2019-20 LITTLE ROCK TROJANS Assistant AD/Communications: Rand Champion Phone: (501) 351-3385 Email: [email protected] 2019-20 SCHEDULE GAME TWENTY-EIGHT Overall: 18-9 | Sun Belt: 12-4 LITTLE ROCK TROJANS (18-9, 12-4 SUN BELT) Head Coach: Darrell Walker (Arkansas, 2012) NOVEMBER Record at Little Rock: 28-30 (2nd season) 5 at Missouri State W 67-66 Overall Record: 74-48 (4th season) 10 at Illinois State L 70-75 14 SOUTHWEST BAPTIST W 77-59 17 at Central Arkansas W 76-56 ARKANSAS STATE RED WOLVES (15-13, 7-10 SUN BELT) 20 at Memphis ^ L 58-68 Head Coach: Mike Balado (St. Thomas, 1998) 23 at NC State ^ L 58-74 Record at Arkansas State: 39-53 (3rd season) 26 ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYN ^ W 67-56 Overall Record: 39-53 (3rd season) 27 ALCORN STATE ^ W 67-50 30 EAST TENNESSEE STATE L 63-67 GAME STORYLINES GAME INFORMATION DECEMBER • Little Rock concludes a challenging three game road swing DATE/TIME: Saturday, February 22 | 4 p.m. 7 at North Texas L 53-76 with the yearly trip to Jonesboro for the showdown with Arkan- LOCATION: First National Bank Arena | Jonesboro, Ark. 10 TENNESSEE STATE W 86-62 sas State Saturday. Tip time against the rival Red Wolves is set WATCH: ESPN+ (online at WatchESPN.com) 19 at ULM * W 73-72 for 4 p.m. at First National Bank Arena, streaming on ESPN+. RADIO: The Point 94.1 (online at KKPT.com) 21 at Louisiana * W 69-66 STATS: TrojanStats.com • Little Rock and Arkansas State renew the Sun Belt’s longest SERIES RECORD: Arkansas State leads, 55-35 JANUARY standing rivalry, playing for the 91st time Saturday. A-State SERIES NOTE: Trojans seeking first season sweep since 2014-15 2 TEXAS STATE * W 72-68 holds the 55-35 lead in the all-time series as the Trojans are 4 UT ARLINGTON * W 92-89 10-25 in Jonesboro, the last win coming in 2018. Little Rock is LAST GAME STARTERS 6 GEORGIA SOUTHERN * W 79-73 seeking its first season sweep of the Red Wolves since 2014-15. 9 at Troy * L 71-76 0 | BEN COUPET JR. | G 11 SOUTH ALABAMA * L 43-52 • Little Rock remains in first place in the Sun Belt, holding a one Points: 11.8 Reb: 4.7 16 at Coastal Carolina * W 71-55 and a half game lead on both Georgia State and Texas State. FG%: 46.8 Assists: 1.3 18 at Appalachian State * W 73-57 The Trojans are the only team that controls its own destiny for a 3FG%: 37.2 Steals: 0.6 22 TROY * W 81-63 conference title as Little Rock’s magic number to clinch is three. FT%: 73.2 Minutes: 31.0 25 at South Alabama * W 73-71 30 COASTAL CAROLINA * W 96-79 • Little Rock’s 18 wins this season has surpassed the program’s 1 | MARKQUIS NOWELL | G win total from both the 2017-18 (seven wins) and 2018-19 (10 Points: 16.7 Reb: 2.9 FEBRUARY wins) seasons combined. FG%: 42.1 Assists: 5.0 1 APPALACHIAN STATE * W 93-86 3FG%: 37.8 Steals: 2.2 8 ARKANSAS STATE * W 90-87 FT%: 88.5 Minutes: 34.3 • Ruot Monyyong continues to lead the Sun Belt Conference in 13 at Texas State * L 66-74 both rebounds (10.0) and blocks (2.1) per game. Monyyong is 15 at UT Arlington * L 65-76 20 | KAMANI JOHNSON | F averaging a double-double at 12.0 points per game and has 14 Points: 9.7 Reb: 6.4 22 at Arkansas State * 4 p.m. double-doubles on the year, ranking 10th nationally. 27 ULM * 6:30 p.m. FG%: 50.0 Assists: 2.3 29 LOUISIANA * 2 p.m. 3FG%: 0.0 Steals: 0.7 • Both Little Rock and Arkansas State frequent the free throw FT%: 75.4 Minutes: 27.6 MARCH line as the Red Wolves are first nationally in attempts (728) 3 at Georgia State * 6 p.m. while the Trojans are 15th (615). The duo rank one-two in the 33 | JOVAN STULIC | G 7-15 Sun Belt Conference Tournament # Sun Belt in both free throws made and attempted. Points: 5.6 Reb: 1.7 FG%: 37.7 Assists: 0.4 3FG%: 31.2 Steals: 0.7 * Sun Belt Conference game • Markquis Nowell is the league’s leading free throw shooter at FT%: 76.9 Minutes: 21.3 ^ Barclay Center Classic 88.5%, ranking 18th nationally. He is among the top-three in the Sun Belt in seven different statistical categories. # The first three rounds of the Sun Belt Tournament will be 44 | RUOT MONYYONG | F held March 7, 9 and 11 at campus sites. The semifinals and • Little Rock is one of two teams nationally who is leading its Points: 12.0 Reb: 10.0 finals will be held March 14-15 at Smoothie King Center in FG%: 56.1 Assists: 1.5 New Orleans, La. conference after being picked 11th in the respective preseason 3FG%: 21.9 Blocks: 2.1 polls, joined by Merrimack in the Northeast Conference. FT%: 59.5 Minutes: 33.5 TALE OF THE TAPE 18-9 72.2 68.6 46.9% 34.5% 70.9% 35.5 14.8 16.1 7.1 RECORD POINTS ALLOWED FG% 3FG% FT% REBOUNDS ASSISTS TURNOVERS STEALS 15-13 70.3 71.2 43.8% 35.1% 70.6% 32.3 14.3 12.9 6.8 LRTrojans.com NEWS AND NOTES SCOUTING THE RED WOLVES TOUGH TRIP OUT WEST 2019-20: 15-13 overall, 7-10 Sun Belt (T-8th) Little Rock’s trip out west proved to be a mirror opposite of the Last Three Games: L vs. ULM (66-52); L at Texas State (69-64); success it had in recent games. During the seven game winning SERIES HISTORY L at UT Arlington (77-67) streak prior to the trip, Little Rock led for 137:30 of the possible All-Time Series Arkansas State leads, 55-35 Head Coach: Mike Balado (St. Thomas, 1998) 140 minutes of the second half of those games. Against Texas Streak Little Rock won 1 3rd season at Arkansas State and overall (39-53) State and UT Arlington, the Trojans never led in either game and In Little Rock 22-14 Key Players: forced just five ties with the Mavericks Saturday. In Jonesboro 10-25 • #23 Marquis Eaton (Jr., G): 12.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 79.3 FT% Neutral 3-3 • #0 Caleb Fields (Fr., G): 11.2 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 40.0 FG% THIS CLOSE ... • #12 Canberk Kus (Sr., G): 9.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 43.2 FG% Ruot Monyyong finished with 10 points and nine rebounds in LAST 15 MEETINGS • #1 Jerry Johnson (Sr. G): 9.0 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 86.6 FT% the loss at Texas State Saturday, coming one rebound shy of log- Mar. 2, 2013 * Little Rock W 78-71 • #11 Melo Eggleston (So., G): 8.9 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 38.7 FG% ging his 15th double-double on the year. His 14 is the tops in the Jan. 25, 2014 * Jonesboro L 49-77 Sun Belt and 10th nationally, sitting six double-doubles ahead Mar. 1, 2014 * Little Rock W 74-67 LAST WE MET of Josh Ajayi of South Alabama in second place. Mar. 14, 2014 ^ New Orleans, La. L (4OT) 114-116 Little Rock led by 14 early in the second half, then withheld a Jan. 29, 2015 * Jonesboro W 75-65 furious Arkansas State rally to notch a hard-fought 90-87 victory ATOP THE SUN BELT Feb. 19, 2015 * Little Rock W 70-57 at the Jack Stephens Center on February 8. Markquis Nowell’s 24 A number of Trojans rank among the Sun Belt leaders in a num- Jan. 18, 2016 * Jonesboro L 73-76 points paved the way for the Trojans while Ruot Monyyong reg- ber of statistical categories as the stretch run begins. Mar. 1, 2016 * Little Rock W 89-80 istered another double-double with 13 points and 11 boards. Jan. 14, 2017 * Little Rock L 72-77 TROJANS AMONG SUN BELT LEADERS Feb. 17, 2017 * Jonesboro L 58-67 RUOT BLOCK PARTY Category Player Rank No. Jan. 20, 2018 * Little Rock L 62-70 SCORING Markquis Nowell 3rd 16.7 With his two blocks against UT Arlington, Ruot Monyyong Feb. 17, 2018 * Jonesboro W 82-78 REBOUNDS Ruot Monyyong 1st 10.0 Feb. 2, 2019 * Little Rock L 83-84 upped his season block total to 58 as he continues to lead the ASSISTS Markquis Nowell 2nd 5.0 Feb. 23, 2019 * Jonesboro L 65-72 Sun Belt Conference. He recently surpassed Ryan Moss (1997- 3PT FGs Markquis Nowell 2nd 26 Feb. 8, 2020 * Little Rock W 90-87 98) for the most in a single season in program history at the FREE THROW % Markquis Nowell 1st 88.5% Division I level. 3PT FG % Markquis Nowell 3rd 37.8% * Sun Belt Conference game | ^ Sun Belt Tournament game STEALS Markquis Nowell 3rd 2.2 No. Player Season Blocks BLOCKS Ruot Monyyong 1st 2.1 1. Larry Johnson 1974-75 113 TROJANS WITH... OFF. REB. Kamani Johnson 2nd 2.8 2. Larry Johnson 1976-77 82 DEF. REB. Ruot Monyyong 1st 7.9 ... A 25+ POINT GAME 3. Ruot Monyyong 2019-20 58 MINUTES Markquis Nowell 3rd 34.3 33 Markquis Nowell vs. ULM (12/19/19) 4. Ryan Moss 1997-98 55 5. Muntrelle Dobbins 1996-97 52 30 Kamani Johnson vs.