University of Arkansas at Little Rock men's basketball Coach Darrell Walker said he didn't bother writing anything on the Trojans' board in the locker room prior to Tuesday night's nonconference finale against Tennessee State.
Walker typically has a number of things scribbled out.
"Enough," he said with a smile, "but not too much."
Already short-handed due to sophomore forward Nikola Maric's suspension and injuries to junior forward Kris Bankston (back), junior guard Alsean Evans (toe) and now junior guard Jaizec Lottie -- who suffered a hernia injury in Saturday's loss at North Texas -- Walker needed his team to know just one thing before tip-off.
"I just said, 'We need one of our best defensive efforts of the year to win this basketball game,' " Walker said. "[Tennessee State is] a talented basketball team, believe it or not. They're really talented ... they can score."
The Trojans, coming off back-to-back losses, responded with an 86-62 victory at the Jack Stephens Center in one of their most complete performances of the season.
UALR (6-5) shot a season-high 53.7% from the floor and 50% from the beyond the arc (7 of 14) en route to its season-high points total. Tennessee State (6-4) was held to 36.2% shooting, 8 of 27 from downtown and committed 20 turnovers. UALR outscored the Tigers 42-22 in the lane.
Maric, who's serving a 16-game suspension from the NCAA because of an offseason amateurism violation, isn't eligible to play until Jan. 9 at Troy. Walker said Tuesday that he's unsure when Bankston, Evans and Lottie will be back, but surgery is not expected for any of them.
Walker is intrigued by how all the pieces will fit, but he knows exactly what his team is right now. On Tuesday, that was more than enough.
Five Trojans finished in double figures, led by sophomore point guard Markquis Nowell's game-high 25 points, which included a 5 of 8 night from three-point range.
Sophomore forward Kamani Johnson tallied 17 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Junior guard Ben Coupet Jr. posted 14 points, and freshman guard Isaiah Palermo added 11. Junior forward Ruot Monyyong had a double-double by halftime, finishing with 15 points and 14 rebounds.
"It was a real complete team win," Nowell said. "We defended, we got stops. I keep talking about this every interview about defense, forcing them to the baseline. That takes a lot away."
UALR's 42 first-half points also were a season-high.
The Trojans scored the game's first seven points and raced out to a 27-16 lead with 8:45 remaining. That prompted Tennessee State Coach Brian Collins to call a timeout, but it didn't slow down UALR.
After Tennessee State guard Carlos Marshall Jr. hit a three-pointer out of the break, Nowell answered on the other end with a three-pointer of his own.
Marshall led the Tigers with 14 points, but it came on 5-of-13 shooting. Guard Wesley Harris added 10 points.
A three-point play by Johnson extended UALR's lead to 42-26 with 1:37 left in the half, but five closing points by the Tigers chopped the deficit to 42-31 at halftime.
In the second half, Nowell's three-pointer opened up a 62-42 lead with 11:13 to play, and the Trojans cruised the rest of the way.
UALR has eight days off before its Sun Belt opener at Louisiana-Monroe on Dec. 19.
"I'm happy that we're going into conference play with a winning record," Walker said. "I mean we've been short-handed basically the whole year. I haven't really had my team.
"I try to hang our hat on defending. If you defend, you'll have a chance to be in a lot of basketball games."
Sports on 12/11/2019