The Sun Belt Conference, in conjunction with ESPN, announced that the Thursday, January 23 men’s basketball matchup between App State and Arkansas State will be broadcast on ESPN2 with a 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT tipoff at First National Bank Arena in Jonesboro, Ark.

The contest is the first of four wildcard appearances for the Sun Belt on the ESPN Family of Networks during the 2025 league season. The remaining wildcard appearances will take place on February 5, February 15 and February 28 with matchups to be determined.

The game will mark the only regular season matchup and 19th all-time meeting between App State and Arkansas State, as the Mountaineers lead the all-time series, 10-8. The last time the teams met, the fourth-seeded Red Wolves shocked the top-seeded Mountaineers, 67-65, on a Freddy Hicks buzzer beater in the semifinals of the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Championship in Pensacola, Fla.

Led by second-year head coach Bryan Hodgson, Arkansas State was picked as the Sun Belt’s preseason favorite with 12 of 14 possible first-place votes according to a poll of the league’s head coaches.

Under the direction of sixth-year head coach Dustin Kerns, App State represents the league’s reigning regular season champion following a 27-win campaign including a 16-2 conference mark one year ago.

As part of the Sun Belt’s comprehensive media rights partnership with ESPN, which runs through the 2030-31 academic year, the Worldwide Leader in Sports will also broadcast the championship games of the Sun Belt Men’s & Women’s Basketball Championships on Monday, March 10. The men’s basketball championship game will air at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT on ESPN or ESPN2.