Little Rock Preview, 2025-26

Little Rock Trojans

November 12th, 2025 at Fiserv Forum

Head Coach: Darrell Walker (101-113 at Little Rock)

Three-Year NET Average: 245.0

Three-Year kenpom Average: 246.7

Projected 2025-26 T-Rank: 142

Johnathan Lawson returns after leading Little Rock in scoring and assists

Photo from lrtrojans.com

State of the Program

Little Rock is poised to have their best season since Chris Beard caught lightning in a bottle in 2016. They return two starters, including likely OVC preseason Player of the Year Johnathan Lawson. The Trojans were in the driver's seat for the regular season title. Tied at 10-4 in the league, they hosted SEMO in the first of a four-game home stand. They lost that pivotal game and four of their last six to finish tied for third in the league. Little Rock's lowest points lined up with starting point guard Isaiah Lewis' struggles, as the Trojans went 2-8 in games he was sub-70 in offensive rating. Now they welcome back K.K. Robinson, who sat out the 2024-25 season but was a first-team all-OVC player in 2023-24. They have a loaded roster with legitimate star talent at multiple positions.

Rotation

The aforementioned Robinson is a three-level scorer who can create for himself and others while not shying away from contact. He's joined in the back court by Braxton Bayless, who has spent much of his time on the ball at Western Kentucky and Niagara but seems better suited to be a finisher than a creator. Lawson started his career as a role-player at Memphis, transferred and failed to break through at Creighton, and finally made his mark at Little Rock. Lawson was first-team all-OVC and effectively served as point forward for the Trojans. Also returning is OVC Defensive Player of the Year Tuongthach Gatkek, who was top-10 in the OVC in steal and block rates. Manning the middle is Penn State transfer Kachi Nzeh, who was a high-efficiency reserve at the high-major level but the staff likely hopes pans out as well as Lawson did translating down. A pair of JUCO sharpshooters, Khasen Robinson (K.K.'s brother) and Cameron Wallace, will provide bench scoring, while Caleb Pennyfeather gives an experienced big man reserve. The wildcard may be freshman forward Terrion Burgess. He was a five-star recruit according to 247 in June 2023 and earned offers from Auburn, Alabama, and Arkansas, among other high-major programs. He was a first-team all-state player in Arkansas, but his stock dropped and he finished his high school career as a three-star recruit, which likely led him to Little Rock rather than the SEC. He won't need to make an impact this year, but if he does pop, he has the talent and athleticism to be a difference maker in the OVC.

Style of Play

Despite adding Lawson, Little Rock fell from #165 to #305 in offensive efficiency from 2024 to 2025. This was the result of two things. First, the turnover rate dropped from #206 to #340 and the 2PFG% plummeted from #71 to #312. In both seasons, Little Rock did their best work at the rim, but they did so in different ways. The 2024 team was able to score anywhere inside the arc, to the point that even though they didn't shoot as well from three they were a better eFG% team as they were both higher volume and more efficient on drives to the rim, drive and kick, midrange shots, perimeter cuts, second chance points, and in transition. While Robinson may not deserve credit for all of that, it led to a simplified offense that ran through the bigs in 2025. It was the bigs cutting to the rim instead of the wings, it was post up plays that only worked when they got very deep position, and inside out plays where the bigs initiated the perimeter attack. Expect a turn back for the Trojans. Lawson and Bayless are better supporting ball-handlers and creators than anyone Robinson ran with before, and Robinson's own creativity will set his teammates up better as well. Expect fluid ball movement, three level scoring (admittedly with more midrange than is probably healthy), and a return to the pick & roll success they had with Robinson.

Walker pushes an aggressive defense. Last year they ranked #39 in defensive possession length, #20 in eFG% defense, #17 in forced turnover rate, and #3 in block percentage. They speed teams up and at their best use those shortened possessions to generate transition offense. Gatkek was insanely effective. He blocks shots, forces turnovers, is strong on the defensive glass, and per EvanMiya.com his 2.49 DBPR was by far best in the OVC. But he's not alone in terms of quality defense. Lawson and Nzeh provide up front length and rim protection while Robinson and Bayless are both solid defenders that force turnovers. This should once again be one of the top defenses in the OVC.

2025-26 Outlook

While memories of the Wojciechowski era at Marquette aren't always the fondest for Marquette fans, as someone to loves quality scheduling, bringing in Belmont in 2015, Fresno State in 2016, Vermont in 2017, Buffalo in 2018, and North Dakota State in 2019 was awesome. For five straight years, Marquette brought in teams fresh off NCAA Tournament bids and expected to compete for their league titles again. And while only Buffalo was a tourney team the year Marquette hosted them, three of the other four made the NIT, showing they were quality guarantee game opponents.

While they aren't coming off a NCAA bid I view this Little Rock team in a similar light. In Lawson, Robinson, and Gatkek, they have three of the best players in their league. Those three along with Nzeh began their careers at high-major programs, and along with Burgess give this team a ton of talent that is higher than the general level in their league. Even if this team comes up a little bit short, they could still be a Quadrant 3 game, which is fantastic for any guarantee game, and if they meet or overachieve expectations this could be a top-100 team flirting with Quadrant 2. This is a talented, deep, dangerous team that can actually test high-major competition and could be a team not just making the NCAA Tournament in March, but having a shot of putting a scare into a high seed in the Round of 64.

What We've Learned

Certainly nothing good. K.K. Robinson suffered another season-ending injury, which forced little used sophomore reserve Christian Hughes into the starting lineup. Bayless did well running the offense in their win over NAIA Arkansas Baptist, but that's not much of a test. This will put a dent in Little Rock's hopes for an OVC title, NCAA bid, and top-160 NET finish (Q3). The upside is this allows Walker to run out a bigger lineup, and both Terrion Burgess and Cameron Wallace were productive for the Trojans off the bench, but they turned it over too much for comfort (19.2% TO Rate) and likely won't be the same without an all-league caliber lead guard.

Marquette Connection

The last time Marquette played Little Rock it was a tight affair. In Tom Crean's second season, it was a late Cordell Henry layup that broke a tie to give Marquette a 48-46 lead with 18 seconds to play. Little Rock got two looks at a tie, with Milwaukee King grad Damion Ninkovic missing two shots in the closing seconds to allow Marquette to escape with the win. And tying this to another November foe, the coach of Little Rock that night was Porter Moser, who will lead Oklahoma against Marquette. "We had a good look," Moser said of Ninkovic's final attempt, "I'll live with Damion taking that shot any time, it was in and out."