Trojans never get going

BURN THE HORSE
UALR got beat 77-64 by St. Bonaventure in Olean, N.Y., on Sunday afternoon, dropping the Trojans to 1-1 on the season. It was a predictable score based on the outside factors surrounding the game. And a second consecutive slow start was too much for UALR to overcome.
Should we read just a little or a lot into the struggles this afternoon? We probably won't know for sure for at least another two weeks.
The factors were stacked against UALR on Sunday:
  • St. Bonaventure also played Friday, but their game was over before UALR even tipped off at SMU.
  • After Friday's game, St. Bonaventure bused from Buffalo to Olean. UALR spent all day Saturday traveling from Dallas to Buffalo to Olean. UALR's legs looked dead from the start. We heard a lot about the quickness of point guards Daylon Guy and D'Andre Williams, but neither appeared to have much jump on Sunday.
  • UALR played both games without senior forward Derrick Bails, who figured to be the starting 5 man this season. Bails was sent home before the SMU game and did not make the trip to St. Bonaventure. His status for this week, and the rest of the season, is not yet known. But it's disappointing that a senior who has been a part of the team for four years would violate team rules. That's something you expect out of freshmen. And St. Bonaventure exploited UALR's lack of size with their big man finishing with 25 points and 11 rebounds.
  • Teams going West to East that change time zones typically don't fare well. We can't remember the numbers, but they are stacked heavily against teams going that direction.
  • Playing out of your geographical region typically means struggles with officials. And UALR never seemed to figure them out.
Having said all of that, you expect more from this UALR team. You expect a better effort from the start. You expect them to not fall behind by 20 points in the first half. You expect that if road legs are a problem it will be in the second half.
UALR and St. Bonaventure play again in January in Little Rock. If UALR looks the same at that point it could be a long season. A few years ago, UALR lost on the road at Appalachian State and looked bad doing it. A few weeks later, the Trojans handled Appalachian State pretty easily at home.
And in the big picture, a 1-1 road trip isn't bad. However, UALR needs to win the next two to keep it on track. On Wednesday, the Trojans host St. Gregory's and need to use that game to get the offense on track. And on Sunday, UALR hosts Illinois State, which is 2-0 but hasn't played a D1 opponent. At home, you should expect to win. But it will take a better performance than what we saw today.