PENSACOLA, Fla – The Coastal Carolina University men's basketball team will open play in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Saturday, March 6 at 8:30 p.m. ET in Pensacola, Fla., at Pensacola State College.
 
The Chanticleers by virtue of their second seed in the East Division received a bye into the second round and will face the winner of Friday night's game between UTA, the third seed out of the West Division, and Troy, the East Division's sixth seed. The No. 2 seed is the highest seed the Chanticleers have received in the Sun Belt Conference Championship in their short conference history.
 
CCU (15-6 / 9-5 Sun Belt) was picked to finish third in the East Division in a preseason poll of the conference's head coaches and finished only percentage points behind Georgia State (14-5 / 8-4 Sun Belt).
 
The Chants have Sun Belt Championship history against UTA defeating the Mavericks in the first round of the Sun Belt Championship last year 63-62 in Arlington on a last-second field goal.  UTA defeated CCU in the 2017 Sun Belt Championship with a 74-51 victory in the second round. It was the first year Coastal was a member of the Sun Belt Conference. Overall, the two teams have met 11 times with CCU holding a 6-5 edge in the series.
 
CCU and Troy faced off four times this season with the Chanticleers winning all four games but had to come from behind in three of those contests. The two programs have faced each other 12 times on the hardwood with CCU holding a 7-5 lead in the series.
 
The Chants will be led by DeVante' Jones who continues to have an award-winning season. The junior leads the team in scoring averaging 20.2 points per game, which is second in the conference. He is also among the league leaders in 11 of the 13 individual categories the conference keeps, including first in steals (3.0) and second in free throw percentage (.872).
 
Reigning Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week Essam Mostafa seems to have broken out of a late-season slump, picking up his sixth and seventh double-double of the season in regular-season ending victories at Troy. He is averaging 11.4 points and 8.8 rebounds per game.
 
Deanthony Tipler missed six games towards the end of the season, but is back in the lineup and brings with him a 15.1 points per game average and a solid 42 percent three-point field goal percentage. Tyrik Dixon missed seven games this season, including the final three games, but should be back in the lineup for the championship and is averaging 11.2 points per game.
 
Garrick Green and Ebrima Dibba have been the solid complimentary players. Green has played every game since he arrived at Coastal Carolina and this year is averaging eight points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Dibba continues his play of unselfishness, almost to a fault. He is averaging 7.5 points per game, but leads the team and the Sun Belt in assists averaging 5.2 per game. He is also averaging 5.3 rebounds and is shooting over 47 percent from the field.
 
The game can be seen live on ESPN+ (subscription required), or heard live on WRNN HOT TALK 99.5 FM. All Links for the live stats, audio, and video can be found at GoCCUsports.com.
 
For complete coverage of CCU men's basketball, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalMBB (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.