Baptism by fire continues for inexperienced UALR players

BURN THE HORSE

With several of the experienced players out with injuries, the many newcomers on the UALR roster are getting a baptism by fire so to speak.

"Our young guys continue to get better each and every day, and that kind of development is what you want to see with a young team. The thing I am trying to stress to these guys more than anything else, is to raise the overall level of effort and intensity that we bring to the floor on an everyday basis," UALR Coach Steve Shields said. "When you have six true freshmen and two redshirt freshmen, the bulk of your team hasn't been through a season and seen what it takes to compete in Division I basketball. They have no idea what it takes to succeed at this level, so it's up to us to stress that to them at every opportunity we get.".

That development continued on Friday with the first closed scrimmage of the year. What we've seen in the past is that the lessons the coaches are trying to teach don't hit home until this first scrimmage. And to steal one of Shields' expressions: "The tape doesn't lie." They'll videotape all aspects of the scrimmage. And that tape will show pretty clearly who is and isn't getting it done."

Shields gave an example of one situation in which he already sees a need to get better.

"Our pace also needs to improve. It hasn't been where we need it to be, and that is apparent in the little things like our transition after made baskets, pushing the ball up the floor as soon as possible, and our transition defense," he said. "If a play doesn't go the way it should, we can't drop our heads and get hung up in our mistakes. We need to turn the page and move on to the next play."

And that is an aspect of college basketball that all freshman tend to have trouble grasping.

Under Shields, defense typically equals minutes. One important aspect of defense is communication.

"We also need to start communicating better on the defensive end. There has to be constant communication to become a solid defensive team and, like most young teams, we don't talk as much as we need to," Shields said.