UALR TROJANS (0-2)

vs. ST. GREGORY’S CAVALIERS (3-0)

Wed., Nov. 18, 2009 - 7 PM (Central)

Little Rock, Ark. (Jack Stephens Center)

MEDIA INFORMATION

TV: n/a

Radio: The game can be heard live on The Point 94.1 FM

Online: Live audio/video streaming available at www.UALRTrojans.com

UALR-ST. GREGORY’S SERIES

The Series: UALR leads 1-0

Streak: UALR won 1

Last Meeting: @UALR 71, St. Gregory’s 53 (Dec. 29, 2004)

THE COACHES

UALR — Steve Shields, 7th season at UALR (Baylor, 1988)

  Record at school: 105-75 (.583)

  Career record: same

  Record vs. St. Gregory’s: 1-0

St. Gregory’s — John Martin, 2nd season at SGU (Oklahoma City, 1995)

  Record at school: 5-29 (.147)

  Career record: same

TIP-OFF

    UALR (0-2) returns to Little Rock on Wednesday night hoping to break into the win column against St. Gregory’s University (3-0) ... The Trojans will be playing their second game is as many days, having dropped a 59-45 decision at Tulsa on Tuesday ... The UALR-Tulsa game was played at 1 p.m. on ESPN as part of the network’s 24-hour College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon ... It was the first of two nationally televised games for the Trojans this season, as UALR’s Sun Belt opener at South Alabama on Dec. 16 will be carried by ESPN2 ... Junior Solomon Bozeman led the Trojans with 17 points against Tulsa thanks in part to a 4-of-7 effort from three-point range ... Bozeman is averaging a team-high 14.5 points per game and shooting 46.2 percent from three-point range through two games ... Bozeman and senior Mike Smith, who has dropped 50 pounds since the start of the 2008-09 season, are each averaging at least 36 minutes per game thus far ... Smith leads the team in rebounding at 5.5 boards per game but is shooting just 23.5 percent from the field through two contests (4-of-17) ... UALR is off to the program’s first 0-2 start since the 2003-04 season, Steve Shields’ first as head coach, and will look to avoid its first 0-3 start since the 1984-85 campaign ... The Trojans are 32-2 in November home games since joining the Division I ranks, and sport an 11-1 record in November home games played at the Jack Stephens Center ... Following Wednesday’s contest, the Trojans head to Omaha, Neb. to square off against Creighton at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

THE SERIES

    UALR holds a 1-0 lead in the all-time series, having defeated St. Gregory’s 71-53 at Alltel Arena in the only prior meeting between the two schools (Dec. 29, 2004).

LAST TIME OUT

    C-USA preseason Player of the Year Jerome Jordan scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Tulsa to a 59-45 victory over UALR on Tuesday ... Solomon Bozeman led the Trojans with 17 points in the losing effort, going 5-of-13 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range ... UALR shot just 32.7 percent for the game and was outscored 30-to-16 in the paint ... Jordan scored 15 of his 19 points over the first 20 minutes to help Tulsa take a 25-20 lead into the break ... UALR missed its first four shots of the second half and Tulsa parlayed the missed field goals into a quick 6-0 run to extend its lead to 11 points, 31-20 ... After holding Tulsa to a .320 field goal percentage in the first half, the Trojans allowed the Golden Hurricane to shoot 50.0 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes ... Leading 31-24, Tulsa put together an 11-2 run to extend its lead to 16 points, 42-26, with 9:08 to go ... Down by 16, Bozeman sank a pair of three pointers as part of a quick 7-0 run to cut the Trojans’ deficit to nine points, 42-33 ... Tulsa responded moments later by scoring six-unanswered points in the paint to push its lead back to 15, 50-35 ... Jordan capped off the 6-0 spurt with a dunk at the 4:11 mark and the Golden Hurricane led by at least 10 points the rest of the way ... UALR held Tulsa to a .421 field goal percentage on the day, including a miserable 3-of-18 effort from beyond the arc (16.7 percent) ... Jordan was 6-of-12 from the field and 7-of-7 at the foul line with a pair of blocks in the win.

A LOOK AT THE CAVALIERS

    St. Gregory’s is 3-0 on the year and comes to Little Rock averaging 86.7 points per game ... The SGU offense is led by 6-4 forward Chris Dean, who enters the game averaging a team-high 20.0 points per game with a .639 field goal percentage ... Dean is one of four Cavaliers averaging double figures in points on the year ... Fayzon Richey, a 6-3 forward, is second on the team in scoring at 16.7 points per game ... Justin Chambers, a 6-6 forward, is averaging 10.7 points per game off the bench and scored a team-high 22 points in SGU’s last outing by going 10-of-11 from the field ... The Cavaliers are shooting 48.9 percent as a team but just 30.0 percent from beyond the arc, and sport a -0.4 rebounding margin ... Jade Carter, a 6-4 forward, leads the team in rebounding at 5.7 rpg.

LAST MEETING

    UALR defeated St. Gregory’s 71-53 at Alltel Arena on Dec. 29, 2004 in the only prior meeting between the two schools ... Brandon Freeman led all scorers with 27 points, while Zack Wright and Josh Jacobs added 13 and 11 points, respectively ... Tarin Baker led the Cavaliers with 21 points in the loss ... The two teams got off to a sluggish start with SGU taking a 10-8 lead with 10:04 remaining in the first half ... It was the last lead of the game for the Cavaliers as UALR closed out the half on a 19-7 run to take a 10-point lead into the break, 27-17 ... Both offenses came to life in the second half with SGU shooting 60 percent from the field in the final period ... A three-point play by Jacobs put UALR ahead 46-35 with 12:11 to play, and the Trojans led by double digits the rest of the way ... UALR shot 47.2 percent for the game, including an 11-of-23 effort from beyond the arc.

SCORING PUNCH

    Counting the exhibition against Harding, junior Solomon Bozeman has been UALR’s leading scorer in all three games this year ... Bozeman scored a season-high 17 points against Tulsa on Tuesday, thanks in part to a 4-of-7 effort from beyond the arc ... The 6-0 guard poured in a game-high 27 points in the exhibition game and led the Trojans with 12 points at Ole Miss ... A transfer from the University of South Florida, Bozeman averaged 7.3 points and 2.5 assists ... Through the first two games of his UALR career, Bozeman is averaging team highs of 14.5 points and 2.5 assists.

FRESH START

    The impact of senior Mike Smith’s new and improved physique is evident in the 6-7 forward averaging a team-high 37.5 minutes per game over UALR’s first two contests ... Smith, who has dropped 50 pounds since the start of the 2008-09 season, also leads the team in rebounding at 5.5 boards per game ... Smith is shooting just 23.5 percent from the field through UALR’s first two contests (4-of-17) and will look to get his shot back on track against St. Gregory’s.

UALR AT THE JACK STEPHENS CENTER

    Now in its fifth year of existence, the Trojans are 40-19 all-time (.678 winning pct.) at the Jack Stephens Center, including a 19-5 mark in non-conference games (.792 pct.) ... The Trojans are 32-2 in November home games since joining the Division I ranks, and sport an 11-1 record in November home games played at the Jack Stephens Center.

TROJANS ADD THREE IN EARLY PERIOD

    UALR added three players on the first day of the early signing period, receiving National Letters of Intent from a trio of Texas preps ... Joining the Trojans in 2010-11 will be high school standouts Reggie Sonnier (Carrollton, Texas/Carrollton Creekview HS), Daylon Guy (Fort Worth, Texas/Eastern Hills HS) and Gus Leeper (Austin, Texas/Austin Westlake HS) ... A 6-3 guard, Sonnier averaged 18 points and six rebounds per game as a junior and is rated the 28th-best prospect in Texas ... A 5-10 guard, Guy averaged 23 points per game and was named District Most Valuable Player as a junior ... Leeper is a 6-9 forward who will develop under the guidance of assistant coach Joe Kleine.

PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATION

    UALR was picked to finish fourth in the West Division by the Sun Belt coaches in the league’s annual preseason poll ... Western Kentucky was tabbed the preseason favorite in the East after receiving 12 first-place votes, while North Texas was named the frontrunner in the West with nine of a possible 13 first-place votes ... Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook picked the Trojans to finish second in the West behind the Mean Green ... The Trojans were also included in the “others receiving votes” section of CollegeInsider.com’s preseason Mid-Major Top 25 with two votes.

NEXT UP

    The Trojans travel to Omaha, Neb. on Sunday to take on Creighton at 2 p.m.