As usual, there will be a lot of individual matchups on Thursday when
UALR hosts Florida Atlantic at the Jack Stephens Center. But no matchup will be
more prominent than UALR’s Leroy Isler vs. FAU’s Greg Gantt.
Isler has become UALR’s designated guard stopper this season. And he’ll
face his biggest challenge to date on Thursday. Gantt comes in averaging a Sun
Belt best 22.5 points per game and is on his way to the conference’s ‘most
valuable player award.
One thing’s for certain. Gantt is going to get his shots. He’s taken at
least 17 field-goal attempts in each of the past 13 games. He’s also scored at
least 19 points in the past 16 games and has topped 20 points 15 times this
season.
Gantt’s season low for points came with 7 against Coppin State. It’s
the only game this season when he hasn’t reached at least 10 points.
Gantt had only 8 points last year against UALR. But he had 16 as a
sophomore and 29 as a freshman vs. the Trojans.
It’s safe to say that Florida Atlantic runs its offense through Gantt.
He’s responsible for:
- 35 percent of FAU’s points
- 35 percent of FAU’s field goals
- 33 percent of FAU’s field goal attempts
- 44 percent of FAU’s three-pointers
- 40 percent of FAU’s three-point attempts
- 30 percent of FAU’s free throws
- And 27 percent of FAU’s free-throw attempts.
As a team, FAU takes 33 percent of its shots from three-point range.
Gantt takes 41 percent of his shots from there. FAU attempts 18 three-pointers
per game, seven by Gantt.
And it’s tough to get him off the court. He plays 36.5 minutes per game
and averages only 1.5 fouls per game. He hasn’t fouled out of a game this year.
No doubt slowing Gantt will be a tough task for UALR.
