Men’s Hoops Wraps Road Swing with ESPN3 Game at Arkansas State

JONESBORO, Arkansas – After facing the nation's top defensive club on Thursday, the Troy men's basketball team will face another one of the nation's better defensive foes on Saturday night when it takes on Arkansas State in the Convocation Center; tip is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.

The game can be heard on the Troy Sports Radio Network with Barry McKnight on the call. Live stats will also be available through TroyStats.com and live audio will be available on TroyTrojans.com/watch. Fans can follow @TroyMensHoops on Twitter for live, in-game updates.

Troy dropped a 72-49 contest on Thursday night against a Little Rock team who improved to 20-2 on the season and leads the country allowing just 57.9 points per game. Troy used a 6-0 at the end of the first half to pull within six at the break, but Little Rock used a 28-11 spurt at the start of the second half to pull away.

John Walton III led the Trojans with 16 points and six rebounds on 6-of-11 shooting. The Trojan forward is shooting 56.9 percent from the floor over the past six games and is averaging 11.5 points per game in league play (9.9 overall).

Wesley Person hit a trio of 3-pointers to move into ninth place in Troy history (DI era) with 142 career makes from beyond the arc. He also extended his streak of games with a 3-pointer to all 51 games of his career as he finished with 13 points; Person leads Troy and ranks seventh in the Sun Belt averaging 16.5 points per game.

Freshman Shawn Hopkins made the first start of his career in Thursday's game and hit a pair of 3-pointers; he has made 11-of-24 from beyond the arc in league play. Jeremy Hollimon, who Hopkins started in place of, is third on the team scoring at an 11.8 per-game clip.

Troy (6-16, 1-10 Sun Belt) led Arkansas State (11-11, 7-4) by eight at the half and by 10 with eight minutes to play the first time the two teams met. However, the Red Wolves used a 15-5 run to tie the game with just over four minutes to play before winning by three, 84-81.

Person led five Trojans who scored in double-figures in the game as he dropped in 20 points, while Jordon Varnado added 13 points and nine rebounds, Hollimon netted 14 points, Walton chipped in 10 and Hopkins hit four 3-pointers and finished with 12 points.

The Red Wolves opened league play with five straight wins, but have suffered losses in four of their last seven games. Three of their seven Sun Belt Conference victories have come in overtime home games.

Devin Carter leads Arkansas State scoring 17.6 points per game after dropping 33 points in an overtime victory over South Alabama on Thursday night. Anthony Livingston averages almost a double-double with 15.5 points and 9.1 rebounds.

Arkansas State is 11^th nationally holding opponents to just 38.2 percent shooting from the floor. However, that defensive success hasn't translated to behind the 3-point line as teams are hitting 35.4 percent from 3-point range; which ranks ninth in the Sun Belt and 240^th nationally.

Following Saturday's game, Troy returns home to host to Georgia Southern on Thursday and Georgia State on Saturday in Trojan Arena.

For more information on Troy men's basketball, follow the Trojans on Twitter and Instagram at @TroyMensHoops.

For more information on Troy Athletics, visit TroyTrojans.com. Fans can also find the Trojans on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat by searching for Troy Athletics.

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Players Mentioned

Jeremy Hollimon

Shawn Hopkins

Wesley Person

Jordon Varnado

John Walton III