (16) as Louisiana Tech has done to date.

The two schools that will challenge this group for a conference tournament championship will be Denver (18-8, 13-2 WAC) and New Mexico State (19-9, 12-3 WAC). Having come so close to winning the WAC Tournament in 2012, White should have his players mentally prepared to take home the title.

On Sunday, March 17, Bulldogs players, coaches and fan will circle around the biggest flat screen in Ruston, LA to see who their team will face in round one of the Big Dance. Regardless of who the opponent ends up being, one thing is for sure: Their opponent best not look past these Bulldogs, because they're a team capable of wearing the glass slipper for a while.

If that happens, look for Michael White to be one of the hot young coaching names in America.

I like Louisiana Tech's chances in March, maybe just enough to reach the Sweet 16.

Follow @SephTalksSEC

The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs have shocked a lot of people this season with their record and their current 11-game winning streak. The 'Dogs haven't lost this year. (Literally.)

With a 19-3 record and a perfect 10-0 mark in conference play, this young team coached by Michael White has yet to see its name in the Top 25. But as a little bit of motivation, they have received eight points in AP votes.

The reason for this is that their strength of schedule is nowhere strong enough to prove they can hang with the big boys. The most significant opponent on their schedule is Texas A&M, which the 'Dogs lost to 71-59. 

Tech has a lot of young talent on its squad that can surely pull an upset on many of the NCAA's Top 25 if given the chance. Their sophomore point guard Kenneth "Speedy" Smith is one of the most energetic and selfless guards in the league, and sophomore Raheem Appleby may fool the world with his more-than-slender body type (6'3", 160 Ibs), but the guy can score. Appleby's currently leading the team with an average of 14.4 points per contest and he can finish.

There are two things that make the Bulldogs different.

Anybody on their roster can take over the game at any given moment, so double-teaming one player won't do much damage to the team. For example, redshirt senior forward Brandon Gibson dropped 20 points on Utah State, senior Cordarius Johnson scored 23 points against University of Louisiana-Monroe, junior guard Kenyon McNeail scorched UTSA with 34 points coming off the bench.

The second thing is, everybody on this squad wants to play defense. Coach White is a defensive-minded coach who doesn't care how many points you can score, but how bad you want to stop the other team from doing so. They have a monster shot-blocker in Michale Kyser, who ranks seventh nationally with 3.32 blocks per game.

The 'Dogs play a 2-2-1 full-court press for the majority of every game the past two seasons and their guards look excited to play it every time. This press is so passive-aggressive that either they will get a steal off an impatient pass, or by time the offense gets the ball pass half court, there is barely time to run a decent play.

The 'Dogs have everything they need (except a dominant post-up player) to compete against the best in the nation. They have plenty of time to make it into the national rankings if they remain undefeated in the last eight games of conference play and may be able to prove themselves further by playing some top-caliber teams in the NCAA tournament.

Whoever gets the 'Dogs in the tournament ought to not sleep on them because they may be in for a rude awakening against potentially ranked talent. 

TUESDAY, DEC. 15, 2009

Murray State Racers (8-1) vs Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (8-2)

The Murray State Racers will tip off against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs at the Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston, La., on Tuesday night.

These two teams last met on Feb. 21, 2009, with the Bulldogs coming away with a 69-60 victory in the ESPNU Bracket Buster game.

The Racers are riding an eight-game winning streak since last losing 75-70 in their first game of the season at No. 19 Cal.

They are coming off a 61-57 win over East Tennessee State on Saturday.

Ivan Aska led the Murray State with a double-double—17 points and 14 rebounds—and Danero Thomas added 12 points in the win.

Aska went 7-for-11 from the field.

MSU are the best in the OVC in scoring with 79.8 per game and scoring defense at 58.4 per game.

The Racers are also the best in blocked shots, steals, assists, and turnover margin, and have shot better than 50 percent in six of nine games this season.

Louisiana Tech’s Kyle Gibson scored 28 points, as the Bulldogs put the game away in the final minute of the second overtime to beat Centenary 102-96 on Saturday night.

Gibson, came in averaging 21 points per game and scored seven points in the final two minutes, including a three-point play that gave the Bulldogs a 96-94 lead.

Starting senior Magnum Rolle added 22 points and 11 rebounds, followed by DeAndre Brown with 18, Jamel Guyton with15, and Ashaolu with 10.

It was the Bulldogs' first win after their five-game wining streak was snapped with an 83-67 loss to Arizona on Dec. 5.

The odds makers have the Bulldogs at –2 -point favorites with a game total of 140.

The key for the Bulldogs in this one may be junior college transfer point guard DeAndre Brown.

Brown was brought in to stabilize the offense and be a playmaker, but so far he has averaged just 9.7 PPG, fourth best.

My prediction: the Bulldogs snap MSU’s streak and cover the spread.

Murray State Races Basketball Betting Trends

• Murray State is 5-0 SU in its last five games
• Murray State is 5-2 SU in its last seven games on the road

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Basketball Betting Trends

• Louisiana Tech is 6-1 SU in its last seven games
• Louisiana Tech is 5-0 SU in its last five games at home