The Little Rock men's basketball team is glad to be home for Thanksgiving, or just home … period. After a six-game road swing, the Trojans won't play on the road again until the first of January. Before Little Rock digs in for Thanksgiving dinner Thursday, they play host to Maryland Eastern Shore. Tip-off will be at 7 p.m. and the broadcast can be heard on 106.7 Buz2 with Ray Tucker's pregame show at 6:45. The game will also be streamed on ESPN+ with Michael Westbrook and Josh Neighbors on the call.
Little Rock is trying hoping to snap a two-game losing streak after winning two straight games. The final two games of the road leg were the toughest as Arkansas is ranked 19 and Illinois received votes after being knocked out of the No. 25 spot after losing to Alabama.
LEANING ON LAWSON
Creighton junior transfer
Johnathan Lawson pulled off a rare feat. The 6-foot-7, 190-pound Memphis, Tenn., native won the Ohio Valley Conference's Newcomer and Player of the Week honors last week.
He scored 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting (3-of-6 3-pointers) as Little Rock won 71-57 at Tulsa. He added 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. On Friday night in a loss to nationally ranked Arkansas, he scored 15 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and totaled 5 assists, 2 steals and a block while playing all 40 minutes.
Lawson, the Trojans' second-leading scorer (14.6 ppg), has scored in double figures in all but two games.
CALLING ON CALEB
With Trojans' reserve forward
Creed Williamson going down with a foot injury before the Tulsa game, head coach
Darrell Walker was looking for some height inside. He called on 6-foot-9 freshman
Caleb Pennyfeather, who made his debut against the Golden Hurricane. The Orlando, Fla., native pulled down five rebounds and dished out two assists in 19 minutes. His dunk in the second half came at a key time. He played 12 minutes in the loss to Arkansas on Friday night and 27 minutes in the setback to Illinois Monday. Pennyfeather stands to see more minutes Wednesday night against the Hawks as Williamson continues to nurse his injury.
THE SERIES
This is the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE: FIRST GLANCE
Little Rock thought it had a tough road trip. The Hawks, who play 10 nonconference road games, are navigating a brutal nonconference six-game road trip. The stretch started with a loss at Murray State and continued with setbacks at Illinois on Saturday and Arkansas on Monday. After Wednesday's game, MES travels to Storrs, Conn., to take on defending national champion UConn.
MES hasn't won on the road yet this season. The closest of the road losses were an 85-84 loss at Penn on Nov. 7 and a 73-71 loss at Old Dominion on Nov. 15.
The Hawks' two wins were against Penn State Schuykill, a United States Collegiate Athletics Association member. The other win came against NCAA Division III program Gallaudet University.
The Hawks are allowing opponents to shoot over 46% per game. They are second in the MEAC in defensive rebounds with 23 per game.
Katron Shaw leads the Hawks scoring nearly 20 points per game and averaging 5.3 rebounds per contest.
