BURN THE HORSE
After his third three-pointer of the first half swished,
sophomore Ben Dillard ran down the court shaking his head. He probably was
shaking off a couple of week’s worth of frustration.
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BTH UALR REWIND |
Dillard broke out of a slump with a 17-point, 5-rebound effort
as UALR rolled to an 83-58 victory over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday night.
Dillard entered the game having made only 2 of 10
three-pointers. But he bettered that before halftime on Saturday night. He
improved his season percentage from 20 percent to 35.3 percent.
“Guys were finding me. We were moving the ball well,”
Dillard said.
With UALR not playing well in the first half, it was Dillard
who kept UALR in the game. Dillard made three first-half three-pointers en
route to 11 first-half points. He finished the game making 5 of 10 field goals,
3 of 6 three-pointers and all four free throws.
BURN NOTICE
Congratulations to UALR freshman Stetson Billings for
finally getting on the season scoreboard. Billings scored his first points of
the season at the free throw line and finished with five points. Something
tells us, it won’t take long for him to scratch again.
STAT OF THE GAME
51: UALR finished with 51 second-half points, outscoring
Louisiana-Monroe by 20 .
KEYS REVISITED
Shutdown: Well, Louisiana-Monroe’s Amos Olatayo didn’t play.
Grade: Incomplete.
Windex: UALR won the rebound battle 36-31. It was good
enough on Saturday but won’t be against tougher opponents. Grade: B-
Kill the confidence: UALR gave ULM plenty of reasons to be
confidence in the first half. It was the second half where UALR finally put it
away. Grade: C.
THE GOOD
Will Neighbour finished with an efficient 13 points and 6
rebounds. He made 4 of 7 field-goal attempts and his only three-pointer.
THE BAD
UALR had 10 first-half turnovers, several of the ugly, basically
unforced variety.
THE UGLY
The officiating crew of Byron Evans, T. Jerome Hall and Matthew
Potter were getting it from both coaches before the first media timeout. They
didn’t improve much throughout the game. It’s pretty typical for what’s known
around the league as “Saturday Night in the Sun Belt.”
VEGAS, BABY
UALR was between a 12 and 13 point favorite. The Trojans
easily covered. UALR is now 4-0 this season as the favorite and 3-1 vs. the
spread when the favorite.
PREDICTIONS
Everyone went with UALR and everyone is a winner again tonight. RealTime RPI remains the season leader.
UP NEXT
UALR takes on St. Gregory’s University at 5:15 p.m. on
Tuesday. Note that start time.
PRESS CONFERENCES
