Face Arkansas-LR, star guard Freeman on road tonight

Brandon Freeman had been on a roll.

In the first game of the season, the Arkansas-Little Rock guard torched Southern Arkansas for 37 points, scoring 22 of the Trojans’ first 24 points.

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And it’s not just smaller schools that Freeman has beat up on – he has been equally impressive against college basketball’s big boys.

Freeman scored a game-high 25 points, on 10-of-15 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 from the three-point line, in a loss at now No. 5 Oklahoma State.

Three days later he dropped 18 points on last season’s national runner-up, No. 3 Georgia Tech.

“He’s a great shooter and was a big-time junior college player,” said SIU Head Coach Chris Lowery.

In the last two games, though, Freeman has scored a grand total of eight points.

Missouri Valley Conference opponent Southwest Missouri State held the 6-foot-2, 175-pound guard to just one point in 22 minutes before he fouled out Saturday.

Now the Trojans’ leading scorer faces an even better defense in the Salukis, who boast one of the best, if not the best, defense of any mid-major program – they have a +5.6 turnover margin, force 21 turnovers a game and average 11.6 steals in five games.

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The Salukis (4-1) plan to guard the Trojans’ sharp shooter by committee, promising to make tonight’s game – the first-ever between the two teams – one Freeman will likely want to forget.

“All of our guys are going to guard him because we pick up full court,” Lowery said. “He’ll get a lot of different looks from our guys.”

To make matters worse, Freeman and his teammates are running into a well-rested Saluki squad coming off its first loss of the season and looking to get back on the winning track at the Trojans’ expense.

Hopefully for SIU, the seven-day layoff will have helped rejuvenate LaMar Owen, who may have run out of gas in the Salukis last game – a two-point loss to Hawaii.

Owen, who was scoring at 13.3 points a clip in the Las Vegas Invitational, managed just two points against the Rainbow Warriors and is one of four Salukis – including Darren Brooks, Stetson Hairston and Jamaal Tatum – scoring in double figures.

But against Hawaii it was Brooks, Hairston and Tatum who carried the offense, scoring 51 of 64 points, led by Brooks’ season-high 23.

Owen and fellow big man Josh Warren who, to his defense, is averaging 2.4 points a game, contributed just three points between them.

“It’s just a matter of getting into a groove,” Brooks said. “We’re going to continue to play the way we play.”

Although Freeman has led Arkansas-Little Rock in scoring four out of six games, the Trojans have a few more offensive weapons, though less threatening.

Darius Eason is the second option behind Freeman, averaging 10.5 points and shooting a team-high 57 percent from the field. But even the 6-foot-9, 245-pound forward was held in check against SMS, scoring just one point.

Guard Zack Wright and forward Columbus Willis give the Trojans a one-two punch off the bench. Wright is scoring 9.3 points a game, and Willis contributes 8.7 points. Willis and starting guard Zach Graber led the Trojans with 11 points against SMS.

Arkansas-Little Rock (3-3) had won two straight before losing to the Bears in the SMS PriceCutter Classic championship game, which turned out to be anything but a battle between two good teams.

The Trojans shot 20 percent from the field in the first half, 31 percent for the game and connected on just 14 of 45 shots. SMS also forced 21 Trojan turnovers.

If SIU can duplicate its MVC rival’s defensive effort, Freeman and the Trojans are in for a long, frustrating night.

“If they had problems with their defense, then I’m pretty sure they’ll struggle even more with our defense,” Brooks said.