| GAME 7 - TULSA |
| Date |
Friday, November 26 - 7 p.m. |
| Location |
Tulsa, Okla. |
| Arena |
Donald W. Reynolds Center |
| Records |
Little Rock (4-2, 0-0 SBC)
Tulsa (3-2, 0-0 AAC) |
| Watch |
ESPN+ |
| Listen |
106.7 FM The Buz2 |
| Live Stats |
StatBroadcast |
| Notes |
Little Rock | Tulsa |
LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock continues its challenging six-game road trip, making the trip across the border into Oklahoma for a post-Thanksgiving meeting with Tulsa. The Trojans and Golden Hurricane will tip at 7 p.m. Friday, November 26 on ESPN+ with Trojan Hall of Famer Ray Tucker handling the radio call on 106.7 FM The Buz2.
GAME STORYLINES
• Little Rock continues its challenging six-game road trip which takes 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 and Tulsa have met 11 times previously with the Golden Hurricane holding a 6-5 edge in the all-time series. The Trojans are 1-5 all-time in games played in Tulsa as head coach
Darrell Walker is 0-1 against the Golden Hurricane, dropping an 88-78 decision on November 19, 2018.
• As a team, Little Rock enters the weekend ranked 13th nationally in both total assists (103) and total steals (60), ranking 35th nationally in both assists per game (17.2) and steals per game (10.0). The Trojans are also 25th nationally in turnovers forced, causing 19.3 per game.
•
Nikola Maric enters the weekend 15th nationally in free throw attempts (37) and 38th in free throws made (24). The senior from Bosnia-Herzegovina sits at 900 career points as he seeks to become the 21st member of the Little Rock 1,000-point club.
• Little Rock is 2-12 in games played in the state of Oklahoma since moving to Division I in 1978-79. The Trojans' last win in the Sooner State was the 64-60 win over the Golden Hurricane in Tulsa on November 28, 2015.
• The Trojans enter Friday's game with a 9-18 all-time record against current members of the American Athletic Conference. 19 of those 27 games have come against either Tulsa or Memphis, suiting up against the Golden Hurricane 11 times (5-6) and the Tigers eight (0-8).
NEWS AND NOTES
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN HURRICANE
2021-22: 3-2 overall, 0-0 American Athletic Conference
Last Three Games: L vs. Utah (72-58), W vs. Rhode Island (77-71), W vs. Oregon State (64-58)
Head Coach: Frank Haith (Elon, 1988). 8th season at Tulsa (130-90); 17th season overall (317-219)
Key Players:
• #1 Sam Griffin (So., G): 18.0 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 43.4 FG%
• #41 Jeriah Horne (Gr., F): 17.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 43.5 3FG%
• #11 Darien Jackson (Gr., G): 8.2 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 56.7 FG%
• #10 Tim Dalger (So., F): 6.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 87.5 FT%
• #25 Rey Idowu (Sr., F): 6.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 50.0 FG%
FAMILIAR FACE
One face on the Tulsa sideline will be familiar for the Trojans as sophomore guard Sam Griffin spent two seasons at Sun Belt foe UT Arlington. In six games against the Trojans, Griffin averaged 17.5 points with a pair of games of 20 points or more.
LAST WE MET
Little Rock raced out to a 12-point first half lead and held a 42-37 lead at halftime, but Tulsa outscored the Trojans 51-36 over the final 20 minutes to earn the 88-78 win at the Donald W. Reynolds Center on November 19, 2018. The Trojans shot 51.8% from the floor and 41.7% from three point range, but 19 Little Rock turnovers aided the Tulsa comeback win. Rayjon Tucker paced Little Rock with 24 points and 10 rebounds.
LAST TIME OUT
Little Rock jumped out to a commanding first half lead and led by as many as 26 in the second half, but had to fight off a furious Northern Illinois rally to claim a 67-60 win at the Jacksonville Classic by Fabletics Monday at UNF Arena. The Trojans never trailed in the game for the first time this season and were led by three players in double figures, including 16 points from
DeAntoni Gordon and 15 from
Nikola Maric, to finish third in the Jax Bracket of the preseason tournament.
HOT SHOOTING GUARDS
Juniors
Isaiah Palermo and
Jovan Stulic have started out the year shooting the ball well for the Trojans, going a combined 46-for-68 (.676) and 17-of-25 (.680) from three point range. Palermo is shooting 69.7% from the floor and has hit all five of this three point attempts, leading the team in scoring at 13.2 points per game, while Stulic has hit 65.7% of his shots and 60.0% of his three-pointers, knocking down a team-high 12 and ranking third in scoring at 10.7 points per game.
CHASING 1,000
Senior
Nikola Maric continues to inch closer to an impressive career milestone, sitting at 900 career points in a Little Rock uniform. Maric is 100 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. Maric is second on the team in scoring (12.8 ppg) and first in rebounding (6.5 rpg), but is questionable for Friday after suffering a right leg injury in the win over Northern Illinois Monday.
GORDON IN HIS GROOVE
Junior
DeAntoni Gordon had his best game in a Trojan uniform in the win over Northern Illinois, logging career-highs in points (16) and rebounds (nine) in flirting with his first career double-double. Gordon was 5-of-12 from the floor and 6-of-7 from the line, registering a pair of blocks in the win over the Huskies.
BALANCED SCORING
Through the first six games of 2021-22, Little Rock has had five different leading scorers.
Isaiah Palermo (CCC, LMU) has led the team twice with
Jovan Stulic (SIU),
Kevin Osawe (ABC),
Nikola Maric (SHSU) and
DeAntoni Gordon (NIU) each taking their turns in pacing the Trojans early in the season.
BIG OFF THE BENCH
Little Rock's bench has been a key factor in the Trojans' early season success, scoring 211 of the Trojans' 464 points this season (45.5%), averaging 35.2 points per game through the first six games.
STRIVING FOR 70
70 points a game has been the goal for head coach
Darrell Walker since arriving at Little Rock and the Trojans have found success when reaching the mark. Under Walker, Little Rock is 33-18 (.647) when scoring 70 or more points and just 13-30 (.302) when it scores 69 points or less.
WESTWARD WOES
Heading west has been a tough venture for Little Rock in recent years as the Trojans are just 1-16 in games played west of the 501 area code since the start of the 2017-18 season. Little Rock's last win in the state of Oklahoma came on November 28, 2015, when the Trojans bested the Golden Hurricanes 64-60 in Tulsa.
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