MONROE, La. – What was once a defensive team has turned into an offensive juggernaut as the ULM men's basketball program outscored UT Arlington 99-88 in a three-point contest on Thursday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
Both teams made 15 three-pointers in the game. ULM (9-11, 5-4 SBC), which won its third consecutive game and improved to 8-0 (5-0 SBC) at home, went 15-30 from long-range, while UTA (14-5, 5-3 SBC) finished 15-40.
Though overall from the field, the Warhawks were 34-63 (.540) and held the Mavs to a 32-75 (.427) clip.
All five ULM starters scored in double-figures for the second straight game. Senior Majok Deng, who won College Sports Madness SBC Player of the Week on Monday, made seven three-pointers, all in the second half, to end with a game-high 29 points and had a career-high five blocks.
Senior Justin Roberson, the reigning Sun Belt Conference and Louisiana Student-Athlete of the Week winner, went 4-5 from beyond-the-arc and posted 24 points and seven rebounds. Though he only played 21 minutes due to foul trouble.
Junior Nick Coppola notched a double-double with 12 points and a season-high 11 assists with just two turnovers in 40 minutes. Senior Jamaal Samuel also registered 12 points, while senior DeMondre Harvey recorded 13 points, a career-high four assists and three steals.
On the other end of the floor, Erick Neal turned in a triple-double for the Mavs with 27 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. Jalen Jones tallied 18 points, Kennedy Eubanks 17 and Kaelon Wilson 10.
The Mavs came out of the gates hot and made their first four three-pointers to take an early 14-7 lead. Still down 19-10, Roberson found his stroke and scored eight points during a 15-2 span to put the Warhawks ahead, 25-21 at the 8:59 mark.
ULM kept it going on a 23-5 run which included a lay-in by senior Mack Foster to push the advantage up to 33-24 with 6:13 to go. The Mavs scored the final basket of the half, but the Warhawks carried a 43-36 edge into the intermission.
UTA opened the second half similar to the first and used the long-range shot to get the deficit down to just 49-47 with 16:43 left. Deng fired back by making four consecutive three-pointers to push the lead back up to 61-50 at the 15:00 mark. The Mavs responded with a three, but Deng drilled his fifth three-pointer in a row to keep the Warhawks ahead 64-53 with 12:52 to go.
The Mavs scored the next eight points, which included two more threes, to cut it to 64-61 with 10:53 remaining. A dunk by Roberson on the fast break got ULM back ahead 77-67 with 7:05 left. UTA answered with a 9-2 run to again threaten, down 79-76 with 4:58 to go. A three-pointer by Neal made it 81-79 ULM with 3:57 remaining.
ULM was able to break the press and came back with lay-ups by Coppola, Harvey and Roberson to go back up 87-79 with 2:47 left. The Warhawks matched their biggest lead of the game, 97-86, after a pair of free throws by junior Prince Cooper with 24 seconds to go.
The Warhawks will wrap-up their four-game homestand on Saturday when it takes on Texas State at 2:00 p.m. at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
NOTES
- ULM was one three-pointer shy of tying the school record for most threes made in a game. It made 16 against Arkansas-Monticello on Dec. 3, 1996, and at Troy on Jan 27. 2007
- Deng became the first Warhawk to make at least seven three-pointers in a game since Hugh Mingo in 2010-11. It was the 16th time in school history that a Warhawk made at least seven three-pointers in a game
- The Warhawks improved to 8-0 (5-0 SBC) at home this season and 22-4 (.846) at home over the last two years. ULM is 412-173 all-time in Fant-Ewing Coliseum
- ULM is now 48-16 all-time against UTA and 28-5 at home
- The Warhawks have scored at least 85 points in three straight conference games for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign when they were a Southland Conference member
- ULM came one point away from scoring 100 in back-to-back games for the first time since the 1992-93 season when it defeated Nicholls State, 105-64 and Southern Miss, 113-106 (OT). The last time the Warhawks scored 100 points in back-to-back league games was in 1967-68 when ULM fell in overtime to both Northwestern State 114-111 and Southeastern Louisiana 103-101 as a member of the Gulf States Conference
- The Warhawks improved to 3-0 with the starting lineup of Coppola, Roberson, Samuel, Deng and Harvey
- Coppola's double-double was the 13th by a student-athlete this season for the Warhawks. It was the fourth of his career and third this season. Coppola scored his third straight double-figure scoring game, 11th this season and 39th of his career. It was also his fourth career double-digit assist game and third this season
- Coppola moved up to No. 5 all-time in career minutes at ULM with 2,998. He surpassed Michael Saulsberry who logged 2,964 minutes and Paul Marshall 2,984. He played at least 40 minutes for the 30th time in his career. Coppola also moved up to No. 6 all-time in career assists at ULM with 331, surpassing Casey Jones who dished out 324. Coppola needs eight more to catch Tony Hooper who is in fifth with 339. Bobby Douglas sits in fourth with 341
- Deng entered the game ranking 42nd in the nation in scoring (19.5 ppg) and upped it with his 29-point performance. His career-high five blocks surpassed his total of four set twice. He also entered the game as the team's best free throw shooter and went 4-4 in the contest. He's scored at least 14 points in 12 of his last 13 outings. Deng submitted his 40th career double-figure scoring game and 15th this season. It was also the ninth time in his career that he's scored at least 20 points and seventh time this year. Deng ranks seventh all-time in ULM in career blocks with 78 and needs 11 more to move into sixth and catch Rudy Turner
- Roberson has now scored the four highest point totals of his career in his last four games. He netted 20 points at Georgia Southern last Saturday, a career-high 26 points vs. Troy last Thursday and 23 points against South Alabama. Roberson has reached double-figures in 10 of his last 11 games. He came into the game ranking second in the conference in three-point percentage (.444) and went 4-5 (.800) in the game
- Samuel has now scored in double-figures 11 times this year and 19 times in his career. He also recorded five rebounds, three assists and three blocks in the game. He was coming off his first career double-double with 14 points and a career-high 13 rebounds vs. South Alabama in his last outing
- Harvey totaled his 10th career double-figure scoring game and sixth this year. Known for his high field goal percentage, Harvey went 4-7 (.571) in the contest
- UTA became the first team to score 75 points against ULM in the last 37 league games
- The Warhawks are the second-winningest program over the last two seasons in terms of Sun Belt Conference victories
- ULM coaches and staff participated in Suits and Sneakers Awareness Week, a Coaches vs. Cancer initiative that supports the American Cancer Society. In addition to sneakers, the staff wore gold Princess Lacey's Laces in honor of Lacey Holsworth, an 8-year-old hoops fan who passed away from pediatric cancer in 2014
Quoting ULM head coach Keith Richard
Opening Statement
“Let's credit our team once again for our offensive effort. It was outstanding, and to be honest we needed every point to win this game against a very good UT Arlington team. You can see why they've won the games that they've won. If you add in Kevin Hervey who got hurt, their leading scorer and rebounder, you know how they were going across the country and beating people. They also got off to a great start in our league. They're still very, very good but credit our team. Credit our team for our shooting percentage, attacking the basket, breaking the press, five guys in double-figures, and obviously Majok's three-point shots in the second half really carried us when it could have gotten away from us. UTA had some runs, but Majok's threes kept us afloat until we could get more going.”
On Nick Coppola
“Nick played outstanding. Not for his scoring necessarily, even though he scored 12 points, but he held that ball against the press all night long. He played a really, really good floor game. It was a lot of pressure, he played 40 minutes against all that and to have 11 assists and two turnovers is an outstanding effort.”
On ULM's 10 turnovers for the game against the press
“We haven't been turning the ball over as of late, and when we don't we are a pretty good team. Though speaking of point guards, how about UTA's point guard. Wow, Erick Neal, he's so quick and handles the ball so well. One person can't really guard him. We sort of had to corral him a lot of time, but he's so quick it takes two people. That opens up other people. They are great passers and can really penetrate and pitch all over. We take a lot of pride in our defense, but it was a nightmare trying to guard them. Though at the same time, I'm so happy about our offense. Sometimes you just have to go outscore the other team because they were good on offense too.”
On Justin Roberson
“He played well in the minutes he played. Sometimes he gets so hyped up that he fouls. The officials are calling it tighter this year and it got him. He had to sit a while which we didn't need because he's playing great offense. His shot right now looks as good and comfortable as I've seen since he's been here. Of course Majok's three-point shots look pretty comfortable too.”
Quoting senior Majok Deng
On his shooting
“The first half I sort of hesitated to shoot the ball. In the second half, coach told me just shoot it and don't hesitate so I was just letting them go. My teammates did a great job of finding me so I give the credit to them.”
On whether he felt he was due to have a night like this
“I don't know. It was just one of those nights. I just have to keep working and hope to get another one like this.”
On what got him going on the second half
“I did not hit a shot in the first half so I just wanted to get one to fall down. After I made the first one I told myself just to keep shooting the same way.”
On Texas State
“Yeah we're going to forget about this game tonight and start looking at them tomorrow. We're going to treat it the same way. It's a conference game and anyone can beat anyone, so we have to be ready.”
Quoting junior Nick Coppola
On the key to ULM playing so well offensively against UTA's defense
“It was our preparation. In the past we've had some trouble against it. So we went over about five or six defense that they were going to play and we felt very prepared coming into it.”
On how the team had to handle Roberson sitting with foul trouble
“Mack came in and played great. He really took care of the ball. Majok was playing the “three” [positon] and was taking the ball out, giving us a release, so he was very helpful.”
