MONROE, La. – Little Rock found itself facing a deep first half hole at ULM and was never able to recover, falling to the Warhawks 97-84, behind 42 points from ULM's Daishon Smith, at Fant-Ewing Coliseum in the Sun Belt Conference opener.
The loss drops Little Rock to 5-9 on the year and 0-1 in conference play, while ULM improves to 8-5 on the year, including 6-0 on its home court, winning its Sun Belt opener.
The stumble came despite Little Rock shooting 62.0% from the floor, making 31 of its 50 shots, as Little Rock shot a season high 54.5% from three-point range, connecting on 12 of its 22 attempts from beyond the arc.
But once again, turnovers and free throw shooting proved costly for the Trojans as Little Rock turned the ball over 18 times, including 13 times in the first half, while making just 10 of 19 free throw attempts (52.6%), going 3-for-10 in the first half.
Four different Trojans finished in double figures, led by 19 points from
Ryan Pippins off the bench as Pippins knocked down seven of his nine shots, going 5-for-7 from three-point range, with three rebounds.
Markquis Nowell finished with 18 points for Little Rock seven assists and two steals.
Rayjon Tucker scored in double figures for the 13th-straight games, finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds, just missing his fourth double-double of the year.
Nikola Maric added 12 points, six rebounds and a team-high eight assists.
Looking to race out to a quick start in its Sun Belt opener, Little Rock opened the game with back-to-back threes from Nowell and Tucker to open a 6-0 lead. But five turnovers helped spark a 14-0 run for the Warhawks as the Trojans went five and a half minutes without a point, trailing by eight early at 14-6.
Little Rock was able to trim the deficit to just four at 16-12 at the second media timeout, but more Trojan turnovers helped pave the way for ULM to increase its lead to 14 at 27-13 just past the midway point of the opening half.
ULM extended its lead to as many as 16 with 4:43 remaining in the opening half, breaking the game open at 34-18 as the Warhawks hit six of their nine shots from beyond the arc. Little Rock was able to regroup down the stretch, closing out the half on a 5-0 run and getting to within 10, trailing 40-31 at the break.
That momentum would not carry over to the second half, however, as ULM opened up the second half on a 9-2 run early, extending its lead back to 16 at 49-33 and forcing a Trojan timeout with less than three minutes burned off the clock.
ULM kept the lead in the 17-14-point range for the majority of the second half, extending its lead to as many as 19 at 64-45 with 13:21 to go. Little Rock found its edge at around the seven minute mark, using a 10-2 run over a two minute stretch to get to within eight at 80-72 with 4:44 remaining.
But the hot shooting from ULM helped the Warhawks put away the Trojans as ULM shot 20-of-27 in the second half, propelling itself to the victory. The performance by Smith was one of the top performances by an opposing player against the Trojans as is 42 points came on 14-of-19 shooting, including 10-of-12 from three-point range.
Little Rock will now try and regroup with a trip down to the Louisiana bayou, taking on reigning Sun Belt Champion Louisiana Saturday. Opening tip against the Ragin' Cajuns will be at 7 p.m. at the Cajundome, broadcasting on ESPN+.
#LittleRocksTeam
