LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock continues its challenging six-game road trip, making the trip to Fort Collins, Colorado to face preseason Mountain West Conference favorite Colorado State. The Trojans and Rams will tip at 8 p.m. CT Wednesday, December 1 from Moby Arena with live streaming available through the Mountain West Network. Trojan Hall of Famer Ray Tucker will handle 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 four time zones and traveling over 7,500 miles during that span.
• Little Rock and Colorado State have met twice previously with the Trojans winning both meetings. Little Rock took an 88-79 decision in Fort Collins on December 8, 2001, then defeated the Rams 84-75 the following year at Alltel Arena. The Trojans were coached by Porter Moser in both of those games, who is now the head man at Oklahoma.
• As a team, Little Rock enters the weekend ranked 20th nationally in total steals (68), 30th in turnovers forced (18.3), 31st in total assists (114), 34th in steals per game (9.7) and 41st in assists per game (16.3).
•
Isaiah Palermo and
Jovan Stulic continue to lead the Trojans in shooting this season as the duo has combined to shoot 60.5% from the floor, 52.7% from three and 80.6% from the free throw line, averaging a combined 20.3 points per game.
• Little Rock is 5-12 all-time in games played in the state of Colorado. The Trojans have victories in Boulder (1987), Fort Collins (2001) and Denver (three times) with Little Rock's last win in the Centennial State the 85-83 double overtime upset of Purdue in the 2016 NCAA first round in Denver.
• The Trojans enter Wednesday's game with a 4-3 all-time record against current members of the Mountain West Conference. Little Rock has wins over Colorado State (twice), San Diego State and San Jose State with the last victory the 49-43 win over the Aztecs in San Diego on November 21, 2015.
NEWS AND NOTES
SCOUTING THE RAMS
2021-22: 7-0 overall, 0-0 Mountain West Conference
Last Three Games: W vs. Northern Colorado (88-79), W vs. Northeastern (71-61), W vs. Creighton (95-81)
Head Coach: Niko Medved (Minnesota, 1997). Fourth season at CSU (59-40), eighth season overall (138-127)
Key Players:
• #21 David Roddy (Jr., F): 22.4 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 57.1 FG%
• #4 Isaiah Stevens (Jr. G): 15.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 44.3 FG%
• #1 John Tonje (Jr., G): 13.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 63.2 3FG%
• #11 Dischon Thomas (Jr., F): 10.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 57.9 3FG%
• #13 Chandler Jacobs (5th, G): 5.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 56.0 FG%
ITS BEEN A WHILE
The last time Little Rock and Colorado State squared off was in December of 2002, an 84-75 win by the Trojans at then-Alltel Arena. Little Rock was led in scoring by Nick Zachery, who went off for 31 against the Rams, as the Trojans were led by head coach Porter Moser, who was in his final season at the helm in Little Rock before becoming the head coach at Illinois State.
LAST TIME OUT
Little Rock put together a solid opening 20 minutes, taking a four-point lead into halftime at Tulsa, but the Golden Hurricane wore down the Trojans in the second half as Little Rock fell 77-63 on Friday, November 26. After making 17-of-31 shots in the first half, the Trojans made just 5-of-21 in the second, including going 0-for-9 from three point range.
DeAntoni Gordon led Little Rock in scoring for the second-straight game, finishing with a career-high 17 points.
GORDON IN HIS GROOVE
Junior
DeAntoni Gordon has put together his two best games in a Trojan uniform over the last week, scoring 16 points in the win over Northern Illinois on November 22 before logging his career-best 17 point performance at Tulsa on November 26. The Mobile, Alabama native went 13-of-26 from the floor and 6-of-7 from the line last week, averaging 5.5 rebounds 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 Wednesday after suffering a right leg injury in the win over Northern Illinois.
EFFICIENT FROM THE FLOOR
Little Rock enters Wednesday's game at Colorado State with three players shooting 50% or better from the floor, led by
Isaiah Palermo's 63.2% through his first six games.
Jovan Stulic (58.1%) and
Nikola Maric (53.1%) are both above the 50-50 line with
DeAntoni Gordon knocking at the door at 49.2% shooting.
BALANCED SCORING
Through the first seven games of 2021-22, Little Rock has had five different leading scorers.
Isaiah Palermo (CCC, LMU) and
DeAntoni Gordon (NIU, TUL) have led the team twice with
Jovan Stulic (SIU),
Kevin Osawe (ABC) and
Nikola Maric (SHSU) 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 228 of the Trojans' 527 points this season (43.3%), averaging 32.6 points through the first seven 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 13-31 (.302) when it scores 69 points or less.
FINDING THE RIGHT COMBINATION
Through the first seven games of the season, Little Rock has used four different starting lineup combinations as eight different Trojans have started at least one game this season.
DeAntoni Gordon and
Jovan Stulic are the two Trojans that have started every game this season as
Admir Besovic earned his first career start Friday at Tulsa, filling in for the injured
Nikola Maric who had started the previous six games.
WESTWARD WOES
Heading west has been a tough venture for Little Rock in recent years as the Trojans are just 1-17 in games played west of the 501 area code since the start of the 2017-18 season. Wednesday night's game will be the first for Little Rock in the Mountain time zone since the Trojans' appearance in the 2016 NCAA tournament in Denver, defeating fifth-seeded Purdue 85-83 in double overtime on March 17 before falling to fourth-seeded Iowa State 78-61 in the second round.
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