The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs basketball program, nicknamed the Dunkin' Dogs, represents intercollegiate men's basketball at

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public university, public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and Carnegie Classification of Institu ...

. The program competes in

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

in Division I of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) and plays home games at the

Thomas Assembly Center The Samuel M. Thomas Assembly Center is an 8,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Ruston, Louisiana. The arena, named for its benefactor and businessman Samuel M. Thomas, is home to the Division I (NCAA), Division I NCAA Louisiana Tech University Louis ...

Ruston, Louisiana Ruston is a small city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The 2020 population was 22,166. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex region and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Ruston is the prin ...

. Talvin Hester is in his second season as the Bulldogs' head coach.

History

Conference affiliations

*1925–1939:

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs were members of this conferen ...

*1939–1948:

Louisiana Intercollegiate Conference The Louisiana Intercollegiate Conference (LIC) was an intercollegiate athletic conference that existed from 1939 to 1947, and featured institutions located in the state of Louisiana. The conference sponsored the following sports during its existe ...

*1948–1971:

Gulf States Conference The Gulf States Conference (GSC) was an intercollegiate athletic football conference that existed from 1948 to 1971. The league had members in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Many of the league's members from Louisiana joined after the Loui ...

*1971–1987:

Southland Conference The Southland Conference (SLC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it participates in ...

*1987–1991:

American South Conference The American South Conference was an NCAA Division I athletic conference that existed from 1987–88 to 1990–91. The charter members were Arkansas State University, Lamar University, Louisiana Tech University, the University of New Orleans, the ...

*1991–2001:

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

*2001–2013:

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

*2013–present:

Championships

Conference regular season championships

Conference tournament championships

Postseason

NCAA Division I Tournament results

The Bulldogs have appeared in the NCAA Division I tournament five times. Their combined record is 4–5.

NCAA Division II Tournament results

The Bulldogs have appeared in the NCAA Division II tournament two times. Their combined record is 2–2.

NIT results

Louisiana Tech has appeared in ten

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

s. Their combined record is 15–10.

Vegas 16 results

The Bulldogs have appeared in one

Vegas 16 The Vegas 16 tournament was a postseason men's college basketball tournament. The tournament was managed by Lexington, Kentucky-based sports marketing firm bd Global. CBS Sports Network was announced as the television partner for the quarterfinal ...

. Their record is 0–1.

CIT results

Louisiana Tech has appeared in one CollegeInsider.com Tournament. Their combined record is 1–1.

NAIA tournament results

The Bulldogs have appeared in the NAIA tournament four times. Their combined record is 1–4.

Home venues

Men's Gymnasium (1925-1952)

The Men's Gymnasium was located on Mayfield Avenue, directly north of the northwest corner of Hale Hall and across the street from the eventual site of Memorial Gymnasium. It was located north of the original Tech Stadium football field, and was demolished around 1984 to create more parking adjacent to Hale Hall.

Memorial Gymnasium (1952–1982)

In 1952, Memorial Gymnasium was a 4,800-seat gymnasium constructed on the

campus in Ruston to serve as the home of the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs basketball team. Today Memorial Gym serves as a practice facility for the basketball team.

Thomas Assembly Center (1982–present)

The Thomas Assembly Center is an 8,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Ruston, Louisiana. The arena, named for its benefactor and businessman Samuel M. Thomas, is home to the Division I NCAA Louisiana Tech University Bulldogs men's basketball team.

Traditions

Dunkin' Dogs

The Dunkin' Dogs nickname emerged during the 1982–83 season led by

Karl Malone Karl Anthony Malone (born July 24, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Mailman", he is considered one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history. Malone spen ...

and Willie Simmons making highlight reel dunks. The tradition has continued through time as the current Dunkin' Dogs led by Raheem Appleby,

Michale Kyser Michale De’Vonta Kyser (born November 26, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for Hapoel Holon of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He played college basketball for Louisiana Tech. Early life Kyser was born in Victoria, T ...

, and Alex Hamilton have made several dunks featured nationally on ESPN's SportsCenter Top Plays and Fox Sports Live's The 1.

Hoop Troop

Hoop Troop is the official basketball pep band at Louisiana Tech University. The ''Hoop Troop'' performs at most men's basketball home games and travels to select road basketball games. The band also usually travels to all post-season games played by the Bulldogs, and is known nationally as one of the best basketball bands in college basketball. In the 2005 post-season, the ''Hoop Troop'' was featured in a ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

's College Edition'' article, "65 Things We Want to See During March Madness" in which states, "30) The Louisiana Tech pep band, a.k.a. the Hoop Troop, the funniest band in the land." The ''Hoop Troop'' was the only basketball band to be listed.

Players

Basketball Hall of Fame

Leon Barmore William Leon Barmore (born June 3, 1944) is a college women's basketball coach best known for his 35-year association with the Louisiana Tech University Lady Techsters. After five years as an assistant coach, he served as head coach from 1982 t ...

, 2003 *

, 2010

Retired numbers

All-Americans

* Jackie Moreland – 1958, 1959, 1960 *Ray Germany – 1959, 1960 * Mike Green – 1971, 1972, 1973 *

Mike McConathy John Michael McConathy (born December 27, 1955) is an American former basketball coach college basketball. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana from 1999 to 2022. He was raised i ...

– 1976 *

– 1983, 1984, 1985 * Randy White – 1989

Conference Player of the Year

* Jackie Moreland – 1960 * Mike Green – 1973 *

– 1976 *

– 1983 * Randy White – 1988, 1989 *

Ron Ellis Ronald John Edward Ellis (January 8, 1945 – May 11, 2024) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Ellis played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ellis won the Stanley Cup in 1967, and took part in th ...

– 1992 * Gerrod Henderson – 2000 *

Speedy Smith Kenneth Jerome "Speedy" Smith Jr. (born January 28, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for Türk Telekom of the Turkish Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL). He was named Conference USA Men's Basketball Player of the Year in 2015. Early ...

– 2015 * Alex Hamilton – 2016 Conference Freshman of the Year *Antonio Meeking - 2000 (Sun Belt) *Paul Millsap - 2004 (WAC) *Raheem Appleby - 2012 (WAC) * DaQuan Bracey - 2017 (C-USA) * Kenneth Lofton, Jr. - 2021 (C-USA)

Leading scorers

NBA draftees

The Bulldogs have had 14 players selected in the

NBA draft The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...

, including 4 first round picks. Twice the Bulldogs have had multiple players taken in the same draft year (1985 and 1992).

Other Bulldogs in the NBA

* Erik McCree -

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

* Kenneth Lofton Jr. –

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division of the ...

Other Bulldogs overseas

Kyle Gibson Kyle Benjamin Gibson (born October 23, 1987) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers, Philadelphi ...

(born 1987) -

Hapoel Galil Elyon Hapoel Galil Elyon (), also known as Hapoel Nofar Energy Galil Elion for sponsorship reasons, is an Israeli basketball club. The team competes in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top tier of Israeli basketball, and internationally in t ...

of the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...

* Alex Hamilton (born 1993) - Hapoel Eilat in the

(born 1991) -

Hapoel Holon Hapoel Holon Basketball Club (), is a professional basketball club based in Holon, Israel. The team plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League (the top tier of Israeli basketball), and internationally in the Basketball Champions League. The ...