La.-Monroe, CCU meet in Sun Belt quarters
Louisiana-Monroe (17-14, 10-9) vs. No. 6 seed Coastal Carolina (15-15, 9-9)
Sun Belt Conference Tourney Quarterfinals, Lakefront Arena, New Orleans; Thursday, 7:30 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Louisiana-Monroe is set to match up against Coastal Carolina in the Sun Belt tournament quarterfinals. Coastal Carolina swept the two-game regular season series. The teams last met on March 2, when the Chanticleers shot 56.9 percent from the field while holding Louisiana-Monroe to just 54.2 percent en route to the 97-91 victory.
SENIOR STUDS: Louisiana-Monroe's Daishon Smith, Travis Munnings and Michael Ertel have combined to account for 63 percent of the team's scoring this season, including 75 percent of all Warhawks points over the last five games.
FUELING THE OFFENSE: Zac Cuthbertson has either made or assisted on 41 percent of all Coastal Carolina field goals over the last three games. The senior forward has 27 field goals and 10 assists in those games.
WINLESS WHEN: Coastal Carolina is 0-6 this year when it scores 67 points or fewer and 15-9 when it scores at least 68.
ACCOUNTING FOR ASSISTS: The Chanticleers have recently converted buckets via assists more often than the Warhawks. Coastal Carolina has 53 assists on 90 field goals (58.9 percent) over its past three matchups while Louisiana-Monroe has assists on 43 of 79 field goals (54.4 percent) during its past three games.
BALL SECURITY: The diligent Louisiana-Monroe offense has turned the ball over on 16.1 percent of its possessions, the 30th-best mark in Division I. 20.2 percent of all Coastal Carolina possessions have resulted in a turnover (the Chanticleers are ranked 278th, nationally).
