BURN THE HORSE
There was a lot of talk going into the opener about which
point guard would be most effective for UALR. And one game does not make a
season. But the early edge went to freshman John Gillon.
Again, I will caution you not to make too much out of one game. Much like the RPI, numbers like this don't tend to take shape until you get 8-10 games into a season.
But when you look at who got the most from their minutes in
Friday’s 84-68 victory over Tennessee-Martin, Gillon was better than freshman
Josh Hagins.
That won't come as a huge surprise to anybody who saw the game. Gillon had 22 points, 3 assists and 0 turnovers, while Hagins had 3 points, 1 assist and 2 turnovers.
A closer look at the plus/minus shows how that translated on the scoreboard.
Hagins played 23 minutes and Gillon 21 minutes on Friday. But
they played four minutes together. And UALR was a plus 3 (12-9) for those four
minutes.
In Hagins’ other 19 minutes, UALR and Tennessee-Martin
played to a 23-23 tie.
In Gillon’s other 17 minutes, UALR beat Tennessee-Martin
49-36.
They got off to opposite starts to the game. Hagins was plus
9 in his first segment in the game as UALR raced to an 11-2 lead. Gillon came
in and posted a quick -8 as Tennessee-Martin rallied to cut the lead to 20-19.
But Gillon made up the difference during his second entrance
into the game. He was part of the 15-3 run to finish the half as UALR went from
29-24 down to lead 39-32.
Gillon was also in the game for the final minutes as the
Trojans pulled away for the 16-point victory.
