James Madison Beats Arkansas State by 20 in the Sun Belt Championship
The James Madison Dukes were able to punch their ticket to March Madness on Monday night as they defeated the Arkansas State Red Wolves 91-71 in the Sun Belt Conference Championship. James Madison has had a stellar season from their very first game as they beat #4 Michigan State on November 6, was ranked as one of the top 25 teams in the country for a while, and finished second overall in the Sun Belt Conference. However, the question going into their Sun Belt Conference tournament was: Can the Dukes beat the Appalachian State Mountaineers who beat James Madison both times they met this season? Luckily for the Dukes, they did not have to face the Mountaineers in this year’s conference tournament as Arkansas State knocked them out yesterday on a miraculous buzzer-beater.
The first half of this one was back and forth until late in the first half when the Dukes were able to jump ahead to a slight lead and head into halftime up ten points, 42-32. Coming out of the locker room James Madison continued to show that they were the better team in this game as they extended their lead to 23 points, being up 74-51 with ten minutes remaining in the second half in a game that might as well have been over. The Dukes, who were led by sophomore guard Xavier Brown and junior guard/forward Terrence Edwards Jr. in this one with 21 points ten rebounds, and 19 points, respectively, would finish this one out with a win as they finish their season with a 31-3 overall record and a 15-3 conference record, proving that they are indeed the best team in the Sun Belt Conference in the 2023-2024 NCAA basketball season.
James Madison will head into the NCAA tournament likely as a twelve seed and while whether they will win or fall short is hard to predict, I don’t think anyone is doubting it will be a close game as they are one of the best double-digit seeds heading into this year’s tournament. After all, they have only lost three games all season, already proved they can play in hard places as they beat Michigan State in the Breslin Center in front of a crowd nearing 15,000 people, and will be heading into the NCAA tournament hot coming off a 13 game winning streak which is surprisingly not their largest winning streak of the season as they started the year 14-0 before losing to Southern Miss on January 6th.
