STARTING FIVE
• Little Rock and Miles College meet for the first time in program history as the Trojans are 3-0 all-time against current members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
• Little Rock vaulted up to 13th nationally in team field goal percentage as the Trojans have made 50.4% of their shots from the floor. Little Rock posted a season-high 63.8% shooting against Central Arkansas, its sixth game shooting 50% or better.
•
Rayjon Tucker ranks first in the Sun Belt and 26th nationally in minutes played, averaging 36:26 per game, and has scored in double figures in nine-straight games.
•
Kris Bankston would continue to rank among the national leaders in field goal percentage (83.6%) had he met the NCAA's minimum of 5.0 made field goals per game (Bankston is currently averaging 4.6) with 30 of his 46 field goals coming off dunks.
•
Darrell Walker is 3-0 all-time against Miles College and 4-1 against Golden Bear head coach Fred Watson from his two years as the head coach at SIAC rival Clark Atlanta.
OPENING TIP
Little Rock closes out its extensive home stand with its final game at the Jack Stephens Center in 2018, hosting Miles College Tuesday, December 11 at 6:30 p.m. Live video and stats are available at LRTrojans.com with Ray Tucker calling the action on The Point 94.1 FM.
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 127-72 record (.638) at the Jack since the doors opened in 2005 with Tuesday's game against the Golden Bears marking the 200th men's basketball contest. The Trojans have posted a winning home record in 12 of their 13 seasons at the Jack Stephens Center, winning 10 or more home games on five occasions.
EFFICIENT FROM THE FLOOR
Through the first 10 games of the season, the Trojans are shooting 50.4% from the floor, ranking second in the Sun Belt and 13th nationally. The effort was paced by the Trojans' best shooting performance of the season, converting 30 of their 47 attempts (63.8%) for the sixth game this season Little Rock has shot better than 50% from the floor.
IRON MAN
Redshirt junior
Rayjon Tucker has been a mainstay on the court for Little Rock in 2018-19, averaging 36:26 of playing time to rank first in the Sun Belt and 27th nationally in minutes played. Tucker has played 35 or more minutes in seven of his nine games, including a season-high 40 against Southeastern Oklahoma on November 8. Additionally, Tucker is among the Sun Belt leaders in a number of categories, ranking third in both scoring (20.8 ppg) and field goal percentage (52.1%), seventh in defensive rebounds (5.2 rpg) and 11th in free throw percentage (74.6%)
DOUBLE FIGURE TUCKER
Rayjon Tucker's offensive output has sparked the Trojans through the early part of the season as he has scored in double figures in each of the nine games he has played in, surpassing the 20-point plateau five times. His nine-straight games of scoring in double figures is the longest for a Little Rock player since
Josh Hagins accomplished the feat in 11-straight games, a span which encompassed the final five games of the 2014-15 season and carried over into the first six games of the 2015-16 campaign. With another game of 10 points or more against Miles College, Tucker would become the ninth Trojan to score in double figures in 10-straight games since the 2000-01 season.
BANKSTON COMING UP BIG
Sophomore
Kris Bankston continued his breakout sophomore season Saturday, scoring a career-high 20 points while going 8-for-10 from the floor against Central Arkansas. Bankston's field goal percentage of 83.6% would rank first in the NCAA had he met the minimum of 5.0 made field goals per game (Bankston is currently averaging 4.6). Additionally, 30 of his 46 field goals have been dunks, which ranks among the national leaders as well.
LAST TIME OUT
Little Rock rallied from a double-digit deficit in the second half and led Central Arkansas by five with just over a minute to go. But the Bears closed out the game on an 8-0 run, capped by a game-winning three from DeAndre Jones from well beyond the three-point arc as time expired, handing the Trojans a heartbreaking 85-82 loss. The defeat came despite Little Rock shooting 63.8% from the floor and 85.7% from the free throw line and 20-point performances from both
Rayjon Tucker (27) and
Kris Bankston (20).
THROW IT DOWN, BIG MAN
Little Rock is earning a reputation as a team that can throw it down with the best of them as the Trojans have recorded 45 dunks through nine games of the 2018-19 season, averaging 4.5 per game.
Kris Bankston has become the poster boy for slams for Little Rock with 30 of his 46 field goals coming off dunks.
Rayjon Tucker has thrown it down 10 times this season with
Kamani Johnson adding three and
Horace Wyatt Jr. with a pair as the Trojans are out-dunking their opponents 45-25.
LEAN ON LOTTIE
Sophomore guard
Jaizec Lottie remains Little Rock's active leader in minutes played, tallying 1,104 as a Trojan and averaging just shy of 27 minutes a game for his career. Lottie is also the Trojans' active leader in games started (40) and is tied for second in games played (41), ranking among the national leaders in assists. Lottie is 94th nationally in total assists (42) and 96th in assists per game (4.7), ranking third in the conference in assists per game and sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.6).
STRONG INSIDE
Little Rock remains a force in the paint as the Trojans have outscored their opponents 366-286 this season. Little Rock has held an edge in the paint in six of 10 games in 2018-19, outscoring their opponents by 10 or more points on five occasions. The Trojans' biggest advantages came in the first two games of the season, outscoring Southeastern Oklahoma by 20 (44-24) and Tennessee State by 30 (52-22).
STRUGGLES FROM THE STRIPE
In contrast to Little Rock ranking among one of the nation's top field goal shooting teams, the Trojans rank 347th out of 353 Division I teams, connecting on just 59.9% of its attempts. Little Rock is coming off its best free throw performance in nearly two years, however, going 18-of-21 (85.7%) against Central Arkansas Saturday and moving up two spots in the rankings.
Rayjon Tucker is the Trojans' top free throw shooter at 74.6%, making 44 of his 59 attempts - both are team-highs.
HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING
With such a young roster, head coach
Darrell Walker knew he would need to rely on some youngsters to step up early and often. Little Rock's five freshmen, including
Markquis Nowell,
Terrell Curtis II,
Kamani Johnson,
Horace Wyatt Jr. and
Nikola Maric, have logged 670 of the Trojans' 2,025 minutes (33.1%) and have combined to score 243 of Little Rock's 772 points (31.5%). The freshmen five are also accumulated 121 rebounds (33.0%) with a combined 22 starts (44.0%).
ELITE COMPANY
Trojan fans have been witnesses to a pair of impressive individual offensive performances this year, beginning with
Markquis Nowell's 34-point game in the season opener against Southeastern Oklahoma State, followed by
Rayjon Tucker's 33-point output against Sam Houston State on December 1. Nowell and Tucker now hold the numbers one- and two- scoring records by a Trojan at the Jack Stephens Center and are two of just four Trojans to register 33 points or more in a game since 2000, joining Brandon Freeman (38 at Florida International in 2005 and 37 vs. Southern Arkansas in 2004) and Laverne Smith (36 vs. Louisiana Tech in 2000).
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS
2018-19: 4-3 overall, 2-0 Southern Intercollegiate, 3-2 on the road
Last Three Games: W at Montevallo (65-55); L at West Alabama (57-54); W vs. Carver Bible (68-48)
Series: First MeetingÂ
Head Coach: Fred Watson (Benedict College, 2000). First season at Miles College (4-3); 17th season overall (324-153)
Key Players:
- #15 Devonte Fuller (Sr., G) - 9.3 ppg., 5.7 rpg., 51.0 FG%
- #4 Avery Brown (So., G) - 8.3 ppg., 5.0 rpg., 48.1 FG%
- #2 Damian Archer (Sr., G) - 7.6 ppg., 1.7 rpg., 42.5 FG%
- #33 Jose Roman-Angueria (Sr., F) - 6.3 ppg., 5.1 rpg., 59.4 FG%
- #22 Nathan Sheffield (Sr., F) - 5.3 ppg., 3.6 rpg., 32.4 FG%
TROJANS AGAINST THE SIAC
Little Rock has a limited history against the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, playing just three games against current league members. The Trojans are 2-0 against Albany State, defeating the Rams in both games of a home-and-home series in 1976-77, followed by an 81-53 win over Savannah State at the Jack Stephens Center on February 11, 2006.
WALKER FAMILIARITY
Head coach
Darrell Walker has some familiarity with Miles College, squaring off as SIAC foes in his two seasons at Clark Atlanta. Walker was 3-0 in his two yeas against the Golden Bears, defeating Miles College 104-80 last season in Fairfield, Alabama. Additionally, Golden Bear head coach Fred Watson and Walker squared off five times while Watson was the head coach at Benedict College with Walker winning four of the five meetings, including a 74-72 victory in last season's SIAC tournament semifinals.
#LittleRocksTeam
Â
