They are 6-1, with only a competitive loss to Kansas. It is tough when we have what amounts to a "starting" team not dressed out. Kris, Evans, Nikola, Pippins, and Horace Wyatt would be at worse a toss-up against our current starting 5.

(11-28-2019 04:01 PM)mjs Wrote:  Kris, Evans, Nikola, Pippins, and Horace Wyatt would be at worse a toss-up against our current starting 5.

That is a pretty good 5.

They lost at Kansas by 12; a lot of good teams will lose by worse. Last time out they beat App State by 9.

Their front line likely will run 7-0, 6-5, 6-4, and they can bring 7-0, 6-9 off the bench.

They have two players averaging double figures, led by 6-5 junior Bo Hodges at 15.6 ppg. Senior 6-4 Tray Boyd is their gunner at 42% from the arc. (That is a good name for a 3-point shooter, what?)

As a team they shoot well (47.7%, and 36.5% from the arc). Their defense is very good (42% overall and 28% from the arc). They are plus-7 on the boards.

They play good D, they shoot well, they take care of the ball, they rebound well: this is not a team we are going to beat if we cut down our margin for error with a bunch of turnovers.

Sagarin has them as a 12-point favorite.
RealtimeRPI has them by 7.

We are a bad 3-point shooting team. They are a good perimeter defense team. Not hard to figure that one out.

They average 77 ppg. And hold opponents to 64. We average 67 and hold opponents to 63.

https://lrtrojans.com/news/2019/11/29/me...urday.aspx

LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock's Thanksgiving week home stand concludes Saturday when the Trojans welcome East Tennessee State to the Jack Stephens Center for the first time. Opening tip against the Buccaneers is set for 2 p.m. and will stream live on ESPN+ with Ben Creighton and former Little Rock head coach Steve Shields on the call.

"This is a very good team coming into the Jack Stephens Center Saturday," said Walker of ETSU. "They are consistently one of the top mid major teams in the country and have won a lot of games over the last few years. We will need to play one of our most complete games and it should be good game Saturday."

GAME STORYLINES

• After starting the year playing five of the first six games on the road, Little Rock continues a stretch where it will play four of its next five at the Jack Stephens Center, including three-straight in the span of five days.

• Saturday's game marks the first meeting between Little Rock and East Tennessee State. The game against the Buccaneers is the second of three games the Trojans will play against foes from the state of Tennessee, starting with Memphis on November 20 and concluding with Tennessee State on December 10.

• Little Rock has started the year 3-0 in games played at the Jack Stephens Center, the first time it has won its first three home games since the 2015-16 season when the Trojans went 15-0 on its home court.

• Markquis Nowell continues his frenetic pace to start the season for the Trojans, leading the team in both scoring (20.4 ppg) and minutes (39:13). He has scored 20 or more points in five of Little Rock's eight games while logging 40 minutes six times.

• The Trojans have had a player log a double-double in five-straight games. Ruot Monyyong did so at Central Arkansas, at NC State and against St. Francis Brooklyn while Kamani Johnson logged double-doubles at Memphis and against Alcorn State.

• Little Rock's defensive effort has frustrated opponents all season as each of the Trojans opponents have been held under their season scoring average. Little Rock has held its last six opponents to at least 10 points below their average.

• East Tennessee State head coach Steve Forbes is very familiar with the Natural State. Forbes is a 1988 graduate of Southern Arkansas where he played baseball for the Muleriders and spent one year as the department's sports information director before beginning his coaching career.

NEWS AND NOTES

SCOUTING THE BUCCANEERS
2019-20: 6-1 overall, 0-0 Southern
Last Three Games: W vs. Appalachian State (78-69), W vs. Southern Utah (70-58), W vs. Delaware State (98-66)
Head Coach: Steve Forbes (Southern Arkansas, 1988). Fifth season at ETSU (96-40); 11th season overall (272-100)
Key Players:
• #3 Bo Hodges (Jr., G): 15.6 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 57.3 FG%
• #1 Tray Boyd (Sr., G): 13.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 100.0 FT%
• #25 Lucas N'Guessan (Sr., C): 9.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 65.6 FG%
• #10 Patrick Good (R-Jr., G): 9.1 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 38.3 3FG%
• #5 Daivien Williamson (So., G): 8.6 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 3.4 apg

SERIES HISTORY
Little Rock and East Tennessee State meet for the first time Saturday afternoon. Little Rock is 39-12 (.765) all-time against current members of the Southern Conference, including 19-6 records against both Mercer and Samford, but will be playing its first game against the league since 1998. Against teams from the state of Tennessee, Little Rock is 28-34 (.452) and is 0-1 this year, falling at Memphis 68-58 on November 20.





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What we need is another game from Markquis like he had against Missouri State. 8 assists, 2 turnovers.

Wasn’t able to get to the Jack til half time today but it was an exciting half. They are a lot better than last year even with the injurys and suspensions. Coach walker’s defense is getting better and better. I feel this team will be a strong contender in the Belt this season.


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This was not a bad loss, at least at our level. ETSU is a good program, and we were the underdogs. We let them shoot lights out from the perimeter, and that hurt. We had 17 turnovers, and that hurt. However, we did shoot well ourselves, and we were plus-10 on the boards. We keep doing some things well. We just have to correct the hiccups.

We had four players playing at least 32 minutes. Only seven players played at all. That doesn't give DW many options keeping players fresh, especially if it is an unusually intense game, or goes into overtime. I would think opposing coaches would be pressing us a lot and being extra aggressive on offense to try to get us into foul trouble.

In today’s paper, a few quotes from coach Walker
Walker was upbeat, despite UALR (5-4) losing a seven-point lead with under seven minutes to play.
“Overall, we’re coming,” Walker said. “I like what I see from my team. I really do.”
“You got a guy in Nikola who can get you between 15 and 20, you got Kris Bankston who’ll probably get you from 8 to 12, and then you got Alsean,
who can get you about 10 to 14,” Walker said. “So that’s a ton of points that’s not in the lineup.”
“This team is a very good basketball team we just played, and we took them all the way down to the end,” Walker said. “Wasn’t mad at my guys. Matter of fact, I told them I was really happy how they competed. If they keep believing in [themselves], then we have a chance to be pretty good.”


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