BOONE, N.C. – Having won four of its last five games, the ULM men's basketball program will return to the court to take on Appalachian State at 2:30 p.m. (CT) on Saturday at the Holmes Center.
ULM (10-12, 6-5 SBC) was the lone Sun Belt Conference team that did not play on Thursday. Though, it played a road game against UL-Lafayette on Tuesday where it dropped a tough 72-65 decision in overtime. ULM trailed by six with 1:38 in regulation before coming back to even it.
Before that, the Warhawks won four straight to cap an undefeated homestand, winning every game by double-figures.
It's the second meeting between ULM and Appalachian State (6-16, 4-7 SBC) this season. In the first on Dec. 31, 2015, the Warhawks posted wire-to-wire victory, 72-56. The Warhawks used a 7-0 run in the second half to go up 54-38 with 12:47 remaining and their lead never dropped below 13 points after that. Senior Majok Deng scored a game-high 18 points.
Deng leads the team in scoring with 19.3 points per game which also ranks top-45 in the country. He's one of three Warhawks averaging in double-figures along with senior Justin Roberson (12.9) and junior Nick Coppola (10.5). Just under double-digits, senior Jamaal Samuel puts in 9.3 points per contest.
Appalachian State is guided by Frank Eaves who leads the league in scoring with 20.1 points per game. He's shooting .424 from three-point range and .820 from the free throw line. Eaves has made 70 three-pointers on the season, the most in the conference.
Also averaging in double-figures, Ronshad Shabazz puts in 11.0 per contest and shoots .351 from beyond-the-arc. Chris Burgess is another long-range threat, shooting .395 from distance and averages 7.8 points per outing.
The Mountaineers are looking to snap a two-game skid. They fell at South Alabama last weekend, 73-60 and dropped an 87-76 decision to UL-Lafayette on Thursday.
Listen to the game live this weekend live via radio on KLIP LA 105.3 FM with Nick White on play-by-play. Follow the ULM men's basketball program on Twitter, @ULM_MBB, for live in-game updates.
NOTES
- ULM is 2-1 all-time against Appalachian State. They split the season series last year and the Warhawks took the opener this season on Dec. 31, 2015
- ULM has won four of its last five games after a perfect 4-0 homestand that ended last weekend. The Warhawks are 9-0 (6-0 SBC) at home this season and have won every game by double-figures. ULM is 23-4 (.852) at home over the last two seasons and 413-173 all-time in Fant-Ewing Coliseum
- Coppola is the reigning College Sports Madness SBC Player of the Week winner. It came after he notched a double-double against UT Arlington and a career-high 26 points vs. Texas State. It marked the fourth weekly award in the last two weeks for ULM. Last week, Roberson won both Sun Belt Conference and Louisiana Student-Athlete of the Week, and Deng was named CSM SBC Player of the Week
- ULM has held SBC opponents to under 75 points in 38 of the last 39 games. It held a streak of 47 consecutive games overall, the second longest active streak in the nation, which was snapped at Houston on a jumper with nine seconds left. The 36-game SBC streak was snapped vs. UT Arlington in a 99-88 win where both teams made 15 three-pointers
- ULM switched its starting lineup two weekends ago and is now 4-1 with Coppola, Roberson, Deng, Samuel and senior DeMondre Harvey as its first-five. Freshman Travis Munnings had started all 16 games previously
- Five different Warhawks have registered a double-double this season for a total of 14. Most recently, Deng recorded 15 points and 10 rebounds last Saturday against Texas State
- On the season, ULM leads the SBC in field goal percentage (.454), is second in assists (14.0 apg) and top-three in rebounding margin (+2.6), assist:turnover ratio (1.1), three-point field goal percentage (.344), three-point field goal percentage defense (.318) and offensive rebounding percentage (.707). The Warhawks are shooting .458 from the field in conference-only games which is also best in the league
- ULM is over .500 after 11 league games for the second year in a row
- Deng ranks second in the league top-45 in the nation in scoring with 19.3 points per game. He averages 19.6 points per game in league play. Deng is also the team's leading rebounder (7.2 rpg) and shot blocker (1.6 bpg) and shoots a team-high .814 from the free throw line. He has scored at least 13 points in 14 of his last 15 outings. He has a trio of 30-plus scoring games this year, seven 20-plus scoring games and has won National Mid-Major Player of the Week (Dec. 7), Louisiana Player of the Week (Dec. 21) and College Sports Madness SBC Player of the Week (Jan. 25)
- Deng ranks seventh all-time in career blocks at ULM with 81. He needs eight more to move into sixth and catch Rudy Turner. Deng also has 13 career double-doubles and 41 career double-figure scoring games in two seasons at ULM
- In his last six games, Roberson has posted his five highest scoring games of his career. He netted 20 points at Georgia Southern, a career-high 26 points vs. Troy, 23 against South Alabama, 24 against UT Arlington and 21 at UL-Lafayette. He averages 12.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game on the year. Roberson is leading the team in steals for the second straight season and averages 1.6 per game on the year. Roberson has reached double-figures 14 times this year and is shooting a league-best .446 from beyond-the-arc. It is a remarkable improvement from his .186 (8-43) three-point percentage last season. He has started every game his year
- Coppola is tied for fifth all-time in career assists at ULM with 339 and needs two more to catch Bobby Douglas and move into fourth. Coppola also ranks fifth all-time in minutes played (3,083) and first in career minutes per game (35.4). He's played at least 40 minutes 32 times in his career including a school record 54 minutes vs. Canisius. Coppola has started every game in his career and ranks sixth in school history with 86 starts. He played 1,384 minutes last year, third most in the nation and also third in single-season program history. Additionally, Coppola finished second in the SBC last season in both assist:turnover ratio (2.0) and assists (3.7 apg). This year, Coppola is averaging 10.5 points, 5.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game. In SBC games only, he is second in the league in assist:turnover ratio (3.0). He logs 36.4 minutes per game on the season which leads the conference and ranks 31st in the country
- Samuel has scored in double-figures in three of the last four games including 17 points on five three-pointers on Tuesday against UL-Lafayette. He has scored in double-digits 12 times this year and has started every game. Samuel poured in a career-high 19 points at No. 14 West Virginia and scored ULM's first 15 points of the contest. He also recorded a 15-point game at Arkansas State. Samuel averages 9.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game on the year
- ULM is 4-1 since inserting Harvey into the starting lineup. He has hit 48-85 (.565) field goals this season. He scored in double-figures in back-to-back games during ULM's homestand with 13 points against UTA and a career-high 20 points against South Alabama where he went 10-11 from the free throw line. He also started three games earlier in the season in-place of Deng. Harvey led the team in field goal percentage in back-to-back years coming into this season. He's reached double-figures in scoring six times this year and 10 times in his career
- Munnings ranks third in the SBC in field goal percentage (.545) and averages 8.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game on the year. He has four double-doubles on the season and 10 double-figure scoring games. Munnings scored a career-high 22 points at Penn State and also pulled down 10 rebounds in the contest. In his new role, he is looked upon as ULM's “sixth man” after starting the first 16 games of the season
