LOUISIANA La. — University of Louisiana head basketball coach Jessie Evans knows how precious each victory can be in a conference basketball race.

That’s especially true this year in the Sun Belt Conference, where no team is perfect and no one is unbeatable.

Arkansas-Little Rock owns a slim lead in the East with a 3-1 mark, closely followed by Western Kentucky (2-2) and Middle Tennessee (1-1).

In the West, South Alabama (3-1), Evans’ Ragin’ Cajuns (2-1), New Orleans (2-1) and North Texas (2-1 after Monday night’s 55-48 win over Florida International) are in a dogfight for the top.

Although it’s early, clearly both divisions have slim margins for error.

“The league is really competitive,” Evans said. “Everyone has a loss. At this point you zero in on what you can and cannot do.

“(Game) tapes get passed around, and a lot of the sets you’re able to do before you can’t do as well now. You have to go back to the drawing board.

“The league is certainly as tough as ever. I didn’t expect us to have a loss, but we do.”

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com