LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock begins a challenging six-game road trip with the first game of the Jacksonville Classic, traveling to Los Angeles, California, to face Loyola Marymount Wednesday, November 17 at Gersten Pavilion. The game against the Lions will tip at 9 p.m. CT and will stream live on WCC Network with Hall of Famer Ray Tucker handling the radio call on 106.7FM The Buz2.
GAME STORYLINES
• Little Rock and Loyola Marymount have met three times previously with the Trojans winning both matchups, a 71-40 win in Los Angeles on November 12, 2007, before defeating the Lions 67-59 in Little Rock on November 29, 2008.
• Little Rock's upcoming six-game road trip will take the Trojans to five different states (California, Florida, Oklahoma, Colorado and Arkansas), playing in all four time zones and traveling over 7,500 miles during that span.
• Little Rock is 4-2 all-time in games played in the state of California with its last trip to the Golden State coming in 2017, falling at San Diego 66-52 on November 20.
• The Trojans enter Wednesday's game with a 6-6 all-time record against current members of the West Coast Conference, earning victories over Loyola Marymount (two), Pepperdine (three) and St. Mary's.
• As a team, Little Rock enters the week ranked fifth nationally in total assists (63) and 16th in assists per game (21.0), sitting 11th in assist/turnover ratio (2.17). Little Rock is averaging 24.0 forced turnovers per game, ranking seventh nationally, and is fourth in turnover margin (14.3) and seventh in total steals (41).
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Jovan Stulic is off to a fast start for Little Rock, shooting 69.6% from the floor, 63.6% from three point range and 100.0% from the free throw line. Stulic is averaging 14.7 points per game, scoring in double figures in all four games.
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Nikola Maric is making his mark at the free throw line through the first week of the season, ranking 14th nationally in attempts (22) and 24th in free throws made (15).
NEWS AND NOTES
SCOUTING THE LIONS
2021-22: 1-1 overall, 0-0 West Coast Conference
Last Three Games: W vs. Arizona Christian (74-67), L vs. Chattanooga (75-64), W vs. UC San Diego (57-44, exhibition)
Head Coach: Stan Johnson (Southern Utah, 2001). Second season at LMU (14-9 overall)
Key Players:
• #2 Joe Quintana (Sr., G): 17.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 38.9 3FG%
• #0 Eli Scott (5th, G/F): 15.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 61.1 FG%
• #34 Keli Leaupepe (Jr., F): 13.5 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 41.7 FG%
• #20 Cam Shelton (Sr., G): 5.5 ppg, 3.0 apg, 22.2 FG%
• #11 Kwane Marble (Jr., G): 5.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 22.2 FG%
LAST WE MET
It has been a while since the Trojans and Lions faced each other, playing a home-and-home series back in 2007 and 2008. Little Rock won 71-40 in Los Angeles in 2007 before handing the Lions a 67-59 defeat in 2008 at then-Alltel Arena.
LAST TIME OUT
Little Rock shook off a sluggish start against a pesky Arkansas Baptist team, using a 12-0 first half run to turn a 10-point deficit into a two-point lead, then a 14-0 run in the second half to put the game away en route to the 91-60 victory.
Kevin Osawe led all players, scoring 20 points with seven rebound off the bench with
Nikola Maric notching his first double-double of the season, finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
LIGHTS OUT STULIC
Junior
Jovan Stulic has had a blistering start to the season, making 16 of his 23 shot attempts on the season (69.6%) while connecting on seven of his 11 three point shots (63.6%), as well as hitting all five of his free throw attempts. Stulic is averaging 14.7 points per game and is the lone Trojan to score in double figures in all three games thus far this season.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE CLUB
The 2021-22 Little Rock double-double club added a second member Sunday afternoon with
Nikola Maric finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Arkansas Baptist, becoming the second Trojan to reach a double-double this season. Maric leads the team with XX double-doubles in his Little Rock career and flirted with a triple-double in the win over Southern Illinois, finishing with 11 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
CHASING 1,000
Senior
Nikola Maric continues to inch closer to an impressive career milestone, sitting at 854 career points in a Little Rock uniform. Maric is 146 points shy of becoming the 21st member of the Little Rock 1,000-point club and would become the first Trojan to reach that plateau since Will Neighbour in 2014.
BIG OUTING FOR OSAWE
Junior
Kevin Osawe provided a major spark off the bench for Little Rock in the win over Arkansas Baptist, scoring a career-high 20 points while tying his career-best with seven rebounds against the Buffaloes. Osawe was 7-of-13 from the floor and 5-of-6 from three, becoming the third different player to lead the team in scoring in a game this season.
STRONG IN THE SECOND
Little Rock has outscored its opponents 133-73 in the second half this season, a differential of +60. Trojan opponents are averaging just 24.3 points over the final 20 minutes, compared to 44.3 points for Little Rock.
FLIPPING THE SCRIPT
Turnovers have haunted Little Rock the last few years, but the Trojans have seen a noticeable difference through the first three games of the year. Little Rock has forced 72 turnovers, resulting in a combined 92 points. Through Monday's games, the Trojans are 11th nationally in assist/turnover ratio (2.17), seventh in turnovers forced (24.00), seventh in steals (41) and fourth in turnover margin (14.3).
WESTWARD WOES
Heading west has been a tough venture for Little Rock in recent years as the Trojans are just 1-15 in games played west of the 501 area code since the start of the 2017-18 season. Little Rock's last win in the Pacific time zone came on November 21, 2015, when the Trojans upset San Diego State 49-43 in San Diego.
TROJANS IN THE GOLDEN STATE
Wednesday's game at Gersten Pavilion will be the Trojans' seventh game in program history in the state of California, compiling a 4-2 all-time record in the Golden State. Little Rock has wins at Loyola Marymount (2007), at Cal Poly (2008), at Pepperdine (2008) and at San Diego State (2015), with losses at Southern Cal (1984) and at San Diego (2017).
SPANNING THE GLOBE
This year's Trojan squad is represented by six different states (Arkansas, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada) and three countries (Canada, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia) as the Trojans have six international players on their roster (
Marko Lukic,
Marko Andric,
Jovan Stulic (Serbia);
Nikola Maric,
Admir Besovic (Bosnia-Herzegovina) and
Kevin Osawe (Canada)).
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