BURN THE HORSE
Does one horrible night undo a week of pretty solid
basketball? I guess we’ll find out later this week when UALR begins Sun Belt
Conference play against Troy.
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BTH UALR REWIND |
UALR wasn’t sharp from the start on Sunday night, losing
xx-xx to South Carolina in the championship game of the Hoops for Hope Classic
in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. South Carolina rolled to a sizeable first-half lead
and extended it early in the second half.
So how bad does it hurt? If we said UALR was going to go 3-1
this week, losing only to South Carolina I think most people would have taken
it. It was a really good week that saw a lot of really good things happen.
“I’m really proud of our guys and the progress they’ve made
this week,” UALR Coach Steve Shields said. “The thing that I’m most encouraged
about with this young team is [Saturday] night we had 5 turnovers and even
tonight we only had 12 turnovers. Those are winning numbers when you consider
we are playing with two freshmen point guards.”
And unfortunately when a team is playing as many young
players as UALR there are going to be nights like this one.
BURN NOTICE
I wonder who could yell louder: South Carolina Coach Frank
Martin or UALR Assistant Coach Joe Kleine? I felt like both were sitting in my
living room while listening to that game.
THE GOOD
Will Neighbour, playing in foul trouble much of the night,
had a game-high 19 points to lead UALR.
THE BAD
UALR went 11 of 23 for 48 percent from the free throw line.
THE UGLY
UALR got outrebounded 40-25 in the game, including 25-8 in
the first half.
KEYS REVISITED
Turn, turn, turn: Actually, UALR wasn’t bad here. South
Carolina had 21 turnovers to UALR’s 12. Grade: A
White lightning: UALR
needed to get James White going offensively. He finished with only 6 points and
wasn’t a major factor scoring. White did have 4 assists. Grade: D
Rebound: Total disaster. South Carolina held a 40-25 advantage.
In the first half, South Carolina missed 12 shots and got the offensive rebound
on 10 of them. Grade: F.
VEGAS, BABY
South Carolina was a 3 point favorite and covered that
number easily.
PREDICTIONS
Everyone went with SMU and everyone was a winner tonight.
UP NEXT
UALR opens Sun Belt Conference play on Thursday at home
against Troy.
