LITTLE ROCK - The University of Arkansas at Little Rock men's basketball team meets its instate rival Arkansas State for the 95
th time Tuesday night. The Trojans and Red Wolves tip off at 7 p.m. The game can be streamed on ESPN+ and airs on 106.7 Buz2 starting with the pregame at 6:45 p.m.
The teams started the rivalry on Jan. 4, 1932. ASU owns a 57-37 lead in the series and has won three of the past four meetings, but the Trojans recorded a 77-66 win last season at the Jack Stephens Center. Little Rock hasn't historically played well at Jonesboro as they are 11-27 there all-time. An 81-78 triumph in on Feb. 22, 2020, was the last time the Trojans won at First National Bank Arena. The rivals locked up twice a year in Sun Belt Conference play until Little Rock left the league for the Ohio Valley Conference after the 2021-22 season.
Both teams enter this matchup with 1-1 records. A-State, who is the preseason favorite to win the SBC, beat Akron 80-75 in overtime last Monday and then dropped an 88-79 decision to No. 2 Alabama Friday night. The game was tied with 7:08 to play before the Crimson Tide took the lead for good. ASU trailed by as many 16 before trimming the lead down to three at halftime.
Kobe Julien, the preseason Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, led ASU with 20 points. Taryn Todd added 18 points and Rashaud Marshall, an Ole Miss transfer from nearby Blytheville, totaled 11 points and 8 rebounds. ASU missed 13 free throws in the loss and were 6-for-28 on 3-point attempts. The game was a homecoming of sorts for ASU head coach Bryan Hodgson, who was an Alabama assistant.
Julien adds a boost to the Red Wolves, who return their top five scorers from last season, after transferring from Louisiana where he averaged 17. 3 points per game. The first team NABC All-District selection scored at least 20 points in 11 different games a year ago.
Todd, a senior from Ontario, Canada, was a second team preseason All-SBC selection. Junior Izaiyah Nelson made the third team. Other key players include Derrian Ford, who transferred from Arkansas last year, Marshall and junior guard Joseph Pinion, an Arkansas transfer who is also making his ASU debut this season.
The Trojans started their six-game road slate Saturday with an 82-67 loss at Winthrop. Little Rock led by as many as eight in the first half and only trailed 34-30 at halftime, but the Eagles got hot to start the second half and pushed its lead to more than 20 at one point. Little Rock was able to whittle lead down to 13 on three different occasions but no less.
The bright spot for head coach Darrell Walker's club was the play of Creighton transfer Johnathan Lawson. Lawson, who originally started collegiate his career at Memphis, torched the Eagles for 27 points and hit five three-pointers. He chipped in eight rebounds.
Jordan Jefferson and Tuongthach Gatkek each added 11 points and Mwani Wilkinson totaled 9 points. The Trojans will look to cut back on their 20 turnovers and improve on the 34.4% from they shot from the field.
