LITTLE ROCK – A second half offensive surge and one of the best defensive efforts of the year helped spark Little Rock to a 75-62 win over UT Arlington Saturday afternoon at the Jack Stephens Center. The win pushes the Trojan record to 6-3 and 2-0 in Sun Belt play.
"We knew UT Arlington was going to come out aggressive and I thought our players made the adjustments they needed to make and didn't panic," said head coach
Darrell Walker. "I was proud of the defensive effort. This is a team that averages over 80 points a game and scored 93 last night, and we held them to 62. We held serve at home this weekend and now it's time to hit the road."
Game Notes
• One night after shooting a near-program record from the floor, Little Rock followed it up by shooting 56.1% from the floor, including 70.0% in the second half. The Trojans were 7-of-14 from three point range, going 5-of-7 over the final 20 minutes, while knocking down 22 of their 28 free throw attempts.
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Ben Coupet Jr. had another strong outing, nearly matching his career high from last night with a 26-point, six rebound effort. Coupet shot 7-of-9 from the floor and was 6-of-8 from three-point range, scoring 18 points in the second half to help provide the offensive spark.
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Ruot Monyyong pulled down his fifth double-double of the season and the 21st of his Little Rock career, finishing with 18 points and 15 rebounds on 5-of-6 shooting. He had another solid afternoon at the free throw line as well, knocking down eight of his 10 attempts, making him 17-of-21 for the weekend.
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Marko Andric caught fire in the second half, scoring 11-straight points during the extended Little Rock rally and finished with a career-high 13, going 4-for-5 from the floor and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. He added three assists and a pair of rebounds as well.
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Nikola Maric was the fourth Trojan to surpass double figures and flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Maric was 5-of-8 from the floor and converted both of his free throw attempts while tying a career-high with 38 minutes.
• Little Rock dominated the glass, holding a 44-23 rebounding edge, outrebounding the Mavericks on the defensive end 37-13. The Trojans limited the Mavericks to just 31.8% shooting for the game and 36.4% from three-point range as UT Arlington struggled at the line, converting just eight of their 16 free throw attempts.
• The Trojans did commit 21 turnovers on the night, matching a season-high, but limited UT Arlington to just 11 points off those 21 giveaways. Little Rock had eight points off eight forced Maverick turnovers.
• Little Rock extended its home court winning streak to 10-straight and has now won eight-straight Sun Belt games at the Jack Stephens Center. The Trojans have beaten the Mavericks six-straight times in Little Rock and was one of only two Sun Belt schools to win both games in the opening weekend (ULM).
First Half Notes
• After a fast-paced start to Friday's game, Saturday's contest had a much different flow as the two teams struggled to find their offensive rhythms. Little Rock connected on four of its first seven shots from the floor, but seven Trojan turnovers over the first eight minutes helped the Mavericks build a 12-9 lead at the 11:39 mark.
• The turnovers frustrated Little Rock's offensive effort as UT Arlington strung together a 7-0 run, keeping the Trojans off the scoreboard for four minutes and taking a 16-9 advantage. Little Rock responded with a 7-0 run of its own, however, including five from Coupet to pull even at 16-16 with 7:14 remaining in the opening half.
• After UT Arlington reclaimed the lead at 18-16, the Trojans were able to frustrate the Mavericks offensively while stringing together an 8-2 run over a two and a half minute span to build a 24-20 edge at the 1:38 mark.
• A 5-0 run by UT Arlington put them back on top 25-24 with under a minute to go, but a jumper in the paint by Maric with seven seconds remaining gave the Trojans the 26-25 lead at the half.
• Both teams shot under 50% over the opening 20 minutes with Little Rock connecting on just 9-of-21 attempts (42.9%), compared to 10-of-33 for UT Arlington (30.3%). The Mavericks forced 11 Little Rock turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, leading to the discrepancy in shots.
• Five different Trojans scored in the opening half, led by eight points from Coupet and six each from Maric and Monyyong. The duo of Maric and Monyyong did combine for 13 rebounds as the Trojans held a 22-15 advantage.
Second Half Notes
• The defensive struggle continued early into the second half with Little Rock and UT Arlington exchanging baskets early on. Tied 29-29, back-to-back baskets by Andric, including a three, helped the Trojans build its largest lead of the game at 34-29 at the 15:26 mark.
• Andric add four more for Little Rock, scoring nine-straight points for the Trojans as the lead stretched to 38-32 with 13:46 to go. Coupet then connected on a straight-away three pointer, extending Little Rock's lead to nine at 41-32 – a 12-3 run spanning over three minutes.
• Little Rock's lead pushed to 18 at 51-33 with 9:29 remaining off four-straight points from Monyyong as he logged the 21st double-double of his Trojans career. The extended 22-4 run for the Trojans spanned just under seven minutes, led by 11 points from Andric.
• UT Arlington used its three-point shooting to continue to trim away at the Trojan lead, narrowing the deficit to 10 at 61-51 with 4:22 remaining. But the 10 point advantage proved enough for Little Rock, which converted at the free throw line down the stretch to pull away for the 75-62 victory.
• After a sluggish first half, Little Rock shot 70.0% from the floor over the final 20 minutes, hitting 14 of its 20 shots, while going 5-for-7 from beyond the arc (71.4%) and was 16-for-20 from the free throw line (80.0%).
• Coupet, Monyyong and Andric combined for 43 of Little Rock's 49 points in the second half as the duo went 12-for-14 (85.7%) from the floor and 14-of-18 (77.8%) from the free throw line to propel the Trojans to the victory. The trio each played all 20 minutes in the second half, as did Maric, who added the final six points.
Looking Ahead
• Little Rock hits the road to continue Sun Belt play, making the trip down to Lafayette, Louisiana, to take on the Ragin' Cajuns. The preseason top-two teams in the west division in the Sun Belt preseason poll, Little Rock and Louisiana begin their two-game season Friday at 6 p.m. at the Cajundome.
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