# 2009–10 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs basketball team

The 2009–10 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs basketball team represented Louisiana Tech University in the 2009–10 men's college basketball season. This was Kerry Rupp's 3rd season as head coach. The Bulldogs played their home games at Thomas Assembly Center and compete in the Western Athletic Conference. They finished the season 24–11, 9–7 in WAC play and lost in the semifinals of the 2010 WAC men's basketball tournament. They were invited to the 2010 CollegeInsider.com Tournament where they advanced to the quarterfinals before falling to Missouri State.

## Pre-season

In the WAC preseason polls, released October 20 via media teleconference La Tech was selected to finish 5th in the coaches poll and 6th in the media poll. Sr. Kyle Gibson was selected to the coaches All-WAC second team.

## 2009–10 Team
### Roster

Source
| # | Name | Height | Weight (lbs.) | Position | Class | Hometown | Previous Team(s) |
| 2 | Brandon Gibson | 6'5" | 225 | G | So. | Marianna, Florida | Marianna HS |
| 3 | Jamel Guyton | 6'3" | 200 | G | Sr. | Odessa, Texas | Odessa HS Odessa CC |
| 5 | Olu Ashaolu | 6'7" | 220 | G | So. | Toronto, Ontario | Humble Christian (Texas) |
| 10 | Yonas Berhe | 6'0" | 170 | G | So. | Toronto, Ontario | Father Henry Carr SS |
| 11 | DeAndre Brown | 5'11" | 160 | G | Jr. | Fort Worth, Texas | Paul Laurence Dunbar HS Navarro CC |
| 13 | Trey Felder | 6'5" | 169 | G F | Fr. | Jackson, Mississippi | Murrah HS |
| 15 | Magnum Rolle | 6'11" | 225 | F C | Sr. | Freeport, Bahamas | Bahamas National prep school LSU |
| 20 | Andres Marmolejo | 6'3" | 215 | G | Jr. | Alamo Heights, Texas | Alamo Heights SS Oakton CC |
| 22 | Kyle Gibson | 6'5" | 205 | G | Sr. | Los Angeles, California | Dorsey HS |
| 24 | Darius Redding | 6'4" | 205 | F | Fr. | Tallahassee, Florida | Godby HS |
| 30 | David Jackson | 6'8" | 205 | F | Sr. | Tucson, Arizona | Rincon HS Mesa CC |
| 31 | Kaiser Stegall | 6'3" | 205 | F | Fr. | Lancaster, Texas | Skyline HS |
| 33 | Anson Bartlett | 6'3" | 175 | G | So. | Little Rock, Arkansas | Pulaski Academy |
| 34 | Justin Rake | 6'3" | 200 | G | Fr. | Mandeville, Louisiana | St. Paul's School |
| 45 | Shawn Oliverson | 6'10" | 250 | F C | Jr. | Preston, Idaho | Preston HS Cornell |

### Coaching staff

| Name | Position | Year at La Tech | Alma Mater (Year) |
| Kerry Rupp | Head coach | 3rd | Southern Utah (1977) |
| Nikita Johnson | Associate head coach | 3rd | West Georgia (1989) |
| Curtis Condie | Assistant coach | 3rd | Utah State (1994) |
| Dusty May | Assistant coach | 1st | Indiana (2000) |
| Cody Fueger | Director of Basketball Operations | 3rd | Utah (2006) |

## 2009–10 schedule and results

Source
* All times are Central
| Date time, TV | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Sat, Nov 7 7:00pm | Lincoln (Mo.) | W 91–54 | | Thomas Assembly Center (1,013) Ruston, Louisiana |
| Regular Season ||||||
| Sat, Nov 14* 1:00pm | at Texas-Pan American | W 80–62 | 1–0 | UTPA Fieldhouse (458) Edinburg, Texas |
| Fri, Nov 20* 7:00pm | vs. Miami (OH) World Vision Classic | W 74–62 | 2–0 | The Pit (NA) Albuquerque, New Mexico |
| Sat, Nov 21* 9:30pm, KASY | at New Mexico World Vision Classic | W 81–52 | 2–1 | The Pit (11,311) Albuquerque, New Mexico |
| Sun, Nov 22* 3:00pm | vs. Nicholls State World Vision Classic | W 77–45 | 3–1 | The Pit (NA) Albuquerque, New Mexico |
| Wed, Nov 25* 7:00pm | Arkansas-Little Rock | W 86–66 | 4–1 | Thomas Assembly Center (1,497) Ruston, Louisiana |
| Sat, Nov 28* 7:00pm | at TCU | W 68–63 | 5–1 | Daniel-Meyer Coliseum (3,384) Fort Worth, Texas |
| Wed, Dec 2* 7:00pm | at Louisiana–Monroe | W 76–73 | 6–1 | Fant–Ewing Coliseum (3,817) Monroe, Louisiana |
| Sat, Dec 5* 7:00pm | Northwestern State | W 98–70 | 7–1 | Thomas Assembly Center (2,217) Ruston, Louisiana |
| Wed, Dec 9* 8:00pm, FSA/FSSW/KWBA | at Arizona | W 86–67 | 7–2 | McKale Center (13,270) Tucson, Arizona |
| Sat, Dec 12* 7:00pm | at Centenary | W 102–96 $^{2OT}$ | 8–2 | Gold Dome (2,863) Shreveport, Louisiana |
| Tue, Dec 15* 7:00pm | Murray State | W 87-81 | 9–2 | Thomas Assembly Center (1,911) Ruston, Louisiana |
| Sat, Dec 19* 7:00pm | McNeese State | W 79–58 | 10–2 | Thomas Assembly Center (1,636) Ruston, Louisiana |
| Tue, Dec 22* 8:00pm | Texas-Pan American | W 81–60 | 11–2 | Thomas Assembly Center (2,431) Ruston, Louisiana |
| Tue, Dec 29* 7:00pm | at Houston | W 99–94 | 12–2 | Hofheinz Pavilion (2,862) Houston, Texas |
| Sat, Jan 2 7:00pm, KAME-TV | Nevada | W 77–71 | 13–2 (1–0) | Thomas Assembly Center (2,088) Ruston, Louisiana |
| Mon, Jan 4 7:00pm | Utah State | W 82–60 | 14–2 (2–0) | Thomas Assembly Center (2,094) Ruston, Louisiana |
| Sat, Jan 9 7:05pm, SWX | at Idaho | W 77–71 | 15–2 (3–0) | Cowan Spectrum (2,047) Moscow, Idaho |
| Mon, Jan 11 8:05pm | at Boise State | W 79–64 | 16–2 (4–0) | Taco Bell Arena (2,186) Boise, Idaho |
| Thu, Jan 14 8:00pm, ALT/BHSN/CST/ESPNFC/KAIL/MASN | Fresno State | W 81–73 | 17–2 (5–0) | Thomas Assembly Center (4,146) Ruston, Louisiana |
| Thu, Jan 21 9:00pm | at San Jose State | L 87–76 | 17–3 (5–1) | The Event Center Arena (1,516) San Jose, California |
| Sat, Jan 23 11:00pm | at Hawai'i | W 65–60 | 18–3 (6–1) | Stan Sheriff Center (5,857) Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Sat, Jan 30 8:00pm | New Mexico State | L 91–77 | 18–4 (6–2) | Thomas Assembly Center (5,028) Ruston, Louisiana |
| Thu, Feb 4 8:00pm, BHSN/CST/ESPNFC/MASN | San Jose State | W 71–64 | 19–4 (7–2) | Thomas Assembly Center (2,467) Ruston, Louisiana |
| Mon, Feb 8 8:00pm, ALT2/CST/ESPNFC | at New Mexico State | L 70–68 | 19–5 (7–3) | Pan American Center (5,549) Las Cruces, New Mexico |
| Sat, Feb 13 8:00pm | Hawai'i | W 66–60 | 20–5 (8–3) | Thomas Assembly Center (2,096) Ruston, Louisiana |
| Wed, Feb 17 10:00pm, ESPN2 | at Utah State | L 67–61 | 20–6 (8–4) | Smith Spectrum (10,049) Logan, Utah |
| Sat, Feb 20* 12:00pm, ESPN2 | at Northeastern ESPN BracketBusters | W 70–67 | 21–6 | Matthews Arena (4,414) Boston, Massachusetts |
| Thu, Feb 25 7:00pm | Boise State | L 72–59 | 21–7 (8–5) | Thomas Assembly Center (1,976) Ruston, Louisiana |
| Sat, Feb 27 8:00pm | Idaho | W 60–49 | 22–7 (9–5) | Thomas Assembly Center (2,669) Ruston, Louisiana |
| Thu, Mar 4 9:00pm | at Fresno State | L 66–59 | 22–8 (9–6) | Save Mart Center (8,350) Fresno, California |
| Sat, Mar 6 9:00pm | at Nevada | L 79–68 | 22–9 (9–7) | Lawlor Events Center (7,558) Reno, Nevada |
| 2010 WAC men's basketball tournament ||||||
| Thu, Mar 11 4:30pm, ESPNU | vs. Fresno State Quarterfinals | W 74–66 | 23–9 | Lawlor Events Center (NA) Reno, Nevada |
| Fri, Mar 12 8:00pm | vs. Utah State Semifinals | L 85–55 | 23–10 | Lawlor Events Center (NA) Reno, Nevada |
| 2010 CollegeInsider.com Tournament ||||||
| Thu, Mar 18 7:00pm | Southern Miss First Round | W 66–57 | 24–10 | Thomas Assembly Center (1,873) Ruston, Louisiana |
| Mon, Mar 22 7:05pm | at Missouri State Quarterfinals | L 69–40 | 24–11 | JQH Arena (3,015) Springfield, Missouri |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ||||||

## Season highlights

On December 7, Sr. Kyle Gibson was named the WAC player of the week for the fourth week of the season with weekly averages of 27.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 4.0 AST, 1.5 Steals and 59.3 FG%.
On January 4, So. Olu Ashaolu was named the WAC player of the week for the eighth week of the season with weekly averages of 15.5 PPG, 16.5 RPG, 1.5 AST, 0.5 Steals and 52.4 FG%.