Little Rock Looking for Fourth Straight Win Thursday

GM 20 >> Little Rock (8-11, 6-4 SBC) vs. Troy (10-9, 5-5 SBC)
Thursday, Feb. 2 • 5:15 p.m. (CST)
Little Rock, Ark. • Jack Stephens Center
Live Stats | Live Video | Game Notes
Radio: Trey Schaap (PxP) and Ron Jumper (Color) on 920 AM
 
LITTLE ROCK – Now on a season-best three-game winning streak, the Little Rock women's basketball team will seek a fourth straight win and revenge for a loss at Troy earlier in the season. Troy and Little Rock are set for a 5:15 p.m. tipoff at the Jack Stephens Center on Thursday.
 
THURSDAY PROMOTIONS
Thursday night is International Night at the Jack Stephens Center. Anyone who brings their passport to the game gets $2 off a ticket.
 
To support the new Trojan Food Pantry, fans are encouraged to bring peanut butter and jelly to the games as donations. Those donations will also earn a $2 admission discount. (One offer valid per ticket purchased)
 
TIP OFF

• Little Rock, thanks to its 59-32 win over Georgia State on Saturday, is now on a three-game winning streak for the first time this season.
• The Trojans have won 28 of their last 29 Sun Belt Conference home games dating back to January 2013.
• Shanity James has led Little Rock in scoring in each of the last two games, totaling 17 and 16 points last week.
• Kaitlyn Pratt is coming off a double-double performance against Georgia State with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
• The Trojans' defense held its last two opponents to under 40 points: Georgia State scored 32 and Georgia Southern scored 36. In conference-only play, the team is allowing just 52.7 points per game.
• Little Rock has now moved up to third in the Sun Belt Conference standings with a 6-4 conference record. The team is in the top five in the Sun Belt in scoring defense, field goal percentage, rebounding margin and assists.
• The Trojans have used 12 different starting lineups this season.
• Troy defeated Little Rock when the teams met in Trojan Arena in early January.

 
ABOUT THE TROJANS
Little Rock is playing some of its best basketball of late, and especially so on defense as it held its last two opponents to a combined 68 points. Georgia Southern scored just 36 points on Thursday, and Georgia State got just 32 on Saturday. The Trojans held the Panthers to a mere 9 points in the first half, tying the Little Rock record for fewest point allowed in a half. Little Rock did enough on offense and won the game by 27 points, moving up to third place in the league standings in the process.
 
The Trojans are riding a huge wave of success over the last decade, making the national postseason for seven of the last eight seasons including four NCAA Tournament berths and three WNIT trips. Little Rock was picked third in the Sun Belt's preseason coaches poll and received two first-place votes.
 
ABOUT TROY

• The Trojans, based in Troy, Ala., hold a 10-9 mark this year and sit at 5-5 in the Sun Belt Conference. They are currently on a four-game losing streak after beginning league play at 5-1.
• Troy has recently lost to South Alabama, Appalachian State, ULM and Louisiana. Before that, the Trojans' only league loss was to Arkansas State, the league's first-place team.
• Troy is known for its potent offense, as the Trojans lead the Sun Belt Conference with 83.4 points scored per game. However, their defense allows a whopping 78.3 points per game. The Trojans have scored at least 100 points in five games this year.
• Ashley Beverly Kelly is atop the Sun Belt in scoring, averaging 19.1 points per game. She also has the league's best free-throw percentage at .872. Caitlyn Ramirez has the second-best field goal percentage in the conference at .558, and Beverly Kelly is fourth in the league with 3.7 assists per game. She is second in the league with 2.7 steals per game.
• Chanda Rigby is now in her fourth year leading Troy. She has a 49-62 record all-time with the Trojans and overall as a head coach.

THE SERIES AGAINST TROY
Little Rock and Troy have faced off 17 times since Troy joined the Sun Belt in 2006, and Little Rock has a 14-3 record in the series. Troy had never won a game until 2013-14, but since then Troy has won three games in its home building in the last two years. Last year, Little Rock claimed the victory at the Jack Stephens Center early in conference play, and Troy got a win at Trojan Arena later on in the year.
 
A WIN AGAINST TROY WOULD…
…be the team's fourth straight win overall…be the team's eighth straight win against Troy in Little Rock…be the team's fifth straight win at the Jack Stephens Center…put Little Rock three games above .500 in league play…be Joe Foley's 709th career win.
 
LITTLE ROCK VS. THE SUN BELT
In the last nine years, Little Rock has done a tremendous job in its conference games, claiming at least 12 victories in each of those years. The Trojans have not finished below .500 in the Sun Belt since the 2005-06 season, Joe Foley's third year. Little Rock also won the West Division Championship for six consecutive seasons when the league still had divisions. Over the last 10 seasons including 2015-16, the Trojans hold a record of 135-37 in the league and have claimed the outright regular-season championship once and the tournament championship three times.
 
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
Dating back to January 2013, the Trojans have an incredible home-court advantage at the Jack Stephens Center for Sun Belt Conference games. Little Rock has posted victories in 28 of its last 29 league games in that span, with the only blemish being a loss to Louisiana in early January of this year. The Trojans have now won four straight games at the Jack Stephens Center since that loss.
 
JAMES SETS OFFENSIVE REBOUNDING RECORD
With 283 career offensive rebounds entering Saturday, senior Shanity James was tied for the all-time lead in program history in that category. But she pulled away from Eplunus Brooks against Georgia State, grabbing four offensive rebounds to take sole possession of first place all-time with 287. James now leads Little Rock all-time in offensive rebounds and free throw attempts. She is also third all-time in total rebounds with 729 and fourth all-time in defensive rebounds with 442. The offensive/defensive rebounding statistic has only been tracked since the 1999-2000 season.
 
RECORD-TYING DEFENSIVE HALF
Little Rock earned its victory against Georgia State thanks to an incredible defensive effort, holding the Panthers to just 32 points. Included in that defensive mastery was a first half that saw the Trojans give up just 9 total points. Those 9 points allowed in a half tied a program record set in February 2007 in a game against New Orleans. Little Rock allowed 10 points in the first half during last season's first game against South Alabama, which is the most recent instance of a team scoring 10 or fewer in a half against the Trojans.
 
OPPONENT NEW LOWS
Besides the season-low 10 points scored by the Panthers on Saturday, Georgia State also set season lows for Trojan opponents in multiple other categories. The Panthers' 12 total field goals made were the fewest for a Little Rock opponent this year as was the team's 26.1 percent shooting percentage from the field. The Panthers became the first team to not make a 3-pointer against Little Rock this year, had a mere three assists and also shot just 47.1 percent from the free-throw line, all lows for Trojan opposition in 2015-16.
 
BLOWOUT WINS
Little Rock claimed victory by 27 points against Georgia State, and that was preceded by a 33-point win over Georgia Southern on Jan. 28. Little Rock has combined for a margin of victory of 70 in the last two games. In five of the team's Sun Belt wins, Little Rock has won by at least 12 points. Little Rock is averaging a margin of victory of 17.7 points per game in its six league wins. Its four league losses, by comparison, are coming by an average of just 9.3 points.
 
HOLDING TEAMS UNDER 60
A trend has emerged in the Trojans' eight victories this year: in each of those victories, the Trojans' opponent has scored under 60 points. Little Rock is now 8-1 in games this year where the opponent has fewer than 60 points. When the Trojans' opponent scores 60 or more, Little Rock drops to 0-10. The opponents' point totals in Little Rock victories this year, in chronological order, is 52, 53, 34, 44, 50, 55, 36 and 32. All eight of the Trojans' wins this year have also come when the have a better field goal percentage than their opponent and when the Trojans are leading with five minutes remaining.
 
REBOUNDING MARGIN
On Saturday against Georgia State, for the fifth time in six games, the Trojans outrebounded their opponent by at least 10 rebounds. The final tally against Georgia State was 45-28 in favor of Little Rock. On Jan. 28 against Georgia Southern, Little Rock outrebounded the Eagles by 20, marking the first time Little Rock had outrebounded an opponent by 20 since December 2013 when the team played Incarnate Word.
 
UNIQUE STARTING COMBINATIONS
When Amber Landing, Kaitlyn Pratt, Monique Townson, Kira Shepard and Sharde' Collins and came out for the opening tip on Jan. 23, that was the 12th different starting lineup the Trojans have used all year in 17 games. In fact, that game marked the first time Landing – a freshman – had earned a start. The most common starting lineup has been Townson, Dawn, James, Collins and Pratt, but that lineup has been used just six times. No player has started every game this year, and Monique Townson has started the most with 16.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against Georgia State:

• Shanity James took sole possession of first in Little Rock history in offensive rebounds with 287.
• Kaitlyn Pratt picked up her 200th made field goal.
• Sharde' Collins took her 100th 3-point attempt.

Coming soon:

• Alexius Dawn needs three more made field goals to reach 200.
• Sharde' Collins needs seven more defensive rebounds for 100.
• Keanna Keys is four rebounds away from 250.

 
UP NEXT
Little Rock closes its four-game homestand on Saturday when South Alabama comes to the Jack Stephens Center. Game time is set for 4 p.m.