Little Rock Heads To Pensacola For Sun Belt Tournament

GAME 27 - SOUTH ALABAMA SUN BELT FIRST ROUND
Date/Time	Thursday, March 3 - 2 p.m.
Location	Pensacola, Fla.
Arena	Pensacola Bay Center
Records	Little Rock (8-18, 3-11 SBC) South Alabama (19-10, 9-7 SBC)
Watch	ESPN+
Listen	106.7 FM The Buz2
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Notes	Little Rock | South Alabama

LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock closes out its time as a member of the Sun Belt Conference at the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Pensacola, Florida. Entering as the number 12 seed, the Trojans will face fifth-seeded South Alabama at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 3 in the tournament's opening round. The game will stream live on ESPN+ with Trojan Hall of Famer Ray Tucker handling the radio call on 106.7 FM The Buz2, starting at 1:45 p.m.

GAME STORYLINES

• Little Rock concludes its 31st, and final, season as a member of the Sun Belt Conference this week, posting an all-time record of 266-262 as a member of the league. The Trojans are tied with Arkansas State and Louisiana as the second-longest tenured members of the conference.

• Little Rock heads to Pensacola with an all-time Sun Belt tournament record of 22-26, winning the tournament title in both 2011 and 2016 but is seeking its first postseason victory since the 2016 championship.

• Little Rock and South Alabama meet for the 55th time, the third-longest rivalry for the Trojans behind Arkansas State (93 games) and Louisiana (61 games). The Trojans and Jaguars have met eight times previously in the Sun Belt tournament with South Alabama winning seven.

• Little Rock is just 2-11 in games away from the Jack Stephens Center this season and is 1-1 in the state of Florida. The Trojans fell to Sam Houston State 77-59 before besting Northern Illinois 67-60 at the Jacksonville Classic in November.

• Nikola Maric enters Thursday's game seven points shy of becoming the 21st player in program history to reach 1,000 career points and the first since Will Neighbour in 2014.

• 11 different Trojans have combined to miss 134 games due to injuries this season. Because of that, Little Rock has used 17 different starting lineups, tied for the second-most nationally behind Alabama State (18) and even with Coppin State (17). Every Trojan has started at least one game this season.

NEWS AND NOTES

SCOUTING THE JAGUARS
2021-22: 19-10, 9-7 Sun Belt Conference
Last Three Games: W vs. UT Arlington (62-52), L vs. Texas State (55-52), L at App State (69-51)
Head Coach: Richie Riley (Eastern Kentucky, 2005). Fourth season at South Alabama (73-49); Sixth season overall (108-77)
Key Players:
• #21 Charles Manning Jr. (Sr., G): 15.7 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 43.0 FG%
• #22 Jay Jay Chandler (Gr., G): 15.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 45.6 FG%
• #13 Javon Franklin (Sr., F): 11.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 65.4 FG%
• #10 Diante Smith (Jr., F): 7.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 39.1 3FG%
• #4 Kayo Goncalves (Gr., F): 7.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 35.8 3FG%

SERIES HISTORY
Thursday's game marks the 55th all-time meeting between Little Rock and South Alabama, the third-longest active rivalry for the Trojans behind Arkansas State (93 games) and Louisiana (61 games). The Jaguars hold a 31-23 edge in the all-time series, including the 77-46 win in Mobile on February 10, but prior the Trojans have had the upper hand in recent years, winning seven of the last nine meetings prior. This will be the ninth time Little Rock and South Alabama will meet in the Sun Belt tournament with the Jaguars winning seven of the previous eight.

LAST WE MET
South Alabama took control midway through the first half and never looked back, racing past Little Rock en route to a 77-46 victory at the Mitchell Center on February 10. Isaiah Palermo was the lone Trojan to reach double figures, scoring 16 points, as Little Rock shot 36% from the floor and 5-of-16 from three point range. The Trojans were within one at 15-14 at the 11:58 mark of the first half, but the Jaguars used a 22-8 run down the stretch to put the game out of reach.

SUN BELT TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Little Rock heads to Pensacola for its final Sun Belt tournament game in program history, posting a 22-26 (.458) all-time record at the postseason event and seeking its first postseason win since capturing the 2016 title. The Trojans have won a pair of Sun Belt tournament championships, doing so in 2011 and 2016, and were the number one seed in the 2020 event before COVID forced the cancellation.

50 FOR WALKER
Little Rock's 66-62 win at Troy on February 12 marked head coach Darrell Walker's 50th win on the Little Rock sideline, sitting at 50-64 in his fourth season. Walker upped his career coaching record to 96-79 as he holds a unique distinction as the only coach in the nation that has been a head coach at the NBA, WNBA, Division II and Division I level.

CHASING 1,000
Senior Nikola Maric enters Thursday's game against South Alabama with 993 career points. Maric, who has played in 85 career games with 69 starts for the Trojans sits seven points shy of becoming the 21st member of the Trojan 1,000 point club. Maric would be the first to join the club since Will Neighbour in 2014.

DOUBLE FIGURE TROJANS
13 different Trojans have combined for 78 double-figure performances in 2021-22. Isaiah Palermo has reached double digits a team-best 14 times this season, followed by nine each from Nikola Maric and Jovan Stulic and eight occurrences from Myron Gardner in just 14 games played.

TRIPLE-DOUBLE FOR GARDNER
Myron Gardner recorded the first triple-double in program history in the Division I era against App State on February 23, finishing with 13 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists. Gardner became the 23rd player to register a triple-double during the 2021-22 season and the second in the Sun Belt, joining UT Arlington's Javon Levi's against Louisiana on January 13.

CONSISTENT PALERMO
Isaiah Palermo has been Little Rock's most consistent player this season, leading the active roster in steals (33) while ranking second in points (11.4) and minutes (30.0) and third in field goal percentage (47.3%), rebounding (4.1) and assists (38). He has 14 double figure games this season, the most on the team, playing in 25 games with a team-best 19 starts.

SOLID STULIC
Jovan Stulic has put together a solid season for Little Rock as he is the only Trojan that has played in all 26 games this season, starting 13. Stulic leads the team in field goal percentage (51.8%) and three point percentage (43.0%) as well as blocks (14), ranking second in steals (22) while averaging 7.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in 26.1 minutes per game.

FRESHMEN DUO
Little Rock has started a pair of true freshmen for the majority of Sun Belt play in Jordan Jefferson and D.J. Smith. The duo has combined for 32 starts in 41 games, averaging 14.4 points and 4.3 rebounds between them. Smith leads the team in assists (56) and is second in steals (22) while Jefferson is third on the team in three point percentage (34.8%), averaging 7.6 points.

PLAYING FROM BEHIND
Little Rock has had to play from behind for the majority of the season, facing a double-digit deficit in 20 of its 26 games this season. 18 of those games have seen the Trojans trailing by 10 or more in the second half, including 11 of 14 Sun Belt games, as Little Rock has rallied to win three of those games this season.

SHORTHANDED TROJANS
Injuries have played a major factor for the Trojans as 11 different players have combined for 134 missed games this season. Chris Walker, DeAntoni Gordon, Marko Andric and Ethan Speaker are all expected to miss the remainder of the season as Little Rock is expected to bring just 10 players to Pensacola.

FINDING THE RIGHT COMBINATION
Because of the injuries sustained by Little Rock this season, the Trojans have had 17 different starting lineup combinations this season through 26 games with every player on the roster starting at least once. Isaiah Palermo has the most starts among the Trojans with 19 games started this season, followed by the 18 from freshman D.J. Smith. That combination ranks Little Rock tied for second the nation behind Alabama State (18), even with Coppin State (17) and just ahead of Memphis (16).

LAST TRIP AROUND THE SUN
Little Rock concludes its 31st, and final, season in the Sun Belt this weekend. Joining the conference in 1991-92 season, the Trojans are tied with Arkansas State and Louisiana as the second-longest tenured members of the conference Little Rock will officially leave the Sun Belt and join the Ohio Valley Conference on July 1, 2022.

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