BURN THE HORSE
What can we expect from Cuonzo Martin's Missouri State Bears tonight?
Start with ball pressure. When UALR played at Springfield two years ago, the Bears went after UALR's guards. They completely locked up then sophomore Matt Mouzy, who entered that game riding a pretty nice scoring streak (15 points in each of the previous five games). UALR's other guards weren't much more successful. They just got after UALR's guards and made life miserable for them. The opposite side of that is when UALR handled that pressure, they were able to easily get the ball into the lane for easy shot attempts. Of course, once you get that shot you've got to make them and UALR didn't. Point-blank shot after shot clanked out that night. Missouri State is not going to let UALR stand outside the arc jacking up wide-open three-pointers. And UALR isn't going to out free throw Missouri State in Springfield. Tonight's key could be handling the ball pressure and getting the ball to high-percentage shooting areas. And, as always, making some shots.
The quickness of UALR's point guards needs to be a factor if UALR is to have success.
Here's what Martin had to say about matching up with UALR:
http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=363447
