Hoops look: ULM at Troy
By Drew Champlin
Published: January 31, 2008
What: UL-Monroe (8-12, 2-6) at Troy (9-11, 2-7)
When: 7:30 p.m. CST Jan. 31
Where: Trojan Arena
Last time out: Troy lost to ULL 87-66. ULM beat MTSU 82-69
Probable starting lineups
TROY
G-Jerome Odem (6’1, 160, Sr.) - 7.0 ppg
G-O’Darien Bassett (6’2, 190, Sr.) - 18.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg
F-Justin Jonus (6’6, 220, Sr.) - 13.4 ppg
F-Trayce Macon (6’8, 191, Soph.) - 8.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg
C-Jarvis Acker (6’6, 210, Sr.) - 6.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg
UL-MONROE
G-Kenneth Averette (5’8, 150, So.) 1.6 ppg
G-Tony Hooper (5’11, 165, Jr.) 16.1 ppg
G-Lance Brasher(6’2, 215, Sr.) 8.6 ppg, 5.3
G-Jonas Brown(6’3, 180, Sr.) 12.9 ppg
F-Afam Nweke (6’7, 220, Jr.) 5.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg
What to watch for: Well, this battle is to see who is officially in the cellar in the Sun Belt. Troy’s there right now, but by half-a-game and both teams have a league-low 2 wins. ULM had a good win out of conference at Iowa, but the projected West champs in preseason lost six straight to open the Sun Belt schedule. ULM has turned a corner in winning its last two. Watch for Jordan Payne, a guard, off the bench as he’s scoring 14.4 ppg. If there’s a team smaller than Troy anywhere, it’s ULM. Losing the rebounding battle to this team is inexcusable, but Troy must guard its shooters. Justin Jonus is questionable with back spasms and the Trojans are on a big-time cold streak. Remember back when guys like Mike Vogler, Tom Jervis, Mario Telfair and Brandon Hazzard were making better contributions off the bench? That was when Troy was beating North Texas and nearly beating South Alabama and Western Kentucky. It seems like the bench players for the Trojans have hit a wall of late and must step their game back up.
Player to watch, Troy: Brandon Hazzard. In fairness to him, he’s missed the better part of four games because of an ankle sprain. His 12-point outburst Sunday against ULL, with 10 coming in a short stretch, reminded people of the games in pre-conference, especially when he rang up 27 against Jacksonville and 20 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. He’ll get plenty of minutes and shots if Jonus can’t play.
Player to watch, ULM: Tony Hooper. ULM goes as Hooper, one of the league’s best guards, goes. He shot poorly in ULM’s first few conference games but has played well in the last two.
Troy will win if: it gets better contributions off its bench and doesn’t give up 15 3-pointers.
ULM will win if: its guards are hot with Hooper leading the way.
Drew’s prediction: Troy 84-80
