OPENING TIP
Little Rock closes out the 2018-19 regular season with a pair of home games at the Jack Stephens Center, beginning with reigning Sun Belt champion Louisiana Thursday, March 7 at 6:30 p.m. Ben Creighton and U.S. Reed will call the game on ESPN+ with Ray Tucker handling the radio play-by-play duties for the Trojans on The Point 94.1 FM.
STARTING FIVE
• Little Rock and Louisiana meet for the 53rd time with the Ragin' Cajuns holding a 29-23 lead in the all-time series. Little Rock is 14-10 all-time against Louisiana in Little Rock but have lost two-straight to the Cajuns at the Jack Stephens Center.
• Little Rock enters the week tied for 10th in the Sun Belt standings but are the number 11 seed due to the tiebreaker loss to Appalachian State in January. In order for the Trojans to make the Sun Belt tournament, they need to win one more game than the Mountaineers this week.
• Rayjon Tucker enters the week with 574 points on the year, ranking seventh in program history, and needs just 26 points to become the fifth Trojan to score 600 points in a season.
• Kris Bankston went 7-for-7 against Georgia State and upped his season field goal percentage to 81.9%, which will shatter the Trojans' single season record.Â
• Nikola Maric continues to make a case for Sun Belt Freshman of the Year, averaging 10.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game while shooting 51.9% from the floor and 48.4% from three.
THE RACE FOR NEW ORLEANS
Heading into the Sun Belt's final weekend, Little Rock remains in a race to qualify for the 2019 Sun Belt tournament. Entering the week, the Trojans are tied with Appalachian State for 10th, and would currently be in the number 11 seed after losing the tiebreaker for the Mountaineers, on the outside looking in. For Little Rock to make the postseason, it comes down to a simple scenario for the Trojans - they need to win one more game this week than the Mountaineers, who host Troy and South Alabama.
FINISHING AT THE JACK
For the first time since the 2013-14 season, Little Rock will close out the regular season at the Jack Stephens Center, a home where the Trojans have posted a 131-76 (.633) record since the doors opened in 2005. Little Rock is 7-7 on its home court this season as the Trojans seek to record their 13th season with a winning record at home in the 14 years the Jack has served as Little Rock's home court.
BACK IN THE BELT
The 2018-19 season marks Little Rock's 28th year as a member of the Sun Belt Conference, joining the league in the 1991-92 season. During that stretch, the Trojans have posted a 241-233 (.508) record in conference play. Little Rock and Louisiana have competed as Sun Belt rivals since the 1992-93 season with the Ragin' Cajuns holding a 25-22 edge against the Trojans since joining the league, including a 4-1 mark in postseason play.
IRON MAN
Rayjon Tucker has been a mainstay on the court for Little Rock this season, compiling 1,028 minutes in his 28 games played this season, ranking 26th nationally in minutes played (36:40 per game). Tucker has been on the floor for 87.9% of the time for the Trojans this season, despite missing the entire game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff due to an injury. The Charlotte, North Carolina native has played 35 or more minutes in 21 games this year, playing 40 or more minutes on six occasions, eclipsing the 1,000-minute mark Saturday at Georgia State.
CLOSING IN ON 600
With another 20-point performance against Georgia Southern, Rayjon Tucker continues to move up the single season record list. With 574 points, Tucker ranks seventh on the Trojans' single season list, needing just two points to match Curtis Kidd's 576 in 1986-87 for sixth. If Tucker continues his 20.5 point per game average over the final two games, he is projected to finish with 615 points, which would rank fourth all-time.
TUCKER REACHES 1,000...
Rayjon Tucker reached a career milestone against Georgia Southern Thursday, surpassing 1,000 points for his Division I career. Tucker scored 471 points in two years at Florida Gulf Coast and currently has 574 in his first year with the Trojans, putting him at 1,045 for his collegiate career. Tucker has finished in double figures in 27 of his 28 games played this year, surpassing the 20-point plateau on 15 occasions, and ranks fourth in the Sun Belt in scoring at 20.5 points per game.
...TIMES TWO
In addition to reaching 1,000 points, Rayjon Tucker also surpassed 1,000 minutes played, doing so in just 28 games. Tucker becomes the second Trojan in as many games to reach 1,000 minutes played, following Kris Bankston (1,066), who accomplished the feat Thursday at Georgia Southern. The Trojan 1,000-minute club now has four members on the active roster, complemented by Jaizec Lottie's team-best 1,448 minutes played and Deondre Burns' 1,276 minutes.
BANKSTON ATOP RECORD BOOK
Kris Bankston has officially entered the Trojan record book as he now sits atop the program's single season field goal percentage list. Bankston has made 104 of his 127 field goal attempts for 81.9%, shattering the previous record of 65.0% set by Ryan Moss in the 1997-98 season. For his career, Bankston is shooting 74.5% from the floor (152-of-204), which would be nearly 100 percentage points higher than Moss' 64.7% clip, needing 48 more made field goals to reach the minimum.
PLAYING FROM BEHIND
Little Rock has put itself in substantial holes this season as the Trojans have found themselves trailing by double digits in 21 games this season, including 18 in the second half. Little Rock has rallied to win just two of those games, the last of which came at South Alabama when the Trojans trailed by 10 in the first half and by nine at halftime. Little Rock has faced a double digit challenge in 12 of 16 Sun Belt games.
DUNK CENTURY CLUB
Little Rock is earning a reputation as one of the nation's top dunking teams as the Trojans registered their 100th dunk of the season at Georgia Southern Thursday, sitting at 107 on the year compared to just 61 for the opposition. Kris Bankston has led the charge for the Trojans with 65 this season, ranking among the top-five nationally heading into this week's games and upping his career total to 83, with Rayjon Tucker adding 24 for Little Rock.Â
2018-19 TROJAN DUNKS Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
• 65 - Kris Bankston (High of 6 at Tennessee State, 11/13/18)
• 25 - Rayjon Tucker (High of 4 vs. Two Teams)
• 9 - Kamani Johnson (High of 2 vs. South Alabama, 1/12/19)
• 5 - Horace Wyatt Jr. (High of 2 vs. Central Arkansas, 12/8/18)
• 2 - Nikola Maric (High of 1 vs. Two Teams)Â
 1 - Deondre Burns (High of 1 vs. South Alabama, 1/12/19)
LAST TIME OUT
Once again, Little Rock found itself in a big hole in the early going and was never able to recover, falling 83-70 at Georgia State Saturday afternoon in Atlanta. The Trojans were held scoreless for over eight minutes as the Panthers used a 20-4 run to build a 20-point lead at the half and extending that advantage to as many as 26 in the second half. The loss came despite 26 points from Rayjon Tucker, 15 from Kris Bankston (on 7-of-7 shooting) and 14 from Deondre Burns. Â
SCOUTING THE RAGIN' CAJUNS
2018-19: 17-12 overall, 8-8 Sun Belt (T-5th), 5-7 at home
Last Three Games: L vs. Appalachian State (90-80); W vs. Coastal Carolina (83-70); L at Texas State (64-62)
Series: Louisiana leads, 29-23 (.442) | Streak: Louisiana won 1 |Â First: 1977-78 (L, 124-85) | Last: Jan. 5, 2019 (L, 75-61)Â
Head Coach: Bob Marlin (Mississippi State, 1981). Ninth season at Louisiana (172-123); 26th season overall (520-289)
Key Players:
• #23 JaKeenan Gant (Sr., F): 20.8 ppg., 8.8 rpg., 54.1 FG%, 80.3 FT%
• #35 Marcus Stroman (Sr., F): 11.6 ppg., 4.5 rpg., 6.4 apg., 41.2 FG%
• #11 Jerekius Davis (Jr., F): 9.5 ppg., 3.1 rpg., 47.9 FG%
• #55 Justin Miller (Jr., F): 9.0 ppg., 7.4 rpg., 43.2 FG%
• #0 Cedric Russell (So., G): 8.7 ppg., 1.8 rpg., 38.2 FG%, 81.0 FT%
LAST TIME vs. THEÂ RAGIN' CAJUNS
Rayjon Tucker registered a career-high 36 points, but a handful of extended Louisiana runs and another 40-point performance by an opposing player proved too much to handle as the Trojans fell to the Ragin' Cajuns 75-61 at the Cajundome on January 5, 2019.
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