Dukes Close Regular Season at Texas State Friday

James Madison Dukes (19-10, 12-4 SBC) at Texas State Bobcats (15-15, 8-9 SBC)
Feb. 28, 2025 – 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT)
San Marcos, Texas -- Strahan Arena

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DUKES CLOSE REGULAR SEASON AT TEXAS STATE FRIDAY

James Madison men's basketball looks to lock up an outright Sun Belt Conference Regular Season Championship against Texas State on Friday night at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) in San Marcos, Texas.
JMU has already secured a top-two seed in the Sun Belt Men's Basketball Championship in Pensacola, Fla., and have secured at least a share of the regular season championship.
The Dukes clinched their third consecutive 20-win season on Tuesday night with an 85-79 win over ULM at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. It is the first time JMU has tallied 20 wins or more in three straight seasons since 1992-94.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Brant Freeman (PxP) and Suzanne Fox (Analyst) and on the radio on WSVA 92.1 FM (500 AM) and the Varsity Network App with Dave Riggert.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP

JMU and Texas State have met three times, with JMU taking two of three games. The last meeting between the two schools took place in the semifinals of the 2024 Sun Belt Men's Basketball Championship, where the Dukes came away with a 73-68 victory.
This will be JMU's first trip to Texas State, as the first two matchups of the series occured in Harrisonburg. In the first meeting on Jan. 2, 2023, the Bobcats came away with a 63-62 win before the Dukes won 82-65 over Texas State on Dec. 30, 2023.

WHAT'S AT STAKE?

With a win, James Madison will secure its first outright regular season conference championship since the 1990-91 season, where the Dukes won the Colonial Athletic Association with a 12-2 record under Lefty Driesell.
A win would secure the No. 1 seed in the Sun Belt Men's Basketball Championship. The Dukes have already secured at least a top-two seed and a bye to the semifinals.
Preston Spradlin would also tie Matt Brady for the most wins by a first-year JMU coach (21)

ABOUT TEXAS STATE

Texas State stands at an even 15-15, with an 8-9 mark in conference play heading into the regular season finale. The Bobcats most recently dropped a home contest to Troy, 74-69, snapping a two-game win streak.
Tylan Pope leads Texas State in scoring at just over sixteen points per game (16.2), fourth in the Sun Belt, while grabbing 6.5 rebounds a game. Pope is also second in the league in field goal percentage (53.8). Coleton Benson is shooting 38.5 percent from beyond the arc while averaging 9.8 points per game.
Texas State boasts the second-highest scoring offense in the league at 75.9 points per game and are third in conference games with 75.8 a game. The Bobcats lead the league in three-point field goal percentage but are • last in opponent three-point field goal percentage, both at 36.6%.
The Bobcats are led by fifth-year head coach Terrance Johnson, who ascended from interim to head coach after guiding Texas State to a conference title in his first season.

THE STANDARD IS THE STANDARD.

James Madison men's basketball secured a top-two seed and at least a share of the Sun Belt Conference regular season championship on Tuesday with an 85-79 win at ULM. It also secured JMU's third-straight 20-win season, the first time for the program since 1992-94.
The win over the Warhawks marked the Dukes' 10th straight in conference play - becoming just the third streak in program history of 10 or more wins in conference play after also doing it in the 2023-24 and 1989-90 seasons.
In the past three seasons since joining the Sun Belt, the Dukes are 40-13 (.754) in conference play and own the best overall winning percentage (.743) since joining the league in 2022.
If JMU wins tomorrow, it would be the longest regular season winning streak by a Sun Belt team against conference opponents (11 in a row) since Louisiana won 16 straight to end 2016-17 and into 2017-18.
JMU's current 10-game conference winning streak is the first of 10 games or more by a Sun Belt team since Louisiana also won 10 in a row in the 2022-23 season,
It would also mark the longest such streak in the same season by a Sun Belt team since Middle Tennessee won 16 games in a row in the 2012-13 season.

WINNING, IT'S WHAT WE DO

Head Coach Preston Spradlin now owns the second-most wins by a first-year JMU head coach (20). He needs one win to tie and two to pass Matt Brady, who won 21 games in his first year as coach in 2008-09.
As a head coach overall, Spradlin has won 20+ games in each of his last four seasons - going back to his time at Morehead State. In that span, he owns a record of 114-50 (.695).
With the Dukes clinching at least a share of the Sun Belt regular season title, Spradlin has now won three straight regular season crowns dating back to his time at Morehead State. He took the Eagles to the NCAA tournament twice; in 2020-21 and in 2023-24.