Bulldogs ready for test at Gulf Coast Showcase

Louisiana Tech men’s basketball will skip the sandy beaches and spend its Thanksgiving week in Estero, Florida, for three days of competitive matchups at the 11th annual Gulf Coast Showcase.

The Bulldogs (4-0) are off to their best start since the 2017- 18 season and will try to keep the momentum going in three non-conference matchups set up to give the team a taste of what winning in March looks like. Tech faces Southern Illinois in the opening game of the tournament on Monday at 2 p.m. before taking on Richmond on Tuesday at 2 p.m. The Bulldogs will then close the showcase on Wednesday in a matchup with Eastern Kentucky at 11 a.m.

“ It prepares you for conference tournament play,” Tech head coach Talvin Hester said. “You get to play three games in three days, and if you’re going to win a conference tournament, it’s going to have some format of that nature. It gives you a chance to learn how to scout, not only play the games but scout the games, turn around and get into the next game. We’re looking forward to it.”

The Bulldogs are coming off a 105-67 win over Mississippi College on Nov. 18, getting a career-high 38 points from Daniel Batcho along with a career-high 14 assists from Sean Newman in the blowout.

Newman now leads the country in assists per game (11.5) and has the fourth most assists (45) in the nation as well. It’s a hot start from a point guard who already showed his talents last season by leading Conference USA in assists, but Hester knows his lead man has so much more in the tank to showcase in Florida and beyond.

“He just knows how to play,” Hester said. “I was asked earlier if I ever tell him to shoot more. I said, ‘ I’ll live with whatever decision he makes because he usually doesn’t make wrong decisions.’ He takes what the defense gives him. That’s all you try to teach any basketball player to do.”

Hester credited Newman’s high assist total to the fact the Bulldogs’ offense has to operate differently than in recent years with Isaiah Crawford out of the picture. Without Iso, Tech has surrounded Newman with more catch-andshoot players, rather than players capable of getting their own points off the dribble for long stretches. The result has been eyepopping, as Newman has 26 assists and 4 turnovers over his last two games.

The upcoming slate should challenge Newman and the Bulldogs in their ability to share the ball effectively, with all three teams ranking top three in their respective leagues in turnover margin. Richmond and Eastern Kentucky also boast top five scoring defenses in their leagues.

Southern Illinois, however, might not present as big of a test defensively as the Salukis have only forced 16 turnovers over their last two games. Regardless, Hester is excited to see how the Bulldogs handle the tests.

“I think all three teams are really good,” Hester said. “I thought when we joined the tournament that the field was really good, and it would challenge us. We weren’t able to get some of the Power 4 games this year, so we had to find a way to fill our schedule and get a tough enough schedule to challenge us before we got to January. When we got Southern Illinois, and Richmond, and Eastern Kentucky, those are three really good teams and they’ve shown that at the start of this year.”

Tech begins the Gulf Coast Showcase Monday at 2 p.m. against Southern Illinois. The game will be streamed live on FloCollege.