NEW ORLEANS – The Arkansas State men’s and women’s cross country teams have been predicted to win the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Cross Country Championships, as determined by a vote of the league’s head coaches. The Sun Belt on Wednesday released its 2021 Cross Country Preseason Coaches’ Polls.

The Arkansas State and App State men both earned 91 points, but the Red Wolves received four first-place votes. The Mountaineers and South Alabama garnered three first-place votes apiece.  App State has won two of the last four Sun Belt Men’s Cross Country Championships – most recently in 2019 – while South Alabama captured last season’s league title.

The Arkansas State women accumulated 139 points and seven first-place votes. App State picked up five first-place votes. Arkansas State has won the last two Sun Belt Women’s Cross Country Championships.

The 2021 Sun Belt Conference Championships are set for Friday, October 29, at Brookley by the Bay in Mobile, Ala., hosted by the University of South Alabama.

2021 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Cross Country Preseason Coaches Poll
T1. Arkansas State (4) – 91
T1. App State (3) – 91
3. South Alabama (3) – 88
4. UTA – 68
5. Texas State – 58
6. Little Rock – 43
7. Louisiana – 41
8. Coastal Carolina – 29
9. Troy – 25
10. ULM – 16

2021 Sun Belt Conference Women’s Cross Country Preseason Coaches Poll 
1. Arkansas State (7) – 139
2. App State (5) – 136
3. South Alabama – 115
4. Troy – 98
5. UTA – 90
6. Texas State – 74
7. Coastal Carolina – 69
8. Little Rock – 56
9. Georgia Southern – 42
10. ULM – 41
11. Georgia State – 39
12. Louisiana – 37

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NEW ORLEANS –  The Sun Belt  announced its men’s basketball player of the week on Tuesday – Ruot Monyyong, senior from Little Rock.

Monyyong notched a pair of impressive double-doubles in Little Rock’s weekend split at Louisiana, averaging 18.0 points and 14.5 rebounds while shooting 52% from the floor and going 10-of-15 from the line.

In Friday’s game, he had 17 points on 8-for-15 shooting with 13 rebounds, two assists and a block. On Saturday he scored 19 points with 16 rebounds and went 9-for-11 from the line, helping lead Little Rock to the overtime win. In Sun Belt play, Monyyong is averaging 19.3 points and 13.0 rebounds per game. He has seven double-doubles on the year (top-five nationally and leads the Sun Belt) and has 23 for his Trojan career.

Player of the Week Recap
Week 1 – Justin Roberts, Georgia State
Week 2 – Markquis Nowell, Little Rock
Week 3 – Adrian Delph, App State
Week 4 – DeVante’ Jones, Coastal Carolina
Week 5 – Corey Allen, Georgia State
Week 6 – Ben Coupet Jr., Little Rock
Week 7 – Ruot Monyyong, Little Rock

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NEW ORLEANS – The Sun Belt Conference works tirelessly to maintain an officiating program of the highest quality. The conference office and our members have high expectations for the work of our game officials.

Unfortunately, the last few seconds of the Little Rock at Louisiana men’s basketball game this evening were not managed properly by the officiating crew. Play should have been immediately stopped when an issue with the arena lighting occurred. The crew should have awarded Little Rock the ball out of bounds with five seconds on the clock to complete the last sequence. Regrettably, this did not occur.

Officiating is a very difficult job, but our schools, players, coaches and fans deserve the best and we will continue to strive to meet that standard.

Little Rock lost to Louisiana, 66-64.

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NEW ORLEANS –  The Sun Belt  announced its men’s basketball player of the week on Monday.

Ben Coupet Jr., Little Rock
(Sr, G – Chicago, Ill.)

Coupet scored a combined 53 points on 77.3% shooting (17-of-22), including a blistering 73.3% (11-of-15) from three point range and 80.0% (8-of-10) from the line, helping lead Little Rock to a pair of wins in the opening weekend of Sun Belt conference play. The senior from Chicago scored a career high 27 points on 10-of-13 shooting and was 5-of-7 from three and 2-for-2 from the line in the Trojans’ 102-93 win over UT Arlington Friday.

On Saturday, Coupet scored 26 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 6-of-8 from three-point range leading the Trojans to a 75-62 win. He scored 18 of his 26 points in the second half, helping the Trojans pull away. The senior guard also added six rebounds and an assist. He played 38 minutes in both games.

This season, the 12 Sun Belt schools will be split into a West Division and an East Division and will play divisional opponents during the regular season to minimize travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

All 12 schools will compete in the Sun Belt Conference Championship which will be held March 5-8, 2021 in Pensacola, Fla.

Player of the Week Recap
Week 1 – Justin Roberts, Georgia State
Week 2 – Markquis Nowell, Little Rock
Week 3 – Adrian Delph, App State
Week 4 – DeVante’ Jones, Coastal Carolina
Week 5 – Corey Allen, Georgia State
Week 6 – Ben Coupet Jr., Little Rock

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FOLEY, Ala. – Three players reached double figures in kills, Laura Jansen recorded another double-double and a streaking Little Rock Volleyball team won its fifth straight match to advance to the Sun Belt Championship Semifinal round in a 3-0 win over Georgia State Thursday afternoon.

Janae Thurston led the Trojans with 12 kills while Laura Jansen’s 11 kills and 15 digs netted her 11^th double-double of the season. Nedima Kamberovic put down 10 kills while Nicole Medlin hit .400 with eight kills for the freshman. Medlin also added two solo blocks.

Set scores were 26-24, 25-18 and 25-18.

Little Rock (6-13) never trailed by two the entire match and never trailed over the last two sets. Georgia State (9-11), which has now lost nine of its last 10 against the Trojans, was led by the 10 kills but only .103 hitting percentage of Erin Wyatt while Leah Wilcox put down nine kills. No other Panther recorded more than four.

The win marks the fifth straight for Little Rock, the program’s longest winning streak since opening up the 2018 season with a 5-0 record. That year was also the last time Little Rock made an appearance in the Sun Belt Tournament Semifinals. This year’s trip will be the 15^th semifinal appearance in program history. Little Rock will face the Pool A winner on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 4 p.m. CT.

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FOLEY, Ala. – It’s Championship Week for the Trojans as Little Rock Volleyball heads to Foley, Alabama for the 2020 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Tournament.

The 2020 championship event has a new “World Cup” style format with pool play leading to a single elimination bracket round that will determine the league’s tournament champion and who will receive the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, to be held in the spring.

The Trojans will face Louisiana (Wednesday) and Georgia State (Thursday) in pool play this week with the goal of advancing to the semifinal round of bracket play. All matches this week will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

Series History
Louisiana: Little Rock leads, 39-16, but the Ragin’ Cajuns have won five straight
Georgia State: Little Rock leads, 8-2, and the Trojans have won eight of the last nine

Three Things to Know

1. The Only Game in Town
   Or even the nation. The Sun Belt Conference will be the only conference to host a conference volleyball championship this fall when 12 teams descend upon the Foley Sports Complex this week. That is a credit to a league that has focused on mask wearing, social distancing and following local and state health guidelines since competition began in September.
2. One You Know, One You Don’t
   As Little Rock prepares to face Louisiana and Georgia State in pool play this week, one opponent will be familiar while the other won’t. The Trojans played a three-match series with the Ragin’ Cajuns this year and while the matches didn’t end in Little Rock’s favor, all three were incredibly close. Meanwhile, the Sun Belt’s division-only schedule did not allow the Trojans to face Georgia State this season.
3. Flair for the Dramatic
   If you’re watching Little Rock Volleyball, you are guaranteed to be entertained. The Trojans have played an astounding 21 sets this year that have been determined by just two points. Moreover, Little Rock has played 13 sets this year that have required extra points in order to determine a victor.

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MOBILE – Milestone victories are always memorable and it will be hard for Joe Foley to forget this one. Little Rock shot a season-high 56.9 percent from the field, ended a four-game skid and rallied from an early deficit in a 69-58 win over South Alabama Saturday afternoon.

Teal Battle and Tori Lasker each scored 16 points to lead the Trojans with Battle scoring in the paint while Lasker was 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. Kyra Collier added 14 points for the Maroon and Silver. Little Rock’s shooting percentage did not dip below 50 percent throughout the entire game.

More than just securing Joe Foley‘s 800^th career victory, Little Rock (11-15, 9-6 Sun Belt) claimed a pivotal win in Sun Belt play. The Trojans were tied with South Alabama (13-14, 8-7) entering the game but remain in fourth place in the league standings, tied with Louisiana. The third and fourth seeds will host the first two rounds of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on March 10 and 11.

“I’m more relived that we played the game the way it should be played,” Trojans Head Coach Joe Foley said on his 800^th career win. “We moved the ball extremely well on offense and shot it well. That is what this team needs. I’m relieved nobody is going to ask me about 800 anymore. I’m tired. It is two good things happening today but most importantly our kids got their confidence.”

Initially, the milestone win was anything but guaranteed. South Alabama, coming off a dominating win over Arkansas State, kept that momentum going early in the game as the led by as much as six (31-25) midway through the second quarter. But a Jaguar missed 3-pointer, followed by a foul then a media timeout tempered that home enthusiasm.

Little Rock began to chip away at that lead following the media timeout and the momentum swung into the Trojans’ favor entering halftime as Lasker hit back-to-back treys in the final minute, turning a three-point deficit into a three-point lead for Little Rock at halftime.

“They got a little bit of a lead on us but I thought when we came back on them it showed our character,” Foley said of his team. “Our kids were ready to fight. It gave them confidence and from that point on, I thought we controlled the game.”

The Trojans kept hold of that momentum to start the second half and never trailed after intermission. Little Rock prevented the Jaguars from scoring a field goal for nearly five minutes in the third quarter and led by as much as 11 following a pair of free throws by Battle. But South Alabama was not done. The Jags went on a 7-0 run and cut the Trojan lead to four as time waned in the third quarter before Angelique Francis stole the ball and raced down the court for a fastbreak layup just before time expired in the quarter. Once again, Little Rock snapped the momentum away from South Alabama at a quarter break.

Little Rock seemingly controlled the game after that as Collier’s field goal in the paint with 7:39 remaining sparked a 16-2 run that left little down when Foley’s next milestone would be recorded. Collier would be responsible for eight of those 16 points in that run as the senior captain led the Trojans to victory.

The Trojans now turn their attention to rival Arkansas State, who Little Rock will play Friday evening in Jonesboro. It will be yet another pivotal contest as Louisiana moved just a half-game behind Little Rock with their win Saturday.

“The next two weeks are going to be very important,” Foley said. “We have top teams with South Alabama coming back to us and Troy coming to us and we have to go to Arkansas State. We have a chance to improve our standings and get one of those (host) seeds and I hope we can get it done.”

As Little Rock hits the final stretch of the regular season, with the final three regular season games being played in the state of Arkansas, the Trojans will control their own destiny as teams jockey for host seeds.

Coach Foley would prefer more discussions on that topic, quite tired of any milestone discussion. Win number 800 wasn’t easy to obtain.

“And 801 won’t be any easier,” Foley said. “There was so much focus on this that I’m just glad it is over and we can just forget about it and just worry about our kids.”

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BOONE, N.C. – Four Trojans would finish in double figures and Terrion Moore would notch her career-high with 17 points to lead the Trojans to a 74-59 win over hosts Appalachian State on Saturday afternoon.

Ronjanae DeGray put in a great performance, scoring 24 points on 12-20 shooting while pulling down eight rebounds. Tori Lasker would finish with 10 points, three rebounds and four assists while Kyra Collier would tally 13 points on 6-10 shooting in only 17 minutes.

Ro. DeGray got things started for the Trojans as she knocked down a jumper to score the team’s first points of the game. Defense shined in the early minutes for Little Rock as they forced two Mountaineer turnovers on their first two possessions of the game. The Trojans would force a timeout from the hosts after their stellar display of defense. Ro. DeGray was feeling it in the early minutes, making four of her first five attempts from the field. Terrion Moore netted a triple just after the media timeout to bring the Little Rock lead to 11. Collier continued her to show her scoring talent by scoring eight points in the first ten minutes. The Mountaineers were able to close the gap near the end of the first period, but Little Rock’s efficient shooting (11-15) gave them a 23-16 heading into the second quarter, tying their highest point total a quarter this season.

The second quarter was much of the same for the Trojans, as they were able to get nearly every shot they wanted and knocked them down with great efficiency. Lasker would get on the scoresheet with three consecutive baskets for the Trojans, including two deep and contested three-pointers. Little Rock notched their highest-scoring half of the season, taking a 43-24 lead into the break.

The Trojans weren’t quite as efficient in the third quarter, making only four of the next 10 shots. However, the Little Rock continued to impress, forcing the Mountaineers to go scoreless for nearly four minutes in the third period. Lasker would hit yet another three just before the end of the quarter to give herself 10 points on the night and give the Trojans a 60-37 lead heading into the final 10 minutes.

The fourth quarter reflected the previous three periods as the Trojans were able to control the final 10 minutes without much trouble. Moore would score a layup and a jumper in the final period to set her new career at 17 points and Little Rock would cruise to their fifth consecutive victory and improve to 7-1 in Sun Belt play.

The Trojans will come back home next Saturday, Feb 2 at 3 p.m. to host in-state rival Arkansas State in the Jack Stephens Center on ESPN+.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Little Rock gave host Memphis everything it could handle on its home court, rallying back a handful of times and holding a lead in the waning minutes. But a final Tiger run over the final three minutes thwarted the Trojan upset attempt as Memphis defeats Little Rock 98-88 at the FedEx Forum.

The loss drops Little Rock to 5-7 on the year and 1-4 on the road this season. It also keeps the Trojans winless against the Tigers as Memphis has won all seven meetings between the two schools.

Both Little Rock and Memphis shot an even 50% from the floor with the Trojans hitting 42.3% of its three-point attempts, going 11-of-26 on the night, while limiting the Tigers to 37.5% (9-of-24).

But heading into the game, head coach Darrell Walker made an extra emphasis on two key areas that would decide the game – free throws and rebounding. After seeing an improvement from the line in recent games, Little Rock made just 18 of its 34 attempts (52.9%) and Memphis dominated on the boards, outrebounding the Trojans 49-23, including an 18-5 edge on the offensive glass.

The loss came despite Rayjon Tucker’s 29-point performance to lead all scorers, finishing 7-of-12 from the floor and 11-of-15 from the free throw line. Tucker has now scored in double figures in 11-straight games and surpassed the 20-point plateau for the sixth time, adding four rebounds and four assists.

Tucker was one of five Trojans to finish in double figures, followed by 14-point performances from both Nikola Maric and Jaizec Lottie. Maric went 6-for-11 from the floor with three rebounds while Lottie shot 5-for-7 with four rebounds, five assists and five steals.

Markquis Nowell added 13 points off the bench with a team-high seven rebounds with Kris Bankston adding 11 points, going 5-for-6 from the floor with five more dunks, upping his season total to 39.

Knowing it was facing a Memphis team that likes to push the tempo, Little Rock weathered the storm early, and was able to match the Tigers’ intensity. Memphis built a seven point lead early at 18-11, which was matched by an 11-0 run by Little Rock to take the 22-18, including a pair of threes from Nowell and another from Pippins.

Despite a significant outrebounding edge for the Tigers, Little Rock’s defense forced Memphis into tough shots as the Trojans responded on the other end. Little Rock led by four at 29-25, then held a three-point advantage at 31-28 with 6:35 remaining in the opening half.

But Memphis began its full court press and run-and-gun, outscoring the Trojans 20-4 over the next six minutes to flip the three-point deficit into a 48-35 Memphis advantage. Little Rock regained a little momentum, scoring the final two points of the final minute, trimming the halftime deficit to nine at 48-39.

Over the opening 20 minutes, Little Rock shot 46.7 percent from the floor and was 8-of-14 from the three-point line, but once again, free throws plagued the Trojans, connecting on just 3-of-9 (33.3%).

The run that closed the first half sparked the Trojans in the second half, who scored a pair of baskets in the opening minute of the second half to pull within five at 48-43.  Behind some big threes and key turnovers, Little Rock closed the gap to two at 52-50 with 17:51 to go off a breakaway dunk from Bankston.

After Memphis extended its lead back to seven at 62-55, Little Rock found its offensive surge. The Trojans used a 13-4 run, turning that seven point deficit to a two-point lead at 68-66 with just over 12 minutes to go, thanks to Bankston’s fourth dunk and a pair of free throws from Nowell.

Memphis once again fed off the home crowd, extending its lead to six on a pair of occasions, the last of which came at 77-71 with 8:21 remaining. But the Trojans responded yet again, rallying back to tie the game at 77-77 off a pair of free throws from Lottie, ultimately taking an 86-84 lead at the final media timeout off an and-one from Tucker.

But free throw and rebounding woes came back to haunt Little Rock one final time as the Trojans were unable to stop a final Tiger surge, watching as Memphis closed out the game on a 14-2 run over the final three minutes to hold off the Little Rock upset bid.

Little Rock’s road trip continues as the Trojans will depart Memphis and head to Washington D.C. for a showdown with Georgetown Saturday. Opening tip against the Hoyas will be at 11 a.m. CT and will stream live on the Fox Sports Go app.

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JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – For the first time since 2008, Little Rock volleyball was victorious in its season opener as it defeated Division I newcomer North Alabama 3-0 (25-10, 25-18, 25-9) on Friday morning at Kennamer Gym on the campus of Jacksonville State.

Sophomore Mya Robinson was the only player to record double-digit kills as she ended the match with 13 while hitting .476 with six digs and an ace. Taylor Lindberg had 26 assists with seven digs and three kills while Pamela Zuluagahad 11 assists and five digs. Carol Barbosa had a match-high .727 hitting percentage with eight kills on 11 attempts and added five total blocks. Sydnee Martin had a match-high 11 digs and led the match with three service aces. Freshman Lauren Jansen tied Barbosa for the most total blocks with five as she also put down six kills.

North Alabama’s Christina Ellwanger led the Lions with seven of the team’s 17 kills and hit a team-high .029 hitting percentage.

Little Rock took the first set with ease at 25-10 as it hit .571 with 14 kills on 21 attacks. Robinson came out swinging with six kills and hit .444 for the frame. Running the newly implemented 6-2 offense, Lindberg tallied eight assists while Zuluaga had three. Jansen and Barbosa each had two total blocks as Little Rock held the Lions to a -.043 hitting percentage.

The Trojans clicked once again the second set as they tallied a 25-18 win. Little Rock hit .314 while holding North Alabama to a flat .000. Robinson led the set with four kills while Lindberg and Zuluaga had nine and six assists, respectively. Martin and Diana Giordani each served up two aces while adding four digs.

Little Rock capped off the match with a 25-9 victory in the third frame after hitting .571 for the second time. The Trojans held the Lions to a match-low -.088 hitting percentage as North Alabama had nine attack errors for the set while hitting into five blocks by Little Rock. Maritza Mesa led the set with four kills and added two total blocks. Lindberg had nine assists, and Martin had four digs.

Mesa ended the match with eight kills, three total blocks and a .583 hitting percentage. Veronica Marin had five kills on six attempts with two aces, three digs and three block assists while Giordani tallied two aces and six digs.

The Trojans’ .455 hitting percentage for the match was the eighth-best in the rally-scoring era (2001-present) while the Lions ended the match hitting -.047.

Little Rock will look to start the season with two consecutive wins as it faces Mercer later on Friday at 4:30 p.m.

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