Following a tight, dramatic game at Louisiana-Lafayette last Friday night, when the lights -- literally -- turned off for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in a 66-64 loss, Darrell Walker viewed Game 2 on Saturday as an opportunity to see what caliber team he has this year.
"I told my staff after we lost that first game: I'm going to see what my team is made of," the Trojans' men's basketball coach said. "I'm going to challenge these guys to win a game on the road in a tough environment with a lot of insanity."
UALR met the challenge, erasing a 10-point halftime deficit before topping the Ragin' Cajuns in a 78-76 overtime win.
Ruot Monyyong had 19 points and 16 rebounds, Markquis Nowell and Isaiah Palermo scored 15 and 17 points, respectively, off the bench, and the Trojans bounced back against their strongest Sun Belt Conference West Division rival.
"I thought they came out and really played well," Walker said. "This team has a chance to be pretty good again."
UALR (7-4, 3-1) returns home to Jack Stephens Center tonight to host Texas State (7-4, 1-1) for a 6:30 tip-off with the Bobcats. Game 2 on Saturday is set for 4 p.m.
At Louisiana-Lafayette, the Trojans showed improvement in two aspects Walker has harped on heavily over the early part of the season -- defense and turnovers -- to hang in a pair of tight games with a conference rival.
UALR's perimeter defense showed up inside the Cajundome, holding the Ragin' Cajuns to 34.1% shooting on two-point attempts over two games, and clamping down in Saturday's win when the Trojans limited Louisiana-Lafayette to 26 second-half points. Entering the weekend averaging 17.0 turnover per game, UALR took care of the basketball against a fierce Ragin' Cajun defense with fewer than 10 turnovers in each game.
The pair of performances have the Trojans back home feeling confident.
"We showed that we can stay together when adversity hits us," Monyyong said. "If we sit down and play defense and not turn the ball over, we can beat a lot of teams."
UALR will be tested again this weekend by Texas State, which brings with it the second-best scoring defense in the Sun Belt (64.5 ppg). Interim head coach Terrence Johnson is now in charge of the Bobcats, but the physical defense Texas State played under Danny Kaspar remains and will present a challenge for the Trojans' ball handlers in a pair of games Walker expects to be low scoring.
"We have to defend," Walker said. "We have to rebound and then we have to go inside to the big guys like Ruot, [Nikola] Maric and Kris Bankston -- that's the way we play."