Maybe not should've, but UALR certainly could've had a better record

BURN THE HORSE

Should’ve and could‘ve. You hear a lot of these terms when your team is struggling. UALR goes into tonight’s game against Illinois State with a 3-9 record. Could UALR have just as easily been 8-4? Or should they have been 8-4?

Let’s break it down.

Start with the games UALR wasn’t in. The Tulsa game wasn’t close most the second half, The Michigan State game was respectable but UALR wasn’t really in it. The loss at Northwestern State was a poor effort and the Trojans were out of it early. And even though UALR was down 5 with just 3:52 left to Missouri State, the Trojans never put enough pressure on the Bears to make a true comeback. So, that’s four losses.

UALR has three wins and none were really in doubt. UALR blew out Philander Smith and controlled the first game against Northwestern State and the IUPUI game. That’s a 3-4 record.

The other five games were toss-ups and all five went to the other team.
  • Eastern Michigan - UALR led by 1 point with six minutes left and was only down 5 with 2 minutes left.
  • Wisconsin-Milwaukee - UALR led by 1 with 2:37 left.
  • SMU - UALR had a shot at the end of regulation and didn’t score, eventually losing in overtime.
  • Oral Roberts - UALR led by 2 points with 3.7 seconds remaining.
  • Louisiana Tech - UALR led most of the game and had an open three-point attempt for the win in the final seconds.
It’s difficult to say UALR should have won all five games. They should've just won them. But it’s not a stretch to say UALR could’ve won all five games.

The reality is that this UALR team is better than their 3-9 record shows. This is probably more like a 6-6 team. And I think most would feel a lot better about where things stand right now.