When the schedule last lined up like this, the boys from Gainesville, Ga., packed the arena.
Last season, when Arkansas State University traveled to Georgia State University in Atlanta for the first time with guard Ty Cockfield in tow, a large crowd made a one-hour trip southwest from Gainesville to the Panthers' GSU Sports Arena.
Gainesville is the hometown of Cockfield, the Sun Belt Conference's leading scorer at 22.1 points per game, and Georgia State junior guard D'Marcus Simonds, the 2018 Sun Belt Player of the Year.
Last season's trip to Georgia State was the Red Wolves' first to GSU Sports Arena since Cockfield transferred to ASU from Georgia Highlands College in Rome, Ga., after his sophomore season in 2016-17.
Simonds scored 33 points and powered Georgia State to a 79-75 victory on Jan. 6, 2018. Regardless of Cockfield's 14 points and ASU's four-point loss, Cockfield's return home was special.
"We sold it out," Cockfield said. "It was lit."
This year, Cockfield and ASU's return trip to Georgia has stakes attached. The Red Wolves (12-15, 6-8) are in a tie for eighth place with South Alabama (13-14, 6-8).
ASU will tip off at 6 p.m. today at Georgia State (19-9, 10-5) and at 4 p.m. Saturday at Georgia Southern. Losing both could confirm the Red Wolves as a traveling opponent in one of the league's two play-in games between the No. 7 and 10 seeds, and No. 8 and 9 seeds.
The play-in games will be played in the home arenas of the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds on March 12.
"If we can go up there and at least get a split, that would be huge," Cockfield said. "We can't come home 0-2. ... We've got to go over there and take something.
"Plus," he added, "I'm going home."
UALR injury bug
University of Arkansas at Little Rock men's basketball Coach Darrell Walker has good and bad news.
The good news: Walker said Wednesday that sophomore starting guard Jaizec Lottie is expected to return from a hand injury and be available at 6 p.m. today against Georgia Southern (18-10, 10-5) at Hanner Fieldhouse in Statesboro, Ga.
The bad news: Walker said freshman forward Kamani Johnson, who has started all 14 Sun Belt games, suffered a concussion in Saturday's 72-65 loss at Arkansas State and will miss the entire two-game road trip in Georgia.
Walker said Johnson's concussion was "real bad," citing sensitivity to light after banging his head against the court.
Sophomore forward Kris Bankston, who made 12 starts at power forward in non-conference play and last started on Jan. 10 against Troy, will return to the starting lineup, Walker said.
Without Johnson -- who won the starting job from Bankston as UALR's utility forward known for the "little things," Walker said, like tough defense and intense rebounding -- UALR's frontcourt is down to three players: Bankston, freshman center Nikola Maric and 6-8 sophomore forward Damir Hadzic.
Hadzic has made six appearances in Sun Belt play (3.4 minutes per game) and has not remained in a single game for more than five minutes.
Redshirt junior guard Rayjon Tucker, a bulky 6-5, 210-pounder, will also be used more as a forward, Walker said.
As Walker has previously said, he is comfortable using Tucker as a forward because it allows the Trojans to pair three other guards (four total) with either Maric or Bankston to become a run-and-gun team, which is their preferred style of play.
After Georgia Southern, UALR will meet Georgia State at 12 p.m. Saturday at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, Ga.
UALR is currently the Sun Belt's No. 10 seed. The league's 10-team conference tournament begins March 12. For the Trojans to either improve their seeding or hold qualification for the tournament, a successful weekend in Georgia would go a long way.
"You've still got to play the games," Walker said. "Anybody can beat anybody on any given day."
Early tipoffs
UALR's women's basketball team will tip off at 11:30 a.m. today against Georgia Southern (7-19, 2-13).
Today's start time will be UALR's third morning game of the season. In two 11 a.m. tipoffs, the Trojans defeated Louisiana Tech 69-58 on Nov. 9 (season opener) and Memphis 63-60 on Dec. 21.
The Trojans (15-10, 11-3) will also tip off earlier than usual Saturday. UALR will face Georgia State at 2 p.m., instead of its usual 3 p.m. Saturday start time.
Sports on 02/28/2019