Trojans Face Bears in First True Road Test

Little Rock at Central Arkansas
Date	Tuesday, Nov. 29
Time	7:30 p.m.
Location	Conway, Ark.
Venue	Farris Center
Stats	Central Arkansas Live Stats
Audio	The Point 94.1 FM
Video	Bear Nation Network
Notes	Little Rock

LITTLE ROCK – The Trojans will head to Conway to take on Central Arkansas Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Farris Center. It will be Little Rock's first true road game of the season and the Bears' first home contest.
 
The Little Rock Department of Athletics will provide a free bus and game tickets to University of Arkansas at Little Rock students for the upcoming men's basketball game at Central Arkansas on Tuesday, Nov. 29. Head coach Wes Flanigan will cover the costs for the students to attend the game.
 
Spots on the bus are limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The free trip includes bus fare and one game ticket per student.
 
For additional information or to reserve a spot, contact Devan Maki at 501.683.6440 or djmaki@ualr.edu. Students will need to RSVP by Monday afternoon.
 
Little Rock is coming off a win over Central Michigan in Cedar Park, Texas, that earned the team the Lone Star Showcase Championship. The Trojans shot 66.0 percent from the floor (33 of 50) in the win over CMU for the program's best shooting performance since shooting 70.5 percent (31 of 44) against South Alabama in Feb. 2004.
 
Jalen Jackson scored a career-high 24 points on a perfect 8-of-8 shooting night against Central Michigan. Maurius Hill also had an 8-of-8 shooting performance this season in a win over University of the Ozarks on Nov. 14. Those two performances stand as the program's best individual shooting games (minimum of eight made field goals) since computer stats were implemented in 2000.
 
Central Arkansas is 1-4 on the season with a win at Army to its credit. The Bears are coming off an 80-63 loss at Western Michigan on Saturday.
 
Derreck Brooks leads the team at 17.3 ppg. Jordan Howard and Mathieu Kamba are both averaging double figures in scoring.
 
Tuesday's meeting will be the 34th in the history of the two programs, with UCA leading 23-10. Little Rock and Central Arkansas met 25 times from 1930 through 1974, with UCA winning all but two of those matchups. The Trojans have won all eight meetings since making the move to Division I in 1978-79, including both of last season's matchups by a combined 29 points.

Russ Pennell is in his third season as head coach.
 
Quick Hits
• Coming off of its best season in program history, Little Rock has been picked to finish second in the Sun Belt Conference preseason coaches poll.
• Little Rock recently won the Lone Star Showcase in Cedar Park, Texas, with wins over St. Bonaventure and Central Michigan.
• The Trojans have four players averaging double figures in scoring, another scoring 9.8 ppg, and are averaging 79.7 ppg as a team.
• Marcus Johnson Jr. was voted Preseason All-Sun Belt First Team after averaging 12.5 points and leading the Sun Belt in 3-point percentage (.466) in 2015-16.
• Despite losing two of their top three scorers, the Trojans return eight lettermen, six seniors and three starters in 2016-17.
• Last season, Little Rock won the Sun Belt Conference regular-season and tournament championships and beat Purdue in the NCAA Tournament first round.
• Little Rock went 30-5 last season, establishing program and conference records for wins in a season.
• Head coach Wes Flanigan enters his first season at the helm after serving as associate head coach on Little Rock's record-breaking 2015-16 team.