NEW ORLEANS, La. -- The Sun Belt Conference has announced the men's basketball schedule for the upcoming 2019-20 season.

The conference moves back to a 20-game conference schedule for men's basketball for the first time since the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. The upcoming season's conference slate will keep a primary Thursday-Saturday format with league contests played against travel partners for two-game road trips to maximize rest, minimize travel times and limit missed class time.

App State opens conference play on the road in Alabama at South Alabama on Dec. 19 and Troy on Dec. 21.

The Mountaineers return to Boone for three straight contests on Jan. 2 versus Georgia State, Jan. 4 against Georgia Southern and Jan. 6 against Louisiana.

The Black and Gold head right back on the road for a pair of road games in Texas on Jan. 9 (at UT Arlington) and Jan. 11 (at Texas State), before returning to the Holmes Center to face Arkansas State (Jan. 16) and Little Rock (Jan. 18).

App State embarks on a three-game road trip, beginning at Coastal Carolina on Jan. 25. The Mountaineers also take on Arkansas State on Jan. 30 and Little Rock on Feb. 1.

February features five home contests for the Mountaineers, with meetings against UT Arlington (Feb. 6), Texas State (Feb. 8), South Alabama (Feb. 20), Troy (Feb. 22) and Coastal Carolina (Feb. 29) in the Holmes Center. App State makes a trip to Georgia in February to square off against Georgia State (Feb. 13) and Georgia Southern (Feb. 15).

Conference and regular season play concludes on March 3 with a contest at ULM.

The 2020 Sun Belt Men's Basketball Championship will once again see 10 vying for the tournament title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. First-round games on Saturday, March 7, second-round games on Monday, March 9 and quarterfinal games on Wednesday, March 11 will be held on campus sites and hosted by the higher seeds.

The semifinals on Saturday, March 14 and championship game on Sunday, March 15 will be held at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds will receive byes directly to the semifinals, the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds will receive byes and host the quarterfinal games, the No. 5 and No. 6 seeds will host the second-round games and the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds will host the first-round games.

All App State home games will tip at 7 p.m. on weeknights and 4 p.m. on weekends.