| GAME 1 - SOUTHERN ILLINOIS |
| Date/Time |
Monday, Nov. 7 - 7 p.m. |
| Location |
Carbondale, Ill. |
| Arena |
Banterra Center |
Records
(2021-22) |
Little Rock (9-19, 3-11 SBC)
Southern Illinois (16-15, 9-9 MVC) |
| Watch |
ESPN3 |
| Listen |
106.7 FM The Buz2 |
| Live Stats |
SIUSalukis.com |
| Notes |
Little Rock | Southern Illinois |
LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock opens its 85th season of basketball, and first as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, Monday night in Carbondale, Illinois, facing Southern Illinois. Opening tip against the Salukis is set for 7 p.m. from the Banterra Center, airing on ESPN3 with Noah Reed and Mike Trude on the call. Radio coverage will begin at 6:45 p.m. with Trojan Hall of Famer Ray Tucker returning for another season, airing live on 106.7 FM The Buz2.
GAME STORYLINES
• Little Rock begins its 85th season of basketball Monday night and its 45th season as a Division I member. The 2022-23 season will mark the start of a new era for the Trojans, beginning its time as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference.
• Little Rock is 44-40 all-time in season-openers, winning eight of its last 10. Head coach
Darrell Walker is 4-0 in season-openers at the helm of the Trojans with two of those wins coming against Missouri Valley Conference foes - Missouri State in 2019 and Southern Illinois in 2021.
• The Trojans are 2-1 all-time against Southern Illinois and will make their first trip to Carbondale since December 22, 2005, falling to the Salukis 67-42 at the Banterra Center.
• Little Rock was picked to finish sixth in the preseason Ohio Valley Conference poll, garnering 102 total points to finish nine points back of fifth-place SIU Edwardsville and 36 back of preseason favorite Morehead State.
• The Trojans return a pair of players who have logged more than 1,400 career minutes in fourth-year seniors
Jovan Stulic (1,637) and
Isaiah Palermo (1,462). Graduate student
CJ White is also on the cusp of surpassing 1,000 career minutes, playing 905 in a Little Rock uniform.
• Monday's game will be the 15th in program history within the Illinois state boundaries as the Trojans are 3-11 all-time in the land of Lincoln. The last game was a 75-50 loss to Illinois State in Normal in 2017 with the last win a 66-44 victory over DePaul in Chicago on December 12, 2015.
• 11 different Trojans combined to miss 143 games due to injuries in 2021-22, ranking second nationally, forcing Little Rock to use 17 different starting lineups, which was also tied for second nationally.
NEWS AND NOTES
SCOUTING THE SALUKIS
2021-22: 16-15 overall, 9-9 Missouri Valley Conference
Projected: Third in preseason MVC poll
First Three Games: vs. Little Rock (Nov. 7), at Oklahoma State (Nov. 10), at Southern Indiana (Nov. 13)
Head Coach: Bryan Mullins (Southern Illinois, 2009), 4th season at SIU (44-45) and overall
Key Players:
• #1 Marcus Domask (Sr., F): 15.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 43.6 FG%
• #5 Lance Jones (Sr., G): 14.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 44.4 FG%
• #3 Dalton Banks (Jr., G): 4.6 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 41.3 FG%
• #11 JD Muila (Sr., F): 3.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 59.5 FG%
• #24 Trent Brown (Sr., G): 2.2 ppg, 0.8 rpg, 33.3 FG%
SERIES HISTORY
Little Rock and Southern Illinois meet for the fourth time overall Monday in the season opener for both teams with the Trojans holding a 2-1 series lead. Little Rock won last year's season-opener 69-66 at the Jack Stephens Center but is 0-1 all-time at the Banterra Center, dropping a 67-42 decision in 2005.
LAST WE MET
In a game defined by extended runs, Little Rock used an 18-0 run early in the second half to jump out to a 14-point lead, then held off a late Southern Illinois rally to notch the 69-66 in the 2021-22 season opener at the Jack Stephens Center on November 9. Four Trojans scored in double figures on the night, led by a 15-point performance from
Jovan Stulic, who was 5-of-8 from the floor and 2-for-4 from three-point range. Nikola Maric flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 11 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
TROJANS IN SEASON OPENERS
Little Rock heads to Carbondale 44-40 all-time in season-openers as the Trojans have won eight of their last 10. Under head coach
Darrell Walker, the Trojans have started the season 1-0 in each of his four seasons at the helm, besting Southeast Oklahoma State (2018), Missouri State (2019), Prairie View A&M (2020) and Southern Illinois (2021).
YEAR FIVE FOR WALKER
Head coach
Darrell Walker begins year number five in Little Rock with an overall record of 51-65 at the helm of the Trojans. Walker boasts a pair of impressive accomplishments as he is the only coach in the nation that has served as a head coach at the NBA, WNBA, Division II and Division I ranks. He is one of 23 current head coaches to play in the NBA and is one of just five head coaches that won an NBA title as a player.
VETERAN LEADERSHIP
Little Rock returns a pair of fourth-year seniors in
Isaiah Palermo and
Jovan Stulic in what is becoming more of a rarity in college basketball. The duo has combined to play in 150 games with 85 career starts, playing 3,099 minutes in Trojan uniforms. Stulic is the top Trojan returner in both field goal % (51.4) and three-point % (43.8) while Palermo is Little Rock's top returning scorer (10.8 ppg), ranking third in field goal % (46.4).
BACKCOURT THREAT
Guards
D.J. Smith and
Jordan Jefferson were thrown into the fire early, seeing significant playing time as true freshmen in 2021-22. Smith saw action in 27 games with 20 starts, averaging 6.5 points and 2.1 assists in 25.0 minutes per game while
Jordan Jefferson played in the final 18 games after an offseason injury, averaging 9.1 points and shooting 41.3% from three point range in 25.9 minutes per game.
ONE LAST RIDE
Little Rock native
CJ White returns for his final season, utilizing his COVID year for his final season of eligibility in 2022-23. White played in 20 games with seven starts and averaged 7.4 points per game and shot 89.5% from the free throw line, sitting six free throws shy of qualifying for the program's single-season record. His 83.3% from the charity stripe would currently rank fifth all-time should he hit the 90-free throw threshold.
POWER INSIDE
Little Rock sees the return of a pair of key players inside with
Myron Gardner and
DeAntoni Gordon, and is eager to see the duo play together for the first time. Gordon averaged 10.4 points and 4.4 rebounds through the first eight games before suffering a season-ending injury while Gardner returned for the final 16 games after an offseason injury, averaging 10.1 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
DELAYED DEBUT
The 2022-23 season should finally mark the Little Rock debuts of redshirt freshmen
Chris Walker and
Ethan Speaker, both of which missed the entire 2021-22 seasons with injuries. The duo is expected to play significant roles for Little Rock this season.
TROJANS vs. THE VALLEY
Little Rock gets ready to face a Missouri Valley Conference team for the fifth-straight season as head coach
Darrell Walker is 2-4 against members of the league. The Trojans are 7-19 (.269) all-time against current members of the league, including a pair of wins over the Salukis - the most against any MVC school.
RACK UP THE MILES
Little Rock will rack up plenty of miles to start the 2022-23 season as the Trojans will play eight games in six different states to open the year. Little Rock will travel approximately 7,000 miles in the month of November, heading to Illinois (Southern Illinois), Tennessee (East Tennessee State), Indiana (Indiana), Ohio (Miami) and California (San Francisco) along with the short road trip to Conway for the in-state battle with Central Arkansas.
#LittleRocksTeam
