CSM ranks Lamar No. 1 in Southland men’s basketball

Published 4:11 pm Thursday, June 29, 2017

Lamar managed an eight-game improvement from the season before in men’s basketball in 2016-17, and that had College Sports Madness high on the Cardinals going into 2017-18.

The online sports magazine ranked the Cardinals first in the Southland Conference going into the new season and projected them to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2012. CSM hailed coach Tic Price’s recent recruiting class including frontcourt guys Jordan Foster and Avery Sullivan and redshirt senior forward James Harrison, who sat out last season after transferring from Tennessee-Martin.

“Lamar has proven options on the perimeter and they have starters Colton Weisbrod and Josh Nzeakor back in the frontcourt,” CSM wrote. Senior Weisbrod was first-team All-Southland in 2016-17 and junior Nzeakor is a two-year starter.

Subscribe to our free email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

Junior guard Nick Garth, a pure outside shooter, could alternate starts with senior Torey Noel, who made an impact at the point.

Lamar was second in the Southland in scoring at 77.1 points per game and sixth in scoring defense at 71.6. CSM ranks Lamar 135th overall out of 345 Division I teams.

 

About I.C. Murrell

I.C. Murrell was promoted to editor of The News, effective Oct. 14, 2019. He previously served as sports editor since August 2015 and has won or shared eight first-place awards from state newspaper associations and corporations. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, grew up mostly in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

email author More by I.C.