Lindenwood men’s basketball (9-12, 4-6 OVC) lost 78-46 on Saturday afternoon to the Little Rock Trojans (13-7, 7-2 OVC) and fell to eighth in the conference. The loss was only their second home loss all season as they dropped to 8-2 inside Hyland.
“I thought we missed a lot of good looks early in the first half that we’ve been making and it snowballed from there,” coach Kyle Gerdeman said In his postgame press conference. The Lions shot 27.4% from the floor, 17% from three, and 61.5% from the free throw line in an off-shooting night. The Lions were outscored 42-29 in the first half and 36-17 in the second.
Jordan Wildy was the lone scorer in double figures racking up 10 points on 4/5 shooting off the bench. Aly Tounkara was Lindenwood’s leading rebounder with six boards, including three on the offensive glass. Little Rock out-rebounded the Lions 43-30 on Saturday, but Lindenwood did have 12 offensive rebounds compared to 10 by Little Rock, as the chances were there for the Lions.
This game finishes off the first half of the team’s conference schedule, as now teams will begin getting a second crack at each other.
“It doesn’t matter whether we won or lost that game these second time around games always present new challenges to you so where is your focus at?” Gerdeman said in regard to the rest of the Lions’ schedule, they will need to snag some victories down the stretch if they want a chance at qualifying in the OVC tournament.
One lone highlight on the day came in the first half with 9:08 play when Markeith Browning II threw down a monstrous ally-oop slam dunk off an assist from Clayton Jackson posturizing a Little Rock defender.
“It’s harder when guys start to come back because now you’ve got to figure how to fit guys back, but I think we’re pretty close and I don’t think we’ve slipped a bunch,” coach Gerdeman said. Lindenwood has dealt with injuries throughout this season, losing numerous key contributors at various points this season.
Lindenwood will stay home next week, and be able to rest up and have a week of practice before another pair of games on Thursday and Saturday. “I think it’s important we have a bad taste in our mouth about this even though we did some positive things,” coach Gerdeman said, as his team will continue to stay hungry as the season heads down the stretch.
Lindenwood will be back in action next Thursday, Jan. 30 as they play host to the SIUE Cougars with tip-off coming at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+.