MONROE, La. – A perfect 9-0 home record is on the line for the ULM men's basketball program when it takes on first-place Little Rock on White Out Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
The Warhawks (11-12, 7-5 SBC) have won every home game this year by double-figures. It will be their first White Out game this season after doing it twice last year during the College Basketball Invitational and saw their two largest crowds of the season.
ULM has won five of its last six games since switching its starting lineup to junior Nick Coppola and seniors Justin Roberson, Majok Deng, Jamaal Samuel and DeMondre Harvey. Freshman Travis Munnings had started all 17 games previously and is now the “sixth man”.
Most recently, the Warhawks pulled out a 91-90 thriller over Appalachian State on Saturday. ULM scored the final six points of the game, including a drive by Coppola to put the Warhawks ahead with 9.6 seconds left. The Mountaineers shot 60 percent from the field and three-point range. It was ULM's second victory over APP this year after a wire-to-wire 72-56 win on Dec. 31, 2015.
Deng leads the team points, rebounds and blocks this season. His 19.4 points per game ranks 41st in the country. He's one of three Warhawks averaging in double-figures along with Roberson (13.3) and Coppola (11.1). Roberson has posted the six highest scoring games of his career in his last seven outings, all of at least 20 points.
Little Rock (21-2, 11-1 SBC) is ranked No. 2 in the Mid-Major Top-25 poll, published by collegeinsider.com. Its only losses this season came on the road at Texas Tech, 65-53 and to rival Arkansas State 76-73. Little Rock is on a six-game winning streak.
The Trojans have a balanced offensive attack, led by Marcus Johnson Jr. and Josh Hagins who average 13.2 and 12.4 points per game, respectively. Also averaging over eight points a game are Roger Woods and Jalen Jackson.
On the season, Little Rock holds opponents to 57.2 points per game. The Trojans also lead the league in field goal percentage defense (.370), three-point field goal percentage defense (.311) and turnover margin (+3.91).
Listen to the game live this weekend live via radio on KLIP LA 105.3 FM with Nick White on play-by-play. Follow the ULM men's basketball program on Twitter, @ULM_MBB, for live in-game updates.
ULM will close out the weekend against Arkansas State at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. The Warhawks will honor their 1985-86 team at halftime for their 30-year anniversary of making the NCAA Tournament.
NOTES
- The Warhawks are 23-4 (.852) at home over the last two seasons and 413-173 all-time in Fant-Ewing Coliseum
- ULM has won four of the last five meetings against Little Rock. The teams are tied 6-6 all-time in Monroe
- The Warhawks will look to knock off a top-10 team in the CollegeInsider Mid-Major Top-25 poll for the second team this season. They defeated No. 6 Chattanooga, 64-54 earlier this year
- ULM is at least two games over .500 after 12 league games for the second year in a row
- On the season, ULM leads the SBC in field goal percentage (.457), is second in assists (13.7 apg) and top-three in three-point field goal percentage (.347), free throw percentage (.711), rebounding margin (+2.8), assist:turnover ratio (1.1) and offensive rebounding percentage (.330). The Warhawks are shooting .458 from the field in conference-only games and hold a 1.3 assist:turnover ratio which are also best in the league
- Five different Warhawks have registered a double-double this season for a total of 14. Most recently, Deng recorded 15 points and 10 rebounds last Saturday against Texas State
- ULM is 5-0 in conference play when it scores at least 80 points and 6-0 when it shoots over 50 percent from the field
- The Warhawks hold a 21-11 SBC record over the last two seasons, the second best in the league
- In ULM's last 40 games against SBC opponents, it has only allowed 75 points twice. Ironically, both resulted in wins after the opposition made 15 three-pointers each time. The Warhawks held a streak of 47 consecutive games overall of not allowing a 75-point scorer, the second longest active streak in the nation, which was snapped at Houston on a jumper with nine seconds left
- The Warhawks have won six weekly awards this year. Roberson was named SBC Student-Athlete of the Week and Louisiana Player of the Week (Jan. 25), Coppola won College Sports Madness SBC Player of the Week (Feb. 1) and Deng won National Mid-Major Player of the Week (Dec. 7), Louisiana Player of the Week (Dec. 21) and College Sports Madness SBC Player of the Week (Jan. 25)
- Deng ranks second in the league and 41st in the nation in scoring with 19.4 points per game. He averages 19.8 points per game in league play. Deng is also the team's leading rebounder (7.0 rpg) and shot blocker (1.5 bpg) and shoots a team-high .829 from the free throw line. He has scored at least 13 points in 15 of his last 16 outings. He has a trio of 30-plus scoring games this year, eight 20-plus scoring games
- Deng ranks seventh all-time in career blocks at ULM with 81. He needs eight more to move into sixth and catch Rudy Turner. Deng also has 13 career double-doubles and 42 career double-figure scoring games in two seasons at ULM
- In his last seven games, Roberson has posted his six highest scoring games of his career, all of at least 20 points. He scored a career-high 26 points against Troy. He averages 13.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game on the year. Roberson is leading the team in steals for the second straight season and averages 1.7 per game on the year, third-best in the league. Roberson has reached double-figures 15 times this year and is shooting .441 from beyond-the-arc which ranks third in the SBC. It is a remarkable improvement from his .186 (8-43) three-point percentage last season. He has started every game his year
- Coppola has scored at least 25 points in two of his last three games. He ranks fourth all-time in career assists at ULM with 343 and needs 22 more to catch Bob Carson and move into third. Coppola also ranks fifth all-time in minutes played (3,118) and first in career minutes per game (35.4). He's played at least 40 minutes 32 times in his career including a school record 54 minutes vs. Canisius. Coppola has started every game in his career and ranks sixth in school history with 88 starts. He played 1,384 minutes last year, third most in the nation and also third in single-season program history. Additionally, Coppola finished second in the SBC last season in both assist:turnover ratio (2.0) and assists (3.7 apg). This year, Coppola is averaging 11.1 points, 5.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game. He logs 36.3 minutes per game on the season which leads the conference and ranks 34th in the country
- Samuel has scored in double-figures in five of the last six games including 17 points on five three-pointers against UL-Lafayette. He has scored in double-digits 13 times this year and has started every game. Samuel poured in a career-high 19 points at No. 14 West Virginia and scored ULM's first 15 points of the contest. He also recorded a 15-point game at Arkansas State. Samuel averages 9.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game on the year
- ULM is 5-1 since inserting Harvey into the starting lineup. He has hit 51-90 (.567) field goals this season and scored a career-high 20 points against South Alabama where he went 10-11 from the free throw line. He also started three games earlier in the season in-place of Deng. Harvey led the team in field goal percentage in back-to-back years coming into this season. He's reached double-figures in scoring six times this year and 10 times in his career
- Munnings ranks second in the SBC in field goal percentage (.540) and averages 8.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game on the year. He has four double-doubles on the season and 10 double-figure scoring games. Munnings scored a career-high 22 points at Penn State and also pulled down 10 rebounds in the contest. In his new role, he is looked upon as ULM's “sixth man” after starting the first 17 games of the season
