Dukes Gear Up for 2026 Sun Belt Championship

Wednesday, March 4

Pensacola, Fla.

6 p.m. ET (5 p.m. CT)

James Madison University

Louisiana

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3/3/2026 12:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Game 32
Sun Belt Conference Championship Second Round
Opponent: No. 12 Louisiana or No. 13 Georgia State
Date: Wednesday, March 5
Tipoff: 6 pm (eastern)
Location: Pensacola, Fla.
Arena: Pensacola Bay Center
Watch: ESPN+
Radio: WSVA 92.1 FM | 550 AM

JMU GEARS UP FOR 2026 VISIT PENSACOLA SUN BELT CHAMPIONSHIP

James Madison men's basketball is set for the 2026 Visit Pensacola Sun Belt Championship, slated for March 3-9 in Pensacola, Fla., at the Pensacola Bay Center.
JMU is the No. 9 seed for the tournament and will play the winner of Game No. 1 between No. 12 seed Louisiana and No. 13 seed Georgia State on Wednesday, March 4, at 6 p.m. ET (5 p.m. CT).
The Dukes finished the 2025-26 regular season with a 17-14 record and 9-9 mark in league play. JMU won five of its final six games and six of seven games overall to close the regular season.

WITH A WIN...

James Madison will advance to take on No. 8 seed Southern Miss in the third round of the 2026 Visit Pensacola Sun Belt Championship on Thursday, March 5, at 6 p.m. ET (5 p.m. CT).

NUMBERS TO KNOW

44: JMU freshman Christian Brown finished the regular season with 44 blocks - the second most for a JMU freshman in program history. He only trails Andre Nation, who had 47 blocks in the 2012-13 season.
97: JMU guard Cliff Davis finished the regular season with 97 threes - the second-highest total in the Sun Belt and the third-most for a JMU player in a single season. He needs four threes to tie Kent Culuko (101, 1993-94) for second on the Dukes' single-season list.
4: Since joining the Sun Belt Conference ahead of the 2022-23 season, James Madison holds a record of 4-2 in the conference tournament - including a tournament championship in the 2023-24 season.

LAST TIME OUT

Joshua Beadle hit a jumper with 0.9 seconds left to lift Coastal Carolina over James Madison men's basketball, 69-68, on Friday, Feb. 27 at the Atlantic Union Bank Center.
JMU finished the regular season with a 17-14 record and 9-9 in conference play. Coastal Carolina won its third straight game to improve to 19-12 and 11-7 in league play.
Cliff Davis finished with 25 points, his fourth straight 20-point game. Justin McBride finished with 12 points and led the Dukes with seven boards, while Bradley Douglas scored 11 points.
Beadle finished with 29 points, including the game-winning shot. AJ Dancler scored 20 points, and Nadjrick Peat finished with six points and led the Chanticleers with 10 rebounds.

THIS SEASON VS. GEORGIA STATE

JMU and Georgia State met twice in the final weeks of the regular season, with JMU taking both matchups.
Last meeting, the Dukes came away with a wire-to-wire 80-65 win in Atlanta on Feb. 21.
In the other meeting, JMU came away with an 81-79 overtime win over the Panthers on Feb. 12.

THIS SEASON VS. LOUISIANA, SOUTHERN MISS

JMU fell to Louisiana, 64-61, on Feb. 4, in Harrisonburg. The Cajuns' Dorian Finister hit a three-pointer with less than a second left to give the visitors the win.
Southern Miss defeated the Dukes, 73-65, on Jan. 31, in Hattiesburg, Miss. - giving the Golden Eagles the tiebreaker over JMU.

JMU'S HISTORY AT THE SUN BELT TOURNAMENT

This season's appearance in the Sun Belt Championship will mark JMU's fourth since joining the conference in 2022-23.
In that span, JMU has gone 4-2 at the tournament. The Dukes went 1-1 in the 2022-23 season and 0-1 in 2024-25 but took home the league championship in 2023-24 with a 3-0 record.
Since joining the conference, the Dukes have appeared in at least the quarterfinals in every season of the tournament.

DAVIS, MCBRIDE TAKE HOME SUN BELT ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS

Cliff Davis and Justin McBride were each named Third Team All-Sun Belt on Monday, March 2.
Davis finished the season averaging 15.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game while ranking second in the Sun Belt with 97 threes.
McBride led JMU with 15.5 points per game while averaging 5.5 boards and shooting 49.7 percent from the floor and 40.7 percent from deep.
As of March 1, Davis sits third on the JMU single-season threes list, needing four to tie Kent Culuko's 101 in the 1993-94 season and make him just the third Duke to record 100 or more threes in a season.
McBride is also the only player in the Sun Belt to average at least 15 points and five rebounds while shooting 40 percent or greater from three.