After the four-game losing streak punctuated by a home loss to Troy, you wondered what weekdays the App State men’s basketball team would be playing on in Pensacola.

Now, anything other than Top 4 would be a disappointment. That’s what happens when you win six of seven after a losing streak.+

The regular season means a lot more this season than in years past, specifically due to the Gonzaga Format on Steroids the Sun Belt implemented for this March.

No. 2 would be kosher. It’s just like No. 1, but without a trophy. But considering the No. 1 curse in Pensacola, that may not be the worst thing.

After falling short on Thursday in front of America, the Apps rebounded with a rock fight in Monroe this Saturday. The Warhawks came in fresh after a snowstorm delayed their weekday game, so despite UL Monroe being winless in the league, it wasn’t going to be easy (they lost twice recently to Louisiana by a combined eight points, so they weren’t a pushover, especially at home).

Standing at 5-3, App State is virtually a game back of first place. South Alabama lost, so first place now has two losses. South Alabama plays Monday at ULM due to the snowstorm, so they could have three losses by the time you read this.

The win earns App State a 3-1 mark on this extended road trip through Virginia, Arkansas and Louisiana. A month ago, we’d take that. Even now, we take that. Cause that means there’s home games ahoy.

Halfway through the Sun Belt slate, here’s what was noticeable in January.

CJ Huntley becoming a board man

Before January, CJ Huntley never had a double-double for App State. Now he has four. Huntley had several games with double-digit points and surprisingly few with double-digit rebounds. Now it’s stringing together in his Super COVID Senior Season.

With Abson and Spillers gone, Huntley was the alpha dog down low for App State this season. Through December, he had 10 games in double figures scoring. But the rebounding wasn’t there. And before January, Huntley wasn’t a great rebounder, accounting for only three double-digit rebound games in four total seasons (and he got single-digit points in all three).

After a 6 and 8 performance in the Troy home loss, Huntley rebounded that Saturday with 12 and 10 versus Texas State, his first double-double. Everyone was shocked that was Huntley’s first double-double. The question was whether he could do it again.

21 and 15 versus Coastal, 26 and 12 at ODU, and most recently, 10 and 12 at ULM. In both JMU games, Huntley went 21 and 8 and 7 and 8. He also went 22 and 6 at Arkansas State last Thursday in an absolutely dogfight down low.

Probably most impressively, Huntley only had nine fouls in eight games the entire month. With Michael Marcus Jr. still growing into his role, Huntley is sorely needed on the court and he’s made sure to be there.

Beaubrun solidifies the frontcourt

The Stephen F Austin transfer, somewhat surprisingly, is the third-leading scorer. After not playing much at the start of the season, Jalil Beaubrun has become an efficient shooter.

Beauburn has hit 50% or better from the field in five of eight games this month, hitting double-digit points six times in the same time period. And just as important, Beauburn is recently making most of his FT’s, going 11 of 14 in Boot Week (Arkansas and Louisiana) after going only 6 of 12 in the Virginia swing.

Someone please help Myles Tate in the backcourt!

Looking at the minutes, Dior Conners is getting the lion’s share of minutes at guard opposite Myles Tate and Alonzo Dodd. With Dodd at the point, Conners is gonna get his shots.

While he was the hero at JMU last week, he was noticeably not hitting at Arkansas State and early at UL Monroe. Dior did make some threes later on, but you’d like to see him in double figures more often than once in the last nine games. An extra two baskets made a game could mean a world of different in February and then March in Pensacola.

Also, shout out Dodd for nearly getting a double-double at ULM with 9 and 9.

We’re done with the western road trips

App State’s rock-fight win at ULM breaks a four-game Sun Belt West road losing streak, dating back to last season. Out of the 16-2 conference title winning season last year, the two losses were road defeats at Troy and Texas State. Those were two out of the three western road games last season, with the other being an overtime win at South Alabama.

The Louisiana loss in December and the Arkansas State loss last Thursday made it four Ls in a row. The ULM win, while ugly, was needed. The only western team App State plays the rest of the regular season is Southern Miss in Boone in a couple weeks.

Last year, App State went 12-0 versus the Sun Belt East and is 4-0 so far this season. The remaining road trips are to Atlanta, Conway, Huntington and Statesboro, those last two in the final two games. There’s hay to be made for the Apps.