LR Goes For Wins Record At Georgia Southern

GM27: Little Rock (23-3, 13-2 SBC) at Georgia Southern (12-13, 8-7 SBC)
Saturday, Feb. 20 | 6 p.m. (CST)
Statesboro, Ga. | Hanner Fieldhouse (4,325)
Radio: The Point 94.1 FM / KKPT.com
Talent: Ray Tucker (PxP)
Live Stats | Live Video | Game Notes
 
LITTLE ROCK – Coming off a 57-49 win at Georgia State on Thursday night, Little Rock will look to establish a new program record for regular-season wins when it takes on Georgia Southern Saturday at Hanner Fieldhouse.
 
A victory Saturday would also set a new program record for road wins in a season. Little Rock enters the game with 11, good enough for second nationally. At 23-3 overall, the Trojans match No. 1 Villanova and No. 8 Xavier for the best record nationally.
 
Down as many as 14 and trailing by nine at halftime, Little Rock used a 14-1 run early in the second half to build a lead it would not relinquish against Georgia State. The win was the sixth of the season in which the Trojans' overcame a double-digit deficit.
 
Marcus Johnson Jr. led Little Rock with 14 points while knocking down three 3-pointers. Lis Shoshi posted a double-double with 11 points and a career-high 16 boards – the most by a Little Rock player since Rashad Jones-Jennings in 2007.
 
Georgia Southern is 12-13 overall and 8-7 in Sun Belt play following a 90-59 win over Arkansas State on Thursday. The Eagles are third in the Sun Belt in scoring at 77.4 points per game and lead the league in steals (8.0 spg).
 
Tookie Brown leads the Eagles at 18.1 points per game. Mike Hughes (14.3 ppg) and Ike Smith (11.8 ppg) give Georgia Southern three players in double figures. Head coach Mark Byington is in his third season.
 
In the two teams' first meeting on Jan. 28, The Trojans shot 51.0 percent from the floor and made 13 of 22 3-pointers in an 80-67 win.
 
Johnson led the Trojans on offense, scoring 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor and 7-of-10 from deep. Roger Woods added 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting while Josh Hagins and Mareik Isom added 10 points each.
 
Georgia Southern leads 16-13 in the all-time series.
 
Quick Hits
• Little Rock is off to its best start in program history and tied for the best record in the nation at 23-3 (.884).
• Little Rock recently secured its first 20-win season since 2008-09, and 10th in its Division I history.
• A win Saturday would establish a new program record for regular-season wins.
• Little Rock is 11-0 at home and has won an arena-record 13 straight games at the Jack Stephens Center.
• Little Rock is second nationally with 11 true road victories – one more would set a new program record.
• Little Rock is off to its first-ever 13-2 start to Sun Belt Conference play and in sole possession of first place.
• Little Rock's scoring defense ranks first nationally (58.3 ppg) and its defensive FG% (.378) ranks sixth.
• Little Rock is ninth nationally in turnover margin (3.8) and ranks 20th in turnovers per game (10.5).
• Little Rock leads the SBC in scoring defense, defensive FG%, defensive 3FG%, turnovers per game, turnover margin and scoring margin.
• Head coach Chris Beard comes to Little Rock after two seasons at Angelo State, where he went 47-15 and led ASU to the 2015 NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen and No. 19 national ranking in 2014-15.