Bellbrook graduation 2012
Fairfield Senior 2012 graduation
Kroger Aquatic Center opens
Game preview: Wright State (1-6) at Arkansas-Little Rock (6-1)
Friday, December 12, 2008
Time: 8 p.m.
Where: Stephens Center, Little Rock
Radio: WONE-AM (980), WIZE-AM (1340)
Series: First meeting
| Starting lineups | ||||
| Wright State | ||||
| Cory Cooperwood | Jr. | 6-7 | F | 9.7 |
| Ronnie Thomas | Jr. | 6-9 | C | 3.9 |
| Will Graham | Sr. | 6-2 | G | 6.7 |
| J.D. Gardner | Jr. | 6-4 | G | 7.3 |
| N'Gai Evans | So. | 6-1 | G | 5.9 |
| Little Rock | ||||
| John Fowler | Sr. | 6-4 | F | 10.0 |
| Wayne Burton | Jr. | 6-8 | F | 2.5 |
| Shane Edwards | Sr. | 6-7 | G | 9.3 |
| B. Patterson | Sr. | 6-6 | G | 5.1 |
| Matt Mouzy | So. | 6-0 | G | 14.0 |
About Ark.-Little Rock
Trojans have already beaten Creighton, at home, 71-69, but also lost last week 59-37 at Missouri State. UALR shot just 23.4 percent in that game, 12.5 percent in the second half on the way to 21 turnovers. Trojans also missed 11-of-12 3-point shots, but rebounded well enough in their next game to beat Oral Roberts 69-66. Oral Roberts will be a WSU opponent in the San Juan Shootout next week.
About Wright State
Now that the elusive first victory is in the books, the Raiders have no room to breath easily as UALR has not lost at home and is coming off a 69-66 victory at Oral Roberts. Following this game, the Raiders do a quick turnaround and play at No. 11 Wake Forest on Sunday. Coach Brad Brownell has gone with three consistent starters the last five games — guards John David Gardner and N'Gai Evans along with inside man Cory Cooperwood — but has made changes at the other positions. Nine of the 12 scholarship players have started.
Outlook
While WSU's defense has been superb, there continue to be shooting deficiencies to address. Raiders made only 1-of-19 shots from beyond the 3-point line against Toledo, and the WSU coaches counted 12 of those shots as being wide open and three more being "as wide open or pretty close to wide open," said Brownell. "There were only two shots we considered bad." Opponents have shot better than 40 percent against UALR and nearly 36 from 3-point range, but WSU is making only 36 percent of its shots and a paltry 18 percent from the line.
Quote
"They're pretty good," Brownell said of the Trojans. "That's one reason why we found these guys. Nobody else wanted to play them. They're very good."
