OPENING TIP
Little Rock concludes its four game home stand hosting Oral Roberts on Saturday, December 2 to close out "Rise Up For The Rock" week. Tip against the Golden Eagles is set for 3 p.m. at the Jack Stephens Center and will be streamed live at Little Rock All-Access on LRTrojans.com. Ray Tucker returns to call the action over the air, but will be heard on a different station this weekend. Due to a scheduling conflict with Central Arkansas' FCS football playoff game, Little Rock's game Saturday will be broadcast on The Ride 106.7 FM as well as online at 1067TheRide.com.
HOME SWEET HOME
Since 2005, Little Rock has called the Jack Stephens Center home, and the venue has helped the Trojans become one of the Sun Belt's toughest home teams. Little Rock has posted a 122-61 record (.667) at the Jack since the doors opened in 2005, including a 55-20 mark (.733) against non-conference foes. The Trojans have posted a winning home record every year at the Jack Stephens Center, winning 10 or more home games on five occasions.
TOUGH STRETCH OUT OF THE GATE
The start of Little Rock's 2017-18 season has been anything but easy as the Trojans have gone head-to-head with some strong teams out of the gate. The Trojans' first seven opponents of the year have posted an combined record of 24-18 with six of them boasting winning records. The first four games of Little Rock's schedule were especially trying as Ouachita Baptist (4-1), Memphis (3-2), Grand Canyon (4-1) and San Diego (5-1) are a combined 16-5 thus far in 2017-18. Oral Roberts enters this game with a 1-7 mark, but that record is skewed by a tough non-conference schedule which includes contests at Tulsa, Oklahoma State, Penn State and Kansas State.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
2017-18: 1-7 overall, 0-0 Summit League
Last Three Games: L at Kansas State (77-68); L vs. Oakland (93-86, OT); L at Penn State (86-48)Â
Head Coach: Paul Mills (Texas A&M, 1996). First season at Oral Roberts (1-7,Â
Projected Starters:
- #2 Austin Ruder (Sr., G): 11.5 ppg | 4.0 rpg | 38.8 FG% | 37.9 3PT% | 88.9 FT% | 18 ast. | 6 stl
- #10 Sam Kearns (So., G): 10.5 ppg | 2.1 rpg | 40.6 FG% | 45.9 3PT% | 83.3 FT% | 27 ast. | 3 stl.
- #23 Emmanuel Nzekwesi (So., F): 10.5 ppg | 6.1 rpg | 40.2 FG% | 10.5 3PT% | 66.7 FT% | Â 17 ast. | 7 blk. | 9 stl.
- #25 Javan White (R-So., F): 7.4 ppg | 5.9 rpg | 41.8 FG% | 50.0 3FG% | 57.1 FT% | 10 ast. | 7 blk. | 5 stl.
- #44 Albert Owens (Sr., C): 14.9 ppg | 5.5 rpg | 49.0 FG% | 61.8 FT% | 12 blk. | 7 ast. | 4 stl.
SERIES HISTORY
Little Rock and Oral Roberts meet for the seventh time in the series Saturday with the two teams splitting the first six meetings. The series against the Golden Eagles began with Trojan victories in 2008 (69-66) and 2009 (73-68) and another in 2010 (52-49) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Oral Roberts has won the last two meetings, including last season's 63-48 win in Tulsa. The Trojans are 1-1 all-time against the Golden Eagles at the Jack Stephens Center, earning the win in 2009 before falling 58-55 in 2011.
LAST TIME OUT
Trailing by 16 with one minute to go in the first half, Little Rock outscored rival Central Arkansas 53-31 over the final 21 minutes to earn a 71-65 victory at the Jack Stephens Center Wednesday night. The Trojans held UCA 20 points under their season average of 85 points per game while limiting Jordan Howard, the NCAA's third-leading scorer entering the night, to just 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting. Little Rock committed just one turnover in the second half with
Andre Jones (24 points) and
Oliver Black (16 rebounds) both registering career-best performances in the process.
DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK
Little Rock found itself in a deep hole late in the first half, trailing rival Central Arkansas by 16 points with 1:00 to play before halftime. An and-one by
Andre Jones in the waning seconds seemed to spark the Trojans, however, as the sophomore from Little Rock then scored the first seven points of the second half for the Trojans, helping jump start the rally. The 16-point comeback was the largest for Little Rock since January 25, 2013, when the Trojans rallied from 22 points down to defeat Florida Atlantic 65-62 at the Jack Stephens Center. It was the 15th time Little Rock had rallied from a 10-plus point deficit since the 22-point comeback against the Owls.
BASKETBALL JONES
Sophomore
Andre Jones put together his best game in a Trojan uniform against rival Central Arkansas Wednesday night, registering a career-high 24 points while adding three rebounds, three assists and a steal. Jones' 24 points came off 8-of-13 shooting from the floor, including 2-of-4 from three-point range, while going 6-of-7 from the free throw line, becoming the highest scoring Trojan since Marcus Johnson Jr.'s 26-point performance at Louisiana last season. Jones leads the team averaging 11.7 points per game, scoring in double figures four times, while ranking second in rebounds at 4.1 per game.
CONTROLLING THE PAINT
One area that has become Little Rock's strength early in 2017-18 has been its play in the paint. The Trojans have outscored their opponents 216-146 in points in the paint through seven games this season, averaging 30.9 points in the key per game. That charge has been led by junior
Oliver Black, who is averaging 6.9 points per game and 8.4 rebounds, ranking fifth in the Sun Belt Conference. Black posted a career-best 16 rebounds in the win over Central Arkansas, the most for a Little Rock player since Lis Shoshi's 16-rebound game against Idaho on November 18, 2016.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH
You don't have to look far to find a newcomer on Little Rock's 2017-18 roster, but one of those that has started to emerge has been freshman
Jaizec Lottie. The Aurora, Colorado native has started to settle into his role as the Trojans' main point guard, starting six of seven games this season while ranking third on the team in minutes at 26.6. Lottie ranks second on the team in points per game at 7.1, aided by his career-high 13 points in the win over Central Arkansas, while leading the team in assists per game (2.7) and is tied for the team lead with six steals on the year.Â
BOOST FROM MARCUS
Junior
Ben Marcus has also quietly been making his impact on the Trojans early in 2017-18.  The Pine Bluff native has played in all seven games with  five starts and is tied for fourth on the team averaging 6.3 points per game. Marcus' .792 field goal percentage leads the team, hitting 19 of his 24 shots on the season, while ranking third on the team with five steals.
TROJANS AMONG SUN BELT LEADERS
A handful of Trojans rank among the leaders in the Sun Belt Conference through the first three weeks of the 2017-18 season.
Oliver Black currently ranks third in the Sun Belt and 38th nationally in offensive rebounds per game (3.4) and is fifth in the conference in both total rebounds (59) and rebounds per game (8.4) while ranking eighth in defensive rebounds per game (5.0).
Wadly Mompremier is sixth in the league in both total blocks (nine) and blocks per game (1.29) with
Cameron Corcoran tied for eighth in free throw percentage (80.0%).
TROJANS AGAINST THE SUMMIT
Little Rock enters Saturday's game against Oral Roberts with a 22-14 (.611) all-time record against current members of the Summit League. The Trojans' most frequent opponent is Denver, a program that was a Sun Belt Conference foe from 1999-2012, as the Trojans are 14-8 all-time against the Pioneers. Oral Roberts has been the second-most frequent opponent, playing six times since 2008, with Little Rock also going head-to-head against IPFW, Omaha and Western Illinois.
CLOSING IN ON 1,000
As the 2017-18 campaign gets underway, an impressive program milestone sits in the not-too-distant horizon for
Wes Flanigan's squad. Playing its 80th season of basketball, Little Rock has compiled an overall program record of 991-1,007 (.496), sitting just nine wins shy of reaching 1,000 victories. The Trojans have accumulated 35 winning seasons in program history and have won 20 or more games 11 times, highlighted by the memorable 30-win campaign in 2016-17. The Trojans' game against Oral Roberts will be the 1,999th game in program history, setting up the historic 2,000th game next Saturday in Conway against Central Arkansas.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
After enjoying a four game home stand at the Jack Stephens Center, Little Rock will have some work to do away from the Rock as four of its final five games of non-conference play will be on the road. The first of those road games will be the shortest, however, as the Trojans will make the 33-mile trip up I-40 to close out the home-and-home series with Central Arkansas on Saturday, December 9 at 7 p.m. The final three road games of the non-conference slate will then send Little Rock to four different states, comprised of Illinois, Texas and Mississippi, bringing the Trojans' state count for 2017-18 to seven.
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